the un-scene

Live in Ballard at 45th and 8th

2012-01-24T00:55:00.000-08:00

Recently, the five (him, him, him, him, and me) members of the Dandelion Method got together and played instruments in the same room for the first time since 2004. Below are a few songs that emerged --one never played before, one made up on the spot , and one written over ten years ago.
45th and 8th by JTHH

you are forgiven

2012-01-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

This Five Iron Frenzy Reunion is Kind of a Big Deal If You Are a Certain Kind of Person (links)

2012-01-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this for a while and maybe will write about it later, but just wanted to collect some of the stuff that's being written about Five Iron Frenzy's reunion, Kickstarter campaign, etc. This feels like kind of a defining cultural event for that weird demographic I belong to called People Who Were Really Into Christian Indie Rock in the 90s. There are a lot of threads: the demise of record labels and the rise of social media making things better for bands, what it means when an ostensibly youth-oriented band reunites when we're all adults now, why third-wave ska should remain dead, what it means to be a Christian band, how evangelicals deal with topics like "loss of faith" and "new atheism" (several of the band's members are now atheists), and how Five Iron Frenzy manages to be such a good-ass band despite looking cheesy as hell on paper.

For now, I just want to point you toward some of the interesting interviews and commentaries that have been written about this event.

The original Kickstarter campaign raised like $60,000 in an hour, and is up to $180,000. UPDATE: The final tally was $207,980. That's approximately $25,000 per band member.

"A Five Iron Frenzy Story" : Bringing a Dead Band Back to Life by Joel Gratyck. The story of how a confluence of misunderstandings and fans' enthusiasm indirectly led to the band deciding to reunite.

"Five Iron Frenzy, Kickstarter, and why this may be the most important thing to happen to Christian music in decades" by Stuart Greene is a good commentary on the implications this thing has for the idea of a "Christian (pop) music industry."

Relevant magazine's interview with Reese Roper.

An in-depth interview with Roper (maybe the most in-depth one I've seen) by music blogger John Mouser, parts 1 and 2.

Scott Kerr wrote this very personal post on the Five Iron website about why he is OK with being in the band (and why the others OK with it, too) despite his not being a Christian.

Leanor Ortega Till has done some candid and informative interviews with the Phantom Tollbooth, Absolute Punk, and Jesus Freak Hideout.

SEXY S1NGLES WANT TO CH@T ABOUT JUDEE SILL

2011-10-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

Do you find that your nights are sad and lonely deserts, arid landscapes punctuated only by occasional oases of dvr'd sitcoms and frozen dinners?

Be lonely no longer -- hot, sexy, and available singles in YOUR AREA are waiting on the line now to chat with you about cult-favorite 1970s singer/songwriter Judee Sill. They're skimpily dressed and ready to talk about anything with you --anything relating to a certain misunderstood female folk singer with a penchant for religious imagery, baroque music, and creative string arrangements, that is!

Don't delay! All you need to provide is a credit card number, and we will INSTANTLY connect you to hotties whose ultimate fantasy is to discuss the minute differences between live versions of "The Kiss," whose deepest desire is to debate you about whether Sill's spirituality was influenced by Rosicrucianism, whose sexy secret wish is to listen to "The Donor" with you while ruminating about the relationship between liturgy, the desperate predicament of human nature, and the singer's own mental health.

So what are you waiting for? Call our toll-free number, put your Rhino Handmade edition of "Judee Sill" on the hi-fi, and dial 1-888-HRT-FOOD.

The Rapture - "In the Grace of Your Love"

2011-09-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

I only ever heard this band back when I cared about whatever was on Pitchfork (ca. 2001-2005) and didn't think much of them, but this is pretty nice.

Stuff I'm Listening to

2011-09-15T01:02:00.000-07:00

Wonderful - Wake Up to Dreamland
Joshua Stamper - Interstitials
Japancakes - Loveless
Oh No! Yoko - Pau Pau
The Lonely Forest - Arrows

A Poor Old Lu Acoustic Reunion Show Happened.

2011-07-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

Videos below!

from SLR&R:

Poor Old Lu – Sin (Alarma, 1994).

Sin is unquestionably the epitome of the Christian grunge era. And Christian rock, or any rock, has rarely seen a vocalist or lyricist like Scott Hunter. All his vocal sounds seem polyphonic, like he’s always singing right at the break in his voice, between a low growl and a high falsetto, and what comes out is painfully pretty, a kind of delicate wheeze combined with an honest gravelly tenor. Hunter’s lyrics, too, are opaque and abstract, capturing moods more than ideas, often ungrammatical and awkward. Sin is an exploration and explanation of a culture, suburban middle-class kids who are confused about how things work, about why we are so effed up when we don’t want to be, about why we never seem to be able to do what is right when we think we know. The record’s most mind-blowing track, “Bliss Is,” is a blisteringly short funk-punk tune about growing up in a family that doesn’t communicate, tension and anger bubbling beneath the surface. Aaron Sprinkle does so much with one guitar, his younger brother Jesse has the talent of being able to both sound like he is playing a one-thousand piece drum set yet also that every weird fill he is playing is absolutely necessary, Scott Hunter sings about feeling suicidal and trapped by his family even though he is a youth pastor, and Nick Barber’s nonchalant funk basslines sneakily snake all over the place. John Goodmanson’s production is dirty, angry, and vital. Why have you never heard this band?

For the Love of My Country

Cannon-Fire Orange

Chance for the Chancers

Sickly

What a Gift to Be Born, What a Gift to Be Alive

2011-07-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

Grand Hallway - "Roscoe (What A Gift)" from Ryan McMackin on Vimeo.

My Summer 2001 Mixtape

2011-06-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right, not this summer - 2001, 10 years ago. I don't have the cassette, but I came across the case recently. Not much has changed about my musical taste in a decade, though.

SIDE A

Bettie Serveert - Crutches
The Smiths - Panic
Jeff Buckley - Vancouver
Lost Dogs - Breathe Deep
Superdrag - Hellbent
John Lennon - Oh Yoko
Beulah - If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart
Morella's Forest - Fizzle Kiss
U2 - Staring at the Sun (live)
Radiohead - Polyethylene Pts 1 & 2
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

SIDE B

Weezer - Photograph
Mates of State - A Control Group
Joy Electric - Candy Cane Carriage
Starflyer 59 - No New Kinda Story
Stephen Malkmus - Jenny and the S-Dog
The Lemonheads - It's a Shame about Ray
My Bloody Valentine - Don't Ask Why
The Flaming Lips - What is the Light?
DC Talk - What Have We Become?
Brassy - I Gotta Beef
Live - Stage
Matt Basinger - Out of Here
PFR - Say

Do You Believe in Rapture?

