| what is not but could be if |
[12 Aug 2008|11:48pm] |
the first song on the new silver jews album is understated and perhaps under-appreciated because of it. "what is not but could be if" has become a mantra of sorts for me. i have succeeded in proving to myself that practically anything i apply myself to is attainable even if the end result is different or out of line with how i originally felt it would be; an easy result to predict in a lot of ways.
regardless
fortitude, persistence and perseverance remain intact
i am now motivated more than ever to at the very least not exist in a miserable depression and hope for the best, a possible impractical dream, of achieving some sort of relyable serenity
really thats all.
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| 5 songs in... |
[22 Jun 2008|10:17pm] |
...does the new Girl Talk, Feed the Animals, retain the sublime sugary charm of Night Ripper? no. Now mind you at this moment I still need to spin though another 9 songs but the formula established so far is disjointed, over-barring and lacking any cohesion or direction what so ever. The samples and themes have no time to breathe before being stuffed with another pop reference. Consider it the KISS of DJing; overindulgent and empty yet enjoyable enough to hold your attention for a few repeat listens most likely.
ok, done with 7 songs; "Lip Gloss" is sampled pretty well; I am fairly certain that I am biased on that one. Ditto on the Of Montreal sample in track 8, "Give Me a Beat". That right that is the blatant problem, the majority of the appeal is a pseudo game of Name That Tune.
Fuck, you just had to sample "Love Fool" didn't you? You sneaky cheap bastard. "Hands in the Air" best track so far for sure.
So at the pfork festival last year Leslie and I tried to attend the Girl Talk set. We waited in the audience for well over an hour in an over-saturated crowd that was impatient and fucking hot. The prior set had been shut down by the fire marshal due to the crowd almost taking down stage from being over-crammed. So the sad story ends with him starting up, the sound sucking beyond all hell and the only crowd members who enjoyed anything being within a 20 foot radius of the front (we were probably 40 feet back).
"Let Me See You" had some wicked 80s nostalgia against M.I.A.; again really awesome initially but based completely on my specific taste and not necessarily any unique personally or creativity in the music itself. I like Girl Talk, I really do. Night Ripper was fun and still has legs for repeat listens now and then. The issue is the formula is never deviated from, its an empty emulation of a proper presentation of his live set.
Side-Note: A friend of mine from the Co-Op, Peter, noted the irony in sampling Sinead 'o Connor's "Nothing Compares to You" behind Too Short's "Blowjob Betty"
Ok playing the last track; the second half had more stand-outs than the beginning but overall its too schitzofrentic. Using "Lollypop", Lil Wayne's worst track on the awesome "Da Carter III" doesn't help finish the album off.
But you should probably download it anyway.
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[22 Jun 2008|09:57am] |
The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.
-- Noam Chomsky
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[21 May 2008|09:51pm] |
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Xiu Xiu will be at the High Noon on September 5th!
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| like OMG |
[11 May 2008|01:54pm] |
so on a saturday evening in september you will find me attending a My Bloody Valentine show at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago.
As I say that a "fault" light flashes in my head as to indicate that the previous sentence is incorrect; the words "attending" "show" "My Bloodly Valentine" should never be spoken from my mouth in the same sentiment, it just doesn't make sense. But No! Its true I will be seeing the band that made my favorite musical statement of all time, I will be in the crowd staring up with adoration at Kevin Shields.
This brings up another element to this trip. You see I am getting married. Yes! There will be a, as in one, single, not dating, girl at the MBV show and I will probably be rolling a little and we will meet and...
child
wedding
child
death
and that will be my life story
I am seeing MBV in September
(for this favor from Whoever I will be ok if the Chiefs never ever win again)
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| oh yeah... |
[21 Feb 2008|06:20pm] |
...i completely forgot that I did accomplish finishing my list of top musical shit this year; I even finished it 7 weeks ago! but hub-bub and all that led to me forgetting to, you know, tell people about it.
so you can find it on my RYM here (pretty pictures included)
cal also decided to post it to you-phoria
and for compare 'n contrast you can check out cal's list (cal having the best music taste of anyone i know)
also bought the new Disfear album today as well as Dead Kennedys "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables"
Disfear is a little redundant between the tracks but has a nice kick in the balls thoughout
the Dead Kennedy's i resisted checking out for awhile for whatever stupid f'n reason but oh my god, so good.