2011-05-21T20:49:00.000-07:00

Please note the absence of a definite article, but yes. Yes I do.

Google Hits: "X is my favorite drummer"

2011-04-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

Neal Peart - 1,580

Dave Grohl - 307

Carter Beauford - 83

Tre Cool - 9

Darren Jessee - 3 (2 from this blog)

Philly Joe Jones - 1

Google Hits - "X is my favorite guitarist"

2011-04-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

Jimi Hendrix - 1,980

Steve Vai - 1,760

Eddie Van Halen - 431

Jonny Greenwood - 25

Graham Coxon - 2

Jeff Buckley - 1

Google Hits: "X is My Favorite Singer"

2011-04-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Beyonce - 4,910

Shakira - 3,710

Kesha - 141

George Michael - 34

Eddie Vedder - 10

Frank Black - 3

Mark Hoppus - 1

Number of hits on Google for "X is my favorite band"

2011-03-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Weezer - 1,120
Bright Eyes - 161
Eve 6 - 155
Stroke 9 - 3
Save Ferris - 1

Who is in Sufjan Stevens' Age of Adz band?

2011-02-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

As far as I can tell, the answer is:

Drums: James McAllister

Drums: Brian Wolfe

Vocals: Cat Martino

Vocals: Nedelle Torrissi

Bass/keys: Yuuki Matthews

Guitars/keys: Casey Foubert

Keys: Steve Moore

Keys/vocals: D.M. Stith

Trombone: Ryan Keberle

Trombone: Dave Smith

Already and Not Yet (the 2010 mix)

2011-02-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

With some last-minute substitutions, for better listening. Please contact if you'd like a copy.

Arcade Fire - Ready to Start

Prefab Sprout - Ride

Janelle Monae (ft Big Boi) - Tightrope

Allo Darlin - Heartbeat Chili

Stars - Dead Hearts

Sufjan Stevens - I Want to Be Well*

Orient Is His Name - For This I Was Born and For This I Have Come into the World

Brian McSweeney - Lovers

Belle and Sebastian - Sunday's Pretty Icons

Wonderful - Gone So Long

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up the Gun

K-os - Dance in Yo Car

Sade - Soldier of Love

David Bazan - Flirted with You All My Life (Vic Chesnutt cover)

Audrey Assad - Ought to Be

(*The "f-word" is repeated many, many times on this song, FYI**)

(**That "f" means "for")

The Synthar Mixtape

2011-02-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

Rare, unreleased, and unfinished songs from SYNTHAR plus favorite tracks from kindred spirits, all amateurishly smushed together by yours truly, available for 1 week as a single file at Yousendit.

THE SYNTHAR MIXTAPE

Kiss Me Thru the Phone (a capella) (Soulja Boy)

Hurricanes (Johnny's guitars mix)

The Synthar Song

Loop Duplicate My Heart (by Suburban Kids with Biblical Names)

Sing Your Song (by Johnny Bertram, Spirituals Remix)

Metal on Metal (demos by Matt Basinger & Andrew Best )

We Are Your Friends (by Simian, Justice Remix)

Car Commercial Dreams (Synthar demo by Johnny Bertram)

Exodus Damage (by John Vanderslice, Alias remix)

Nice Guys Finish Last (by Malloc Baldwin, aka Andrew Best of Synthar)

Loved Back (demo for first Synthar album, never released)

What Matters More (by Derek Webb)

New Jam (demo for next Synthar album)

Eight Questions Mixtape

2011-02-08T14:07:00.001-08:00

This is a test of 8tracks.

Consolidating

2011-02-04T11:38:00.001-08:00

FYI: I'm in the process of trying to consolidate my entire web presence into one website by the name of www.joelhenghartse.com.

Already and Not Yet (Songs from 2010)

2011-01-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's time again for my annual playlist, an endeavor of introspection, emotion, theology, self-help, and rocking out. Not downloadable yet, but stay tuned (update: now available). Links to streaming versions of all songs below. Full commentary at Image's Good Letters blog, which I have just retired from writing for after 2 years.

Arcade Fire — “Ready to Start” from The Suburbs

The Arcade Fire do this kind of music so well—here’s a song that sounds like an anthem, a call to action, but which, upon closer inspection, is actually closer to an exploration of paralyzing self-doubt. Yet a soaring hope emerges from the darkness, as the resigned “I would” of the chorus becomes the confident “Now I’m ready to start!” of the bridge.

Prefab Sprout — “Earth (The Story So Far)” from Let’s Change the World with Music

I feel I should apologize for the first minute of this song—let us simply recognize that it was recorded in 1993. This missing piece from the British band’s archives was finally released this year, and despite its dated instrumentation, its tender defense of love, music, and mystery, is timely. Of the Nativity, Paddy McAloon asks: “why if it’s no more than a fable / should it strike so deep a chord?”

Janelle Monae — “Tightrope” from The Archandroid

Song of the year. Maybe decade. I cannot not move every single time I hear it. Janelle Monae’s music is a revelation, and this song is a celebration of life as a “tightrope,” the peaks and valleys of human experience a dangerous dance of joy. Did I mention it is impossible not to dance to this song?

Allo Darlin — “Heartbeat Chili” from Allo Darlin

This is a tiny song, just a sparse ukulele and pedal steel guitar and Elizabeth Morris’ delicate voice. I find something lovely and worth remembering in a song about two people preparing a meal, and the love it takes to go out and get an onion for somebody who needs it: “It seems silly / but this chili / has two heartbeats in the recipe.” It does seem silly, but I know it is true.

Stars — “Dead Hearts” from The Five Ghosts

Stars is one of my favorite bands, and thought I didn’t find a perfect pop single on the Five Ghosts the way I did on their previous albums, this gentle album opener won’t let me go. The lyric “They were kids that I once knew” at first suggests spectral Victorian urchins; gradually I began to read this song as an autopsy of childhood wonder, a valiant attempt to remember, and the hope that from a dead heart there can be a resurrection.

Sufjan Stevens — “I Want to Be Well” from The Age of Adz

This song has all the paranoid lyrics, electronic blurps, and confused sensuality that typify the album, but the twin mantras sung by Stevens and his chorus—“I want to be well” and “I’m not f*cking around” strike me as a worthy mission statement. I also like the way the repetition implies another sentence: “Well, I want to be.” It issomething we who live in this in-between have to figure out.

Orient is His Name — “For This I Was Born and Have Come Into the World” (single)

I have for some time thought of Lee Bozeman as an Orthodox answer to Morrissey, and this single from his most recent project sounds more like the Smiths—down to the pitch-shifted backing vocals—than anything else I’ve heard him do. A riff on John 18:37, it is also the closest to “pop” he’s gotten in a while.

Brian McSweeney — “Lovers” from the Lovers EP

I’m so glad this guy is still making music. From Christian rock to a modestly successful indie band to this solo project, Brian McSweeney has written heart-stirringly gorgeous melodies and sung them with a voice whose purity recalls Jeff Buckley and Marvin Gaye. I love the sad calls for love and redemption peeking out from behind the sinister drums and synthesizers.

Belle & Sebastian — “Sunday’s Pretty Icons” from Write about Love

This band—like Allo Darlin—is accused of being “twee” (overly cutesy), but I prefer to think of the gentleness of Belle and Sebastian’s music as an act of Christian charity. This short ditty offers a vision of heaven in which grace is dispensed to both those we label “desired” and “despised.”

Wonderful — “Gone So Long” from Wake Up to Dreamland

I have admired this band since I was eighteen and I saw a group of weird-looking guys playing pop songs about God and I was like “Oh, OK, that’s what I like.” Wonderful usually sounds like a psychedelic Beach Boys—imagine “Kokomo” never happened—and this piece blooms into an ecstatic meditation on the second coming. Just you wait for this album, which is (I hope) coming out this year. I feel like this song actually causes me to believe in God.

Honorable mention:

Vampire Weekend - Giving Up the Gun
David Bazan - Flirted with You All My Life
Sade - Soldier of Love
K-os - Dance in Yo Car

Audrey Assad - Ought to Be

I Don't Hate That Band

2010-12-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

So, Relevant magazine's website ran an excerpt from my book last week, and there have been a lot of interesting comments made on the piece. Like most internet comments sections, there is a lot of uncharitable meanness. It still amazes me (maybe it shouldn't) that the readers of a Christian magazine are so quick to anger.

The essay is mostly about "losing my faith in Christian music" at a concert by the band Audio Adrenaline. They're one of the bands that a lot of people (myself included) cite as an example of cheesy mainstream 90's Christian rock, along with the Newsboys, dc Talk, etc. I owned and loved records by all those bands in the 90's. The band isn't really the point; the story is about the close and conflicted relationship between faith and rock music in evangelical pop culture, and how it affected me as a 15 year-old kid.

Unfortunately, most of the comments on the site are about Audio Adrenaline, and whether or not their music or their approach to music and/or ministry is good/legit, and why I'm a stupid idiot for not liking them (even though I didn't say I didn't like them). That's maybe my fault for mentioning a particular band; I hope I didn't say anything that suggests I dislike them as people or even as a band. Two former members of the band have made comments, and they've been much more gracious than a lot of the commenters.

Every once in a while I've been chiming in with a comment (even though I really don't like reading them) and trying to explain that the piece is not an argument against anything, not an attack on any particular band, just a part of the larger story of the book.

So, just in case there's any confusion: I don't dislike Audio Adrenaline.

Reading in Seattle

2010-11-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

KSPU, Image, and The Other Journal present

Joel Heng Hartse reading from Sects, Love, and Rock & Roll

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18

with musical guests

Erick Newbill (Fair, Subways on the Sun)

Lacey Brown (Lacey Brown, the Opiate Mass, Church of the Apostles)

Noah Star Weaver (Wonderful, U.S.E.)

at the Q Cafe

3223 15th Ave NW

7:00 pm

Free

Books for sale

My book is out now

2010-10-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

You can order it at the publisher's website here.

If you're into it, by the way, I might be looking for an agent for the next time I do this, so let me know.

EVENTS

2010-09-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

New York! Vancouver! Seattle! Come for the reading, stay for the music, or vice versa! All events are FREE!

There is now a Facebook page for Sects, Love, and Rock & Roll, where you can "like" the book and see music videos and songs and stuff that is mentioned in it. These events are mentioned, too.

New York City - Friday, October 15 @ the All Things Project at the Neighborhood Church of Greenwich Village, 7 pm
Musical guest Matt Basinger (of the Dandelion Method, Biltus, and SYNTHAR!)

Delta, BC - Monday, October 25 - the Kindlings Muse @ the Delta Lion Pub, 6:30 pm

(live podcast recording in front of an audience -- Christianity, pop music, and beer!)

Vancouver, BC - Wednesday, November 10 @ the Wired Monk in Kitsilano, 7 pm
Musical guest Miles Mattix (of The Tread Abraham and Team November!)

Seattle, WA - Thursday, November 18 @ the Q Cafe
Musical guests Erick Newbill (of Fair), AND OTHERS TBA

"Who is Joel Hartse" - The Saga Continues

2010-09-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

If you're here after reading about me in the Georgia Straight's music section again this week -- where this time, Mike Usinger is on my side -- I thought I should explain. So:

I'm Joel, and I am a music writer, English teacher, and graduate student at the University of British Columbia. My work has appeared in weekly newspapers and magazines throughout North America, including Paste, Blurt, Geez, the Stranger, and the Portland Mercury.

In the next couple of months, Cascade Books will be releasing my first book, Sects, Love, and Rock & Roll: My Life on Record, which is a collection of personal essays about pop music and religious faith. If you'd like to read it, watch this space in October.

P.S. I don't even really dislike the Straight's photo captions that much.

On the Cover

2010-08-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

We've been going over proofs. Pretty excited and a little nervous that this book thing is actually going to happen.

Why My Name is in the Photo Caption for Every Story in the Georgia Straight's Music Section This Week

2010-08-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

As I was finishing up grades for my summer class and looking ahead to the new schoolyear, this fun diversion presented itself: the complaint I wrote to Vancouver's alternative weekly newspaper for their feature Payback Time was printed this week, and as a rebuttal, the caption for every feature in the music section features my name. Touche! I also won tickets to four different concerts, which is pretty great.

Summer of Not Writing Much

2010-07-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

Just FYI, my summer is full of teaching this year, so not a lot going on in the writing for $ during the summer dept. Here's a look at what's going on this summer and beyond to the end of 2010, probably. All tentative--

- Reviews: Stars (done), the Opiate Mass, and Sixpence if the record comes out.

-- Book: tentative November release date. I'd really love to do readings in Vancouver Seattle, Spokane, and Portland before the end of the year if at all possible. December is probably a bad month to do that, but it would kind of be the easiest month for me to do it in.

Let me know if there's anything out there I should be checking out or writing about, and ideas for venues/bookstores to do readings at once the release date for the book is solidified. Excelsior!

Book Title Help

2010-06-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

So, the book I've been yammering on about for a year or so now is pretty much finished -- just waiting to have one more conversation with my editor, some copy editing, and seeing whether it will be published in the fall or not. (It's likely, but a few factors on their end might delay it a bit.)