-Matthew
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| 185 |
[15 Feb 2008|07:00pm] |
so when i was in high school attending east i weighed roughly 195 lbs
after i graduated while dating val i weighed between 200-210
from there i settled into 215-220 for a few years
and in november of 2006 when i was the most unhealthy i had every been in my life from mucho stress and poor eating habits to match i clocked in at 234 at one point
so i said "fuck that"
I started to see a behavorial therapist to treat my anxiety and help alleviate my depression and neurotic behaviors which i still battle today
then i started trying to integrate just a few minor exercises into my daily routine at home
after which i started to attend a yoga class every week which i now routinely hit up twice a week with 4 days of home practice
I also started trying to eat better by shopping at the co op
which led to me being hired there in july (one of the best moves i have ever made) where i now love going into work and even get more exercise from all the boxes i lift all day; i also eat nothing but organic co op food
and from all of that i now weigh 185 lbs, the lowest i have been since i was in 8th grade
i just had to get that out of my system
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| lets not go there |
[14 Feb 2008|06:50am] |
its been a hell of a week
many soaring highs
and punishing lows
so while i was walking around cleaning my house last night and preparing to move into my most awesomest of awesome sublet off of lake mendota i heard the following on family guy
Peter Griffin: Oh, that was fantastic. Hey, where’d you get that tattoo on your lower back?
Lois Griffin: I don’t know, Peter. Meth is a hell of a drug.
Peter Griffin: What?
Lois Griffin: All right, Peter, you ready for role-playing night? Here comes Grimace! Ya got some hamburgers?
and i must say the meth comment nearly made me collapse mid-stride.
it was great to say the least.
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| a very speical gift for an unspecial cause |
[07 Feb 2008|06:32am] |
so Xiu Xiu, the best band in the world currently, did this little diddy a few days ago where they asked fans to send in a photo of themselves holding up the new album, Women as Lovers, as well as submitting answers to a few choice questions with the photo (how do you want to die?, what lie do you enjoy telling people? etc etc etc) and in return Jamie Stewart, the lead guy, would write each person a haiku.
So I did it of course and got this:
may your wish come true
ask me oh ho ho ask me
die a sunny death
by jamie stewart
for Matthew Krenning
Now If I could just remember my responses that led toward him wishing me a sunny death...
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| one of the more interesting mixes I have made |
[09 Jan 2008|09:15pm] |
so last night zak and I got on the theme of songs that are somehow so distinctly tied to a memory between the two of us that the song itself, regardless of quality, takes on a new level of importance.
I would think it to be more interesting to try and imagine all the stories behind this diverse group of tracks then for all of them to be reveled (this being a list narrowed down from a group of 35 initially)
Mix:
damn its been almost 10 years
1. Where It's At - Beck
2. Prophesy - Zak Berntsen
3. Hit It and Quit It - Funkadelic
4. Art Star - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5. The Move - Beastie Boys
6. Halleluhwah - Can
7. Intermission (Matthew Krenning Remix) - The Offspring
8. Theme From Mission: Impossible - Larry Mullen, Jr.
9. Metaphysical - Handsome Boy Modeling School
10. When Girls Telephone Boys - Deftones
11. What's the Difference - Dr. Dre
12. Mashin' on the Motorway - DJ Shadow
13. Sister Ray - The Velvet Underground
14. This Is Your Life - The Dust Brothers
...I just noticed that there are three tracks in there produced by the dust brothers, interesting.
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| from the deep |
[09 Jan 2008|08:27pm] |
The co op is a fantasy world to me; its almost too ideal to seem real. This may sound strange when describing a grocery store but there is literally not one person there whom I don't get along with on some level while the rest have turned into some of my better friends. My conversations all day range from talking dance music and plotting our next adventure with Michael, the cashier, in the morning to discussing kung fu and action movies with lucus. The rest of the day is engaged in heavy debate and conversation of extensional, nihilism, buddhism and zen, politics, and lots and lots of videogames with Nate who also equates a lot of his current experiences though the interactions he has with his son, Ocean. Thats not to mention all the metal heads, paul evan and my boss, pearl, and the old indie rock/shoegazers in the deli...I could go on for a while to say the least.