The most universally liked title (by me, the series editors, and the editor at the publisher) is Sects, Love, and Rock & Roll. But we need a subtitle that somehow shows that the book is a memoir-y / personal essay-y collection (without actually saying those words), alludes to the music-and-faith angle, and communicates the balance between reverent (somewhat) and irreverent (probably moreso) in the tone.

The is idea is something like "Confessions of a __________." (Some lame ideas could be stuff like "a jaded Christian music critic," "an evangelical record collector," etc. Those would be horrible as titles, but hopefully you get the idea.) But the question is, what can we put in the _______ that will make sense, sound sexy, and make people want to read it?

Real Talk: This is a Great Record

2010-05-29T12:26:00.001-07:00

Cibo Matto on Sessions at West 54th, Jan. 2, 2000

2010-04-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

Danny Seim, Explicator of Christian Music Culture

2010-04-16T19:07:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wonder why I do this when other people can do it so well. Here is a collection of articles by Danny Seim, who plays in the bands Menomena and Lackthereof, about Christian rock music:

On Larry Norman

On various bands in the 90s (6 articles)

On "cassettes I was allowed to listen to, age 7-15"

Pre-Order My Book at the Calvin College Festival of Faith and Writing

2010-04-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Heads up: my friends from the Other Journal / Cascade Books will be at the Festival of Faith and Writing April 15-17 selling copies of Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical, AND taking pre-orders for my book which will be out in the later half of 2010.

You know what to do!

BLURB with thanks to editor extraordinaire Andrew David:

Church-camp sing-alongs gone horribly wrong, infatuation with Christian contemporary music, teenage love set to indie rock soundtracks, playing rock in churches and church music in rock clubs, betrayal by Christian rock bands—Sects, Love, and Rock & Roll is a book about how listening to music makes us who we are, and it’s an exploration of the intersections between the evangelical church and the pop music scene. In these essays, Joel Heng Hartse, a youth group dropout turned music critic, combines laugh-out-loud humor with thoughtful reflection to describe how his obsession with rock and roll has shaped him, and how living in the shadow of God and guitars can transform all of us.

The Release of an Oath

2010-03-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

"Through the centuries and out of the travail of the past, man has many times, in his search for a better life, been forced by powers beyond his control to foreswear the principles of his fathers and to accept the yoke of a conqueror who might vanquish his body, but not his soul. But no man of principle can live with himself having foresworn the ideals that he lives by. In yearning to free his spirit of the conqueror's yoke, he has conjured up a psychological release that enables him to break the chains that bind him to any oath made under duress and in violation of his principles. Such a lament is the Kol Nidre - a prayer of antiquity which cleanses the spirit and enables man to start anew, with his eyes again on the stars." - Jules B. Newman, Release of an Oath liner notes

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock (8)

2010-03-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

The Waiting, "Staring at a Bird." EMI doesn't allow the video to be embedded, so watch it at YouTube. Seriously, it's a great song.

Book Notes

2010-03-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

Favorites from 2009 PS

2010-01-25T22:56:00.001-08:00

Now downloadable with songs in no particular order (shuffle to your heart's content!), Surrender to the Void, my 2009 mix. (Tracklist / Commentary)

Favorites from 2009

2010-01-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

Image's Good Letters blog has my "Nine Songs from 2009" up now. There's commentary on the first nine songs below; I cut some songs to fit the word count/ theme, so here's my complete 2009 mixtape -- please get in touch if you want a copy and I'll try to get it together for you.

Surrender to the Void: Songs from 2009

Laura Gibson, "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me"

The Cave Singers, "Welcome Joy"

David Ahlen, "Spirit Fall"

Frida Hyvonen, "Jesus Was a Crossmaker"

David Bazan, "In Stitches"

Soul-Junk, "Persian Earball"

U2, "Moment of Surrender"

The Rentals, "Song of Remembering"

The Mountain Goats, "1 John 4:16"

mewithoutYou, "Every Thought a Thought of You"

Modest Mouse, "Whale Song"

Amy Millan, "Old Perfume"

Josh Ottum, "The Easy Way Out"

Church of the Beloved, "Given"

Johnny Bertram, "Great Divide"

Request Line: Cat on Form

2010-01-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

In 2002 I saw a (post)punk band called Cat on Form play Upstairs at the Garage, which I now note is, sadly, known as the Relentless Garage (being sponsored by an energy drink called Relentless), in London.

During their set they dedicated the song "Soiled Skulls" to the Queen Mother, who had died the day before, in a not entirely favorable way. "She was a hundred and two!" shouted a well-meaning audience member. Years later when I was teaching a class on British culture to a bunch of Chinese teenagers, I thought of this moment -- an anarchist punk band celebrating the death of a member of the royal family, and one of their fans defending her -- as the most quintessentially British thing I saw in the two months I spent there.

My request, then: Can somebody please send me an mp3 of "Soiled Skulls?" It was a great song, but the closest I have come to finding it is a 30 second clip on Last.Fm. Apparently it originally appeared on a UK charity compilation called Audioscope.

P.S. Incidentally, during the second band's set at the same show, the promoter cut the sound to announce that John Travolta had been killed in a car accident in America, and played a recording of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life," for some reason, in memoriam. The show then continued and the next day I found out that John Travolta had not died after all.

Owl City + LIGHTS

2010-01-14T11:19:00.000-08:00

Things you should know:

1. Everybody says Owl City is a ripoff of the Postal Service, which is pretty true, but if you had ever heard Massive Habit, you would be saying Owl City was a ripoff of Massive Habit.

2. I thought LIGHTS was the girl version of Owl City, but she is more self-consciously influenced by 80s pop. I'm going to go ahead and guess that she was not actually alive during the 80s. (Close: she was born in 1987.)

3. Lights and Owl City represent the natural progression of the way Christian rock music has been progressing for the last 20 years. The important elements include:

- vaugely positive lyrics

- "safe" lyrical themes (i.e. talking about "love" in very general ways)

- super-loud vocals

- Earnestness

- elements of a slightly older "counterculture" (e.g., "indie synth pop," "electro," etc) with a pop sheen (to be fair it is not only Christian rock that does this)

- Most significantly, never having had anything to do with any business that could be construed as being involved with the "Christian music industry"

- More to come if I can think of it

Recently

2009-12-29T20:36:00.000-08:00

Love and Hate and Lists @ Good Letters
Could Church Become a Playground for All? (On Todd Fadel and Love is Concrete) @ Sojourners

Coming 2k9: some kind of vague top whatevers list (more like "records I heard this year" list)
Coming 2k10: Sixpence None the Richer returns, the state of Christian pop music, and the freaking boooook

SYNTHAR - Small Coastal Towns video World Premier!