The environment is completely open to anything and though present as is the norm for the entire planet, most sense of competition and "get to the top" mentality is almost non-existent.
so yeah, I like my job there.
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[26 Dec 2007|08:56am] |
So I employed some of my friends to contribute to a top 50 list that also utilized lists from music sites I trust.
You can read more about it here and check out the list by clicking here. If for whatever reason you dig a release on the list and want to post a write-up just shoot it my way and I will include that.
Happy Holidays!
-Matt K.
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| the little heart beats so fast |
[15 Nov 2007|12:08pm] |
so so yummy
so to say I am excited about the proper follow up to what is bar none my favorite musical endeavor ever put to wax is probably an understatement. Consider I have probably purchased the album at least 10-12 times for various people including 2 copies for myself (cd and vinyl).
oh kevin shields how do you always know how to make me blush
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| in memoriam (Stylus Magazine 2002-07) |
[02 Nov 2007|05:47pm] |
another website has come and gone. i can deal with this, i mean i have dealt with it before (you can't really kill ndorks btw as they will always re-rise up again mightier than before).
i found stylus in 2003 which is around the time were i transformed from Matthew-K.-listens-to-a-lot-of-music into damn-lets-figure-out-what-Matt-K.-doesn't-listen-to-yet which btw is still a lot. A lot of my transformation had to do with two musical influences, stylus and pitchfork. at this point i would give half the hairs on my head and all my chest hair to switch which site god is about to take. Maybe I take that back as i don't want to be known to wish ill-will on anyone or anything I don't adequately know, which is everyone and everything, but losing stylus is seriously on par with losing a loved one.
oh how i hated them sometimes, i mean i really hated them (check out MEKsLP's (me) comments for the Grupo Montez de Durango review and The Top 10 Movies of 2004 for some of my better or worse moments depending on how you look at it). but aside from moments here and there where i questioned their sanity i loved how stylus felt connected to no pre-notions of what is considered bad or good which in itself is an issue i took with them from time to time.
but none of those issues matter anymore for they are gone. if anyone is wondering where i refound my love of mainstream pop look no further than stylus. How did i find such fucked up projects like Noze & The Caretaker? stylus. Pitchfork is great and all if you are looking for any all-encompassing indiezine where everything gets its wonderful number on a 100-point scale (a system which now disturbs and bothers me in numerous ways) but Stylus just put it all out there and let every reader debate and debunk it which made both them and me, the reader, that much more accountable.
Derek Miller's end of year (end of site) thoughts almost brought me to tears from all the parallels i have gone though in my life in the same time span not to mention how much it reminds me of everything that was right about how their site did it and how that is now gone. Seemingly every other music site out there is so disconnected from the "point" and from my sensibilities that i stress again, this is like a death in the family. If you have a chance to check out his article its amazing and should be read by pretty much anyone who has ever lost anything that tares at your core.
it didn't surprise me last week when I signed-on to read that they were closing though i didn't have any prior indication. i don't know why it didn't shock me but stylus always felt like a meticulously run pet-project who's life was predestined to end before it could really be appreciated. fuck i am so pissed about this now that i think about it.
fuck you fucking assholes, why hell is PJ Harvey's new album not higher than 50 for the year? Are you all a bunch of fucking idiots?
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[20 Oct 2007|06:02pm] |
So Spoon is playing at the Metro (in Chicago) on New Year's Eve for the "generous" price of $76 before the added ordering fees. The most I have ever paid for a concert is $85 for GBV's final show which oddly enough was on New Years Eve at the Metro 3 years ago...where I subsequently almost destroyed keith and I on the way home the next day in a car accident.
anyway the point of this is if there is a really hardcore Spoon fan out there wanting to over-spend on what will probably be an amazingly good time hit me up and I will probably submit to the price
otherwise I'm sure I will find other ways to occupy myself
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| damn it was a good day |
[30 Sep 2007|08:29pm] |
the chiefs kicked the shit out of the san diego chargers in san diego
i was offered a spot in a band once I get my sax skills back up
I am going on a two day trip with my new bud from the co op where we are going to M.I.A. shows in both Minneapolis and Chicago on back to back days
and the vegan pizza ordered at work today for inventory was quite scrumptious
...damn it was a good day.