2009-12-17T16:20:00.001-08:00

Starring Johnny, Andrew, me, and Sarah!

Cameo by Jacinda's feet and bicycle!

Directed/edited by Sarah! Great job!

SYNTHAR - Small Coastal Towns from Sarah Heng Hartse on Vimeo.

2009-12-08T03:02:00.001-08:00

Cut Me Down and Count My Rings

2009-11-24T20:31:00.001-08:00

Review of new Half-Handed Cloud compilation.

(x) + Beatbox

2009-11-20T11:29:00.000-08:00

Everything I Have Ever Written About Weezer and the Rentals, Including Things I Wrote in College, 2000-2009

2009-11-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

What is it about Rivers Cuomo and Matt Sharp that makes my word count runneth over? I'm not sure I know any more. At first it was because I loved their music, and now maybe it's because I measure myself against the way I used to feel about their music, the changes and gaps between now and then. Anyway, here is a list of twelve pieces I have written during the last nine years. I can't promise this list is finished, either, because Jessica Suarez's Pinkerton book is coming out next year, as is (probably) the deluxe reissue of that record. I am hoping that after those come out, I will be able to wash my hands of this whole business. But I kind of doubt it. Note: the last 3 pieces mentioned here have been published within the last week, two of them today.

Weezer: Our Hope for the Future

Written as Weezer was beginning to emerge from their 1997-2001 hiatus. This was the height of my obsession with the band, obviously, and a setup for the anguish and heartbreak that was to come. I really believed that Weezer was going to save popular music. I was wrong.

Review of Weezer (2001)

The disappointment begins. Waited in line at midnight to buy with record with Gwen and Sarah at Sonic Boom in Fremont (RIP), even though I had already heard the mp3s and gotten a promo copy of it. Saul really was singing "Island in the Sun" all the time.

Review of Maladroit

I bought Maladriot at an HMV in Bath, UK the day it came out. I kind of fell in love with it during the rest of my trip, even though I also thought it was pretty bad. My friend Brian and I sat at the back of the our study-tour bus and belted out the lyrics to "Take Control." We were also really into Andrew WK for a few months, so it kind of fit in with the whole feel of the trip.

Matt Sharp: From Weezer to Quiet Troubadour

I interviewed Matt Sharp for Paste during his super-low-key comeback tour. The music was really long, slow, and boring, but I liked it. This was the first of three times I have interviewed Sharp. To be diplomatic: it is not easy to pull out coherent quotes from these interviews.

Review of Make Believe

An not very good record that I did not buy. I don't know who I wrote this review for, but it was never published except for on this blog.

Please Let that Be You: The Return of the Rentals, Seriously

Not unlike the piece I wrote during the Weezer hiatus, this piece for the Portland Mercury (from a phone interview with Sharp after the first reunited Rentals tour began) is mostly me thinking that maybe a band that made two of my favorite records is going to make some great music. Once again, I may not have been entirely right.

Review of the Last Little Life EP

I'm pretty sure this is an accurate assessment of the first recording by the New-Rentals, who disappeared almost as quickly as they were assembled.

MISSING: A feature on the Rentals for the Inlander

I can't find this anywhere, but it is pretty similar to the Mercury piece, except I was more skeptical. Again based on a phone interview. Their show in Spokane was the last one I went to before moving to China, and also the time I realized that rock and roll shows were no longer as important to me as they used to be.

Review of Rivers Cuomo's Alone

Yes, I am the totally cliche Weezer fan who hates Weezer, and only likes obscure unreleased things they did between 1994 and 1998.

Review of Weezer (2008)

A review of Weezer's almost good third s/t album.

Review of Songs About Time

The Rentals are getting better, I think -- I haven't listened to the thing as a whole record yet, but I'm liking many of the individual songs. Songs About Time is also an interesting look at what happens when the music industry implodes and you resurrect a band that existed during the height of the CD era.

Review of Raditude

Notice I have not even really tried to make a value judgement about the latest Weezer record. The single is fantastic, but the rest of the record, well ... I simply can't evaluate it. It's beyond "good" or "bad."

She Says It's All Right

A short personal essay about (what else?) being a teenager, love, girls, ambivalence, and the Rentals, which I started writing almost five years ago, now up at Good Letters.

Why We Do What We Do

2009-11-10T22:48:00.000-08:00

"This is gonna sound really weird, guys... honestly, I don't think our movies should be watched. I have no idea why we make them. All I know is this: we keep coming here after school every single day, and we just keep doing it, and, I don't know -- it's just, and then, we just do it, and I guess it feels like we should just be doing it, I guess. I don't know." - Brenden Small

Wednesday Clips

2009-11-04T11:45:00.001-08:00

A review of Joy Electric's new covers album of recent hit songs, Favorites at Play, at Christianity Today's new music website. (CT sold Christian Music Today, and I am happy that these pieces are now appearing in a venue which does not have the words "Christian music" in it.)

Various Artists

2009-10-30T10:20:00.000-07:00

1. Look for the November 2009 print edition of Christianity Today for a short review of the new Mountain Goats album and a longer one of the two Bifrost Arts CDs. I'll be doing a few more reviews before the year is over (Joy Electric, Amy Millan, the Rentals, maybe Weezer if I can bring myself to do it), but this is about it for the more substantial music-writing stuff of 2009. I think.

2. The Books are on tour, check the dates and this cool video:

11/19 Waltham, MA Rose Art Museum
11/21 Bellingham, WA Mainstage
11/23 Los Angeles, CA Masonic Lodge @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery
11/24 Seattle, WA Triple Door (2 sets, early and late)
11/25 Vancouver, BC The Clutch
11/26 Calgary, AB Broken City
11/27 San Francisco, CA Noe Valley Ministry
11/28 San Francisco, CA Noe Valley Ministry
11/29 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom
11/30 Madison, WI Majestic Theatre
12/01 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center

3. This cracks me up.

Why I Still Sometimes Go to Rock Shows (re: Last night's Amy Millan concert at the Biltmore)

2009-10-25T18:26:00.000-07:00

Because sometimes Torquil Campbell suddenly shows up to sing "Calendar Girl," leading a crowd of 200 too-cool 30something white people in a purely joyful chorus of "I'm aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive."

The End of Musical Memory

2009-10-22T11:24:00.000-07:00

The gradual fading away of the autobiographical record collection, at Good Letters.