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| a few years later... |
[11 Sep 2007|08:30pm] |
...things have changed, i have changed and seeing as how its been quite awhile i felt it time to do a list of my favorite rock albums.
definitive:
50. In Utero - Nirvana (1993)
49. The Air Force - Xiu Xiu (2006)
48. American Water - Silver Jews (1998)
47. Sea Change - Beck (2002)
46. Another Green World - Brian Eno (1975)
45. Cathedral + First Light's Freeze - Castanets (2004/2005)
44. Blonde on Blonde - Bob Dylan (1966)
43. Pet Sounds - Beach Boys (1966)
42. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths(1986)
41. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie (1972)
40. The Dismemberment Plan is Terrified - The Dismemberment Plan (1997)
39. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane (1965)
38. The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (1976)
37. The White Album - The Beatles (1968)
36. Rain Dogs - Tom Waits (1985)
35. Kid A - Radiohead (2000)
34. Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys (1989)
33. Rushmore (OST) - Various Artists (1956 - 1999)
32. This Nation's Saving Grace - The Fall (1985)
31. The Body, the Blood, the Machine - The Thermals (2006)
30. Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan (1965)
29. Fear of Music - Talking Heads (1979)
28. Yang Crime - Drive Like Jehu (1992)
27. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement (1994)
26. Greetings From Michigan: The Great Lake State - Sufjan Stevens (2003)
25. Entroducing - DJ Shadow (1996)
24. The Runners Four - Deerhoof (2005)
23. Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement (1993)
22. Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade (2005)
21. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - Wu-Tang Clan (1993)
20. Last Exit - Junior Boys (2004)
19. Chairs Missing - Wire (1978)
18. The Cold Vein - Cannibal Ox (2001)
17. London Calling - The Clash (1979)
16. Dolittle - Pixies (1989)
15. Madvillainy - Madvillain (2004)
14. The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground (1967)
13. Closer - Joy Divison (1980)
12. Music Has the Right to Children - Boards of Canada (1998)
11. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? - Of Montreal (2007)
10. OK Computer - Radiohead (1997)
09. Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth (1989)
08. Wowee Zowee - Pavement (1995)
07. Bee Thousand - Guided by Voices (1994)
06. Entertainment! - Gang of Four (1979)
05. Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan (1965)
04. Beggars Banquet - The Rolling Stones (1968)
03. The Moon & Antarctica - Modest Mouse (2000)
02. Spiderland - Slint (1991)
01. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (1992)
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| don't look at me that way |
[16 Aug 2007|08:54am] |
so my myspace is dead
troubled by the increasing meshing of practically everything labeled as "entertainment" with social networks I decided to jump ship and avoid some Orwellian catastrophe a few years down the road.
this really isn't my main blog at the moment but it will be my life-line to a few people I know and at the very least be avalible to anyone else who feels like ensuring I'm not completely a lost soul...yet
anyway
patton oswalt how i love you:
-Speaking of puppies, I remember a while ago you were on KROQ saying you wanted to coin a catch phrase like Larry the Cable Guy's "Git-er-done." So where are the "Put the puppy in the bucket" shirts, caps, and mugs? I'd buy one of those.
-And, for selling you one, I'd eternally suck cocks made of spider larvae in hell.
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| of note |
[01 Dec 2006|01:31pm] |
of note
oh yes I am still alive and surviving; just a dice roll away from getting my number called like everyone else
end of the year stuff is forthcoming including which tunes, albums and movies I dug this year. I am also going to update my Myspace/LiveJournal/every-other-social-networking-site-that-i-use-even-less-than-mysapce info, which has been long overdue (for anyone curious the current state of my favorite music section on myspace is from me attempting to update it two months ago and format it in a list where I soon became bored there after and stopped).
so all of that is coming in the next couple weeks and as always I look forward to hearing from anyone who may happen upon this.
finally I will be doing my pseudo Christmas gift for everyone again this year were I basically compile a mix of my favorite 80s mins worth of tunes released this year.
cheap, effective and oh so good; it will a treat for you and yours over this holiday season for sure.
If you want one you either need to hang out with me or give me an address to send it to. Really how hard is it to supply an address for 80 mins worth of amazing music?
love,
matt
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