From the Annals of Gutsy Performances

2009-10-21T15:01:00.001-07:00

Yet Another of My Little Airport's topical political songs (like last year's "Donald Tsang, Please Die"): "I Love the Country, But Not the Party." Performed in Shanghai, believe it or not. I should point out that MLA is from Hong Kong, but still, I think performing this song in the birthplace of the CPC is pretty gutsy.

I love the Country, but not the Party by My Little Airport from btr on Vimeo.

Turning the Gospel Ship Around

2009-10-13T10:54:00.001-07:00

A feature on Great Comfort Records at Christianity Today.

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock Reunions

2009-10-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Prayer Chain peforms "Sky High," from their mind-blowingly great 1996 album Mercury, at Spaceland in Los Angeles in 2003. I was unable to find any good 1990s footage of songs from Mercury. If you know of any live recordings of "Humb" or "Sun Stoned," let me know.

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock (8)

2009-10-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

MxPx performs "The Downfall of Western Civilization," a song that really has no right to its unwieldy title, from their album Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo, at the Cornerstone festival in Bushnell, Illinois, 1998.

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock (7)*

2009-10-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Black Eyed Sceva performs "Mudhouse" from their only full-length album, Way Before the Flood, at the Screem in Los Angeles, 1995.

Previously on the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock:

Seven Day Jesus - "Pavement"

Hoi Polloi - "Big Fat Happy Day"

Sixpence None the Richer - "Love, Salvation, the Fear of Death"

Poor Old Lu - "Thoughtless"

PFR - "Goldie's Last Day"

Starflyer 59 - "The Translator"

*I realize that the last one was number 7, but the first post in this series didn't have a video of a live performance, so I'm not counting that one any more.

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock (7)

2009-10-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

Starflyer 59 performs "The Translator" from their third album, Americana. Jacksonville, Florida, 1998.

Still the Echo's Achin'

2009-10-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

Tentative introduction to Judee Sill at Good Letters.

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock (6)

2009-10-01T10:34:00.001-07:00

Love Coma - "Heart Wide Open" (yes that is Matt Slocum on guitar, not looking at the camera, which he has not done in the 15 years since, either)

AND

PFR - "Goldie's Last Day"

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock (5)

2009-09-30T21:40:00.001-07:00

Poor Old Lu performing "Thougtless" at Cornerstone, 1994.

Like I Even Have a Choice

2009-09-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

My review of David Bazan's Curse Your Branches is at Christianity Today.

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock (4)

2009-09-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

Sixpence None the Richer performs "Love, Salvation, the Fear of Death" at the Screem in Los Angeles, 1995

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock (3)

2009-09-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

Hoi Polloi - "Big Fat Happy Day" from the 1995 album Happy Ever After.

Best Christian grunge band ever?

From the Annals of 1990s Christian Rock

2009-09-25T16:19:00.001-07:00

Seven Day Jesus performing the song "Pavement" in 1996.

Djembe + Acoustic Guitar = Engaging the Culture

2009-09-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

"Wherever two or more SPU students are gathered (for any reason), it is basically a foregone conclusion that one of them will produce an acoustic guitar [and the other one will produce a djembe] and start singing a praise-and-worship song." - Me, 2003

www.spu.edu

Annals of 1990s Christian Rock

2009-09-19T01:03:00.000-07:00

Johnny Q Public. Yeah!

Buy their 1995 record Extra*Ordinary for 14 cents, and

listen to songs by Dan Fritz, circa now.

Moby-Brock or, the Modest Whale

2009-09-04T08:37:00.001-07:00

Awesome headline for my overblown Modest Mouse thinkpiece: "Ripping Through Flesh, Wailing." An article about Modest Mouse, Heath Ledger, Whaling, Non-Political Music, and Guitars. I liked writing it, hope you like reading it.

Chinese Indie Rock Bands Tour the US

2009-08-28T07:10:00.001-07:00

Hedgehog, Queen Sea Big Shark, and Casino Demon on the Sing for China Tour! You should go!

Sept. 5 - Hocofest (Tucson, AZ)
Sept. 6 - The Che Cafe, UCSD (San Diego, CA)
Sept. 8 - Silverlake Lounge (Los Angeles, CA)
Sept. 9 - Bottom Of The Hill (San Francisco, CA)
Sept. 11 - Artistery w/ Panther (Portland, OR)
Sept. 12 - Oregon State University (Corvalis, OR)
Sept. 14 - El Corazon (Seattle, WA)
Sept. 15 - The Urban Lounge (Salt Lake City, UT)
Sept. 16 - Sokol Underground (Omaha, NE)
Sept. 17 - University of Minnesota, St. Paul Student Center (St. Paul, MN)
Sept. 18 - Iowa State University (Ames, IA)
Sept. 19 - Purdue University (Lafayette, IN)
Sept. 20 - Lager House (Detroit, MI)
Sept. 24 - Bennett Media Studio (New York, NY)
Sept. 25 - Modern Sky Festival NYC @ Columbia University (New York, NY)
Sept. 27 - Chinese Culture Festival (Washington, DC)

Thursday Clip and Looking Ahead

2009-08-27T08:55:00.001-07:00

A review of Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur in the North Coast Journal.

Coming in the last quarter of 2009: the Rentals, Great Comfort Records, David Bazan, The Mountain Goats, Bifrost Arts, and Modest Mouse.

A few magazine stories planned for the first half of 2010, and (probably) a book next summer. Too early to talk about it really. In the meantime, round 2 of grad school starts next week.

St. Moz

2009-08-16T01:37:00.000-07:00

I wish I had seen Morrissey singing "I Have Forgiven Jesus" dressed in a priest's collar a lot sooner, because it makes the song make a lot more sense. It also totally works as an anguished teen abstinence song.

That is all.

Thursday Clip

2009-08-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Just this one, a review of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bible! by Jonathan Goldstein, in the NCJ.

Junk

2009-08-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

Reviews for Christian Music Today: Showbread and Soul-Junk.

The First Pop Record I Ever Heard

2009-08-09T23:02:00.000-07:00

Was an LP put out by the Christian non-profit organization World Vision, called Great Moments in Gospel Music, featuring, most notably for me, "Great is the Lord" by Michael W. Smith, and "Angels" by Amy Grant. It was released in 1987. I assume my parents got it around that time, and I have memories of listening to it sometime after we had recently moved to Spokane, which jives with that chronology.

I've always ascribed significance (I'm not sure what kind of significance, really, because it was a weird choice - see below) to the fact that the first pop album I ever bought on my own was We Can't Dance by Genesis, but I never thought far back enough to this record. I just dug it out of a box in the storage room.

Summer's half over. I have a couple more pieces to write before it's all over, and another project I'll announce in a month or two.

Thursday Clip

2009-08-06T07:20:00.001-07:00

Today's Thursday Clip (just one) comin' atcha from Belcarra, British Columbia.

Joel on Joel in the Inlander

Suddenly I am a Christian Media Mogul

2009-07-30T16:10:00.000-07:00

Working on assignments for Relevant, Christianity Today, and Sojourners. How did that happen?

Also, check out the tracklist for the Mountain Goats record out Oct. 6. Think I'll be writing about it?

The Life Of The World To Come:
"1 Samuel 15:23"
"Psalms 40:2"
"Genesis 3:23"
"Philippians 3:20-21"
"Hebrews 11:40"
"Genesis 30:3"
"Romans 10:9"
"1 John 4:16"
"Matthew 25:21"
"Deuteronomy 2:10"
"Isaiah 45:23"
"Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace"

Thursday Clip

2009-07-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

Today's Thursday Clip comin' atcha from Dundee, Oregon.

The Inlander: Cave Singers

The Return of Thursday Clips After a Two-year Absence

2009-07-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Today's Thursday clips comin' atcha from Spokane, WA:

Inlander: Tiny Vipers
North Coast Journal: Northern California Jesus Movement (check out the Radiance Restoration Music Project website to order some of this remarkable music)

More next Thursday!

Everyone But Me

2009-07-10T06:17:00.001-07:00

Nathan "Porch Swing Summer"
Matt "Simplicity"
Kevin "Lamplighter"
Andrew "Hurting Each Other"

Summer Job Day 1

2009-07-09T07:41:00.000-07:00

7:40 AM. Breakfast eaten, cup of tea, ol' trusty laptop plugged in and possibly ready to electrocute me, non-GFW'd internet fired up, stack of records (real and digital) to listen to, and goal borrowed from something I read on Jessica Suarez's blog: "completing and submitting one piece a day."

At Good Letters (I haven't been linking to all of these, so feel free to browse the archives): "My Summer Job."

It's About Time

2009-06-21T07:15:00.001-07:00

Amazing, the new Rentals material (Songs About Time, all can be heard on MySpace) is actually good. I think none of the Rentals MK II circa 2007 are even involved. Apparently the formula is [Matt Sharp's Ego] + [Whoever is around him that can play instruments] = good music. I do not have the patience or interest or fast enough internet to keep up with all these movies or whatever they are also making, but I am digging the music.

Around the Well

2009-06-17T16:19:00.001-07:00

A review of Iron and Wine's Around the Well for Christianity Today's music website.

Currently setting up summer assignments to work on in July-August. Get in touch if you have something I should be writing about or you are someone I should be writing for.

2009-06-04T15:00:00.001-07:00

It's June 4.

I Was Suprised to Hear These Two Songs In A Row (or at all)

2009-05-28T21:00:00.001-07:00

In the cafeteria yesterday, I guess the radio was playing, and I heard two unexpected songs in a row:

1. "Touch My Body" by Mariah Carey. I had heard this in a taxi a few days before (and at the time I didn't know it was Mariah Carey), but my point is that this song is much too dirty for Chinese radio. Are they playing it in America?

2. "Travelling Light" by Joel Hanson and Sara Groves. It wasn't just that I heard a bunch of what you might call "worship keywords" (river, lay my burdens down, etc) it was that I instantly thought "Wait a minute, this is Joel Hanson." His is a voice I have known well since I was thirteen years old, Hanson being the singer of PFR, my favorite band when I was a teenager. I was kind of thrilled.

So there you have it. Chinese radio: sex ballads and Christian worship songs in succession.

ALSO, this is a depressing headline: "Jeff Buckley Remembered in Podcast."

Swears and Rumors of Swears

2009-05-20T00:14:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm sorry, but I had to. At Good Letters, something about bad words and Christian rock.

At Christian music today, 100 word review of the mewithoutYou record.

كل عناية فكرة منك

2009-05-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

mewithoutYou @ Good Letters: here.

Now Is Not Forever & Neither Was Then

2009-05-02T04:38:00.000-07:00

The First and I Assume Last Muslim Christian Rock Record

2009-04-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

Currently listening to a (legit advance) copy of mewithoutYou's It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright. So far it kind of sounds like a magic scarecrow made of fruit, vegetables, and healthy whole grains. If I had to sum up the arc of the band's career up in one awkward vague phrase, it would be: "anxious suburban post-punk gradually uncurls into peripatetically pastoral inclusive post-folk."

Or whatever. I'm on "Bullet to Binary (Pt 2)" and it is like a scarier, durgier "Idioteque" by Radiohead.

Dissed in the Malibu

2009-04-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

Check Good Letters: apparently Say Anything actually has some bearing on my life. In fact, I'm thinking about reviving my annual Say Anything party. Do you think the themes work in the Chinese context? Perhaps not.

By the way, the best line in the movie is the tiny, quiet "how you doing" from Lloyd to Jim Court as they awkwardly wait for Diane.

New Hedgehog Record

2009-04-07T22:35:00.001-07:00

And currently touring China. In Hangzhou on Easter Sunday!

天天音乐！

2009-04-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Um, so I (and anyone else in China with an internet connection) can now pretty much DOWNLOAD any music ever released by a major label for free, legally, on my computer whenever I want. Thanks, Google China!

EDIT: Yes, you can actually download everything for free.

I guess I know what I'll be doing for the next few months.

Here is a story on this thing from Pitchfork. It's basically a way to make money (through ads) off of what everyone in China already does, which is downloading music for free. But now it's legal! This is a move by Google (partnering with Top100.cn) to challenge Baidu, a searrh engine which provides a lot of shady links to illegal downloads (which are suspected by some to be covertly hosted by Baidu itself). I have used Top100 to download Chinese music before, but this vastly expands the amount of legally/freely downloadable music.

Get Ready For Greatness, Lloyd

2009-04-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

What song is John Cusack playing in the guitar shop scene (57:38) of Say Anything? (Actually, it's just 3 chords - but is it supposed to be a particular song?) Theories are welcome.

Fight w/Tools

2009-03-24T00:59:00.001-07:00

A blog to let you know I blogged a blog at another blog: Flobots at Good Letters.

Who Lives in a House Like This

2009-03-02T03:37:00.000-08:00

I am still waiting for confirmation on whether or not the Chinese version of this song I heard actually exists (I mean, obviously, I think it does), but in the meantime, I've written about it at Good Letters. For your listening and viewing pleasure, then, I present the runner-up by a long shot to "Female of the Species," "Neighbourhood." I particularly like the frontman's teeth and anorak!

The Inevitable Sonseed Commentary, &c

2009-02-05T02:14:00.000-08:00

At Good Letters, we are talking about Catholic (non)rock and the viral video "Jesus is My Friend" by Sonseed. I fully expect to be taken to task for saying Catholics don't rock, and I also hope I will be proven wrong by people pointing me to great Catholic rock records. If you want more information about Sonseed, I recommend reading this interview at the blog Dougsploitation. And how about watching live recording, instead of the video you've already seen?

Elsewhere, my piece "The Hidden Heart of Hangzhou" has been polished up and is in the new issue of That's Shanghai.

Finally, if you are interested in Sixpence None the Richer, like I am, you might want to check out the "ouevreblog" I am writing about them, Songs that Explain.

My Imperfect Offering: A Call for Contributions

2009-01-29T21:11:00.000-08:00

A call for contributions

I am going to try to put together a zine this year and I'm inviting you to contribute.

It will be a one-time (with the hope of more times) publication about the intersection of popular music, religion, and real life. The plan is to get it printed here in China, where I live, where printing is way cheap, and make it available when I return to the US in the summer. It will be a short print run. I'm not sure how short - pretty short.

So, what I am looking for is personal/revelatory writing about the relationship between (pop) music and religion. The only theme I have in mind is the word "sacrament," which I think is broad and vague enough to drum up some non-broad and vague stories in which pop music is somehow a tangible force, an object that actually is part of things. Not a bunch of boring "analysis." Maybe like about 400 to 1000 words, but could be more or less. I'd be looking for something you have not published before and which you can agree to not put on the internet. In fact I don't care if you want to publish it again in another print form, as long as it will not be on the internet. If you feel like you can trust me, after one year I will split all the proceeds among all contributors (after printing and mailing costs). You will probably get, like, a dollar.

PLUS (appreciated):

+ conflict / crisis + stories + "secular" music + religious music approached in new/interesting ways + revelatory things about human nature + particular religious tradition(s) + albums no one has heard of

MINUS (less appreciated but not totally illegal):

- Making fun of Christian music -"analysis" - Writing about being a writer - Albums made in the 21st century - Using the word "culture" - "spiritual but not religious"

A few particular things that would be welcome aside from what's mentioned above:

- Reviews of obscure albums from the 20th century

- Interviews with relatively non-famous people who have done something unique with pop music and religion

- Writing by or about priests, nuns or monks, especially if you can find any who have been in rock bands.

Please get in touch in the next few weeks if you are interested. You can email me via the link on the right-hand side of this blog.

Not From Beijing: Chinese Indie Rock

2009-01-27T18:51:00.001-08:00

Here is the piec e that I tentatively titled Notable Indie Rock Releases of 2008 By Bands Not From Beijing, for Blurt (formerly Harp). I highly recommend Wang Wen's album IV - my favorite Chinese release of 2008 - and also Graeme Nicol's photos of their 2008 tour here.

Other notable Chindie releases of 2008:

Brain Failure - Beijing Calling EP (with Chuck D). This is "notable," but not good. Imagine an Irish-American punk band feauturig a Chuck D impersonator and you've got it. (Yes, I know it is the actual Chuck D.)

Two compilations from NeoCha.com's Netlabel - Tomorrow's Afternoon Tea (female indie s/s - download)and Post-Rock (um, post-rock - download). NeoCha is like MySpace for China, but a thousand times better because it's still "underground," if that's possible. Their NEXT streaming audio player is an excellent way to hear bazillions of completely unknown Chinese bands.

B6 - Post Haze. Shanghai producer and 1/2 of synthpop duo I-GO.

PK14 - City Weather Sailing (download or stream, try not to be scared of all that Chinese. Maybe you can start learning!). Fantastically dark and complex record from one of Beijing's longest-lasting indie bands. Very strong contender for best album of the year, but not in the Blurt article because they are from BJ.

Sulumi - Chaotic Dances the Function. (download) 8-bit chaos - notable but not my 一杯茶。

Finally: 0ne of the best resources for independent Chinese music -- especially if you don't read Chinese, which I don't -- is the Rock in China wiki, an absolute goldmine of information.

Can Bands "Do" Things Without Doing Things?

2009-01-26T15:37:00.001-08:00

I happened to notice the headline for the article about the winner of this year's Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll: "The Revenge of TV on the Radio: Bob Dylan (and the Voice itself) finally humbled, Dear Science wins the 36th Annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll." Apparently last year, or two years ago, more people voted for Dylan (and the Voice ran a cover with a drawing of Dylan running over TVOTR in a car or something like that), but not this year. So here's the thing: to say TV On the Radio "got revenge" on Bob Dylan implies that the band did something.

The best writing about music -- or about anything, for that matter -- cracks things open, reveals things. Finding what's hidden and bringing to light what a band or album does is a worthwhile pursuit for the critic. But it's kind of funny when music critics (myself included) exercise this power to animate bands and albums, to suggest that a band or album has done something when what has actually happened is that the band or album has been written about or understood in a certain way. It's a kind of speech act by proxy (or maybe not by proxy, actually), but does it hold the same weight as a minister saying "I now pronounce you husband and wife?"

The Voice declares that TV on the Radio got revenge, Bob Dyland and the Voice were humbled, and Dear Science won the poll. It seems that only the last act is true. If somebody writes "Band X has won Contest Y," where Contest Y is a critics' poll, the subject, the doer, is obviously Band X, but of course the Band had nothing to do with winning the contest. The implication, "I declare that Band X has won Contest Y," itself implies, "According to the rules, which are that if enough people say Band X is the best band, I will declare that Band X has won Contest Y." That all seems legit, but the other things can't be said to have actually taken place outside a few (hundred?) peoples' imagination -- or maybe not even that. I guess it depends on what you think of critics' polls in general.

Sad Robots / Why I Write What I Write

2009-01-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

808s and Heartbreak in the NCJ,

Self-indulgent navelgazing at Good Letters.

Marco Collins on KEXP - "This is the first time I've been on the radio in Seattle in 11 years"

2009-01-12T23:23:00.000-08:00

I am listening to KEXP right now and this DJ keeps talking about how he's nervous and it's his first show ever on KEXP. And it turns out it's Marco Collins! Former host of the Young and the Restless on KNDD (The End) a hundred years ago! Who remembers MxPx's live acoustic version of "Chick Magnet"?

Also he is playing a ton of Pacific NW music circa 1994. Awesome.

2008 Reviews

2009-01-09T00:05:00.000-08:00

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion
Juno OST
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward
Weezer - Weezer
Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
Ben Folds - Way to Normal
Portishead - Third
P.O.D. - Where Angels and Serpents Dance

I guess that's all the album reviews I wrote this year. Was that it? I think a few more late reviews on 2008 releases will be forthcoming.