Just saw that NPR is providing a "first listen" preview of the new Vaccines album: ENGLISH GRAFFITI.
I'm still digesting the album and I haven't had a full half hour to completely take it in one sitting so I'll hold off on reviewing it until I score a proper copy of it next week.
Friday, May 16th 2014 - was interesting because I worked 26 straight hours... went home for a 3.5 hour nap, returned at 2:00pm and worked until 8:00pm.
Let me be the first person to say that while it may sound insanely crazy to do - it's not exactly unheard of. I mean, I'm certain that there were enlisted people on the globe who pulled an identical amount of consecutive hours and unlike me, the were in harms way.
I'm pretty sure there was a doctor/nurse in the United States pulled a marathon shift and helped numerous people on a typical shift.
I read somewhere once that Sing has had tantric sex to someone for the same amount of time and I as the reader have never been the same since...
What I'm trying to get at is... the experience was an eye-opening one. I kinda tapped into something within me that I didn't know I had. An inexplicable reserve of "something" that allowed me to propel forward so that we could meet a deadline set for Friday afternoon.
We made our deadline and I couldn't have done it without the help of 3 co-workers, whom I'm incredibly fortunate to also call friends. We're exactly 29 days away from launching the most time consuming project of my lifetime and I've extinguished any fears of making this leap forward. I'm actually pretty excited to do it. The Go Live will require an identical marathon of uninterrupted alertness - but I now know how to channel that indescribable thing out.
During said 26 hours of "awake" - I listened to a shit load of albums. I technically could have selected 10 to 15 things that listened to from beginning to end but I settled on Elvis Costello's debut album My Aim Is True.
Main for the intro track "Welcome to the Working Week".
If you're unfamiliar with Elvis Costello and his work - I beg that you stop whatever you're doing and buy this album. It's easily on my list of Top 5 debut albums of all time... It's one incredible track after another and it's also a great record to read about.
Other stand out tracks:
Artists: Elvis Costello
Album: My Aim Is True
Producer: Nick Lowe
Label: Columbia, Rhino
Recorded: Pathway Studios
Stopped into the office on Saturday to help build a production environment for a project that is slated to officially go live on June 16th... The office is filled with co-workers who volunteered to sacrifice about 8 hours of their weekend to help get this software off the ground.
I've opted to not pump music through the headphones and just play music that everyone can work along to. I have a sense of what everyone likes to listen to and I can pretty much play a recognizable album from the 90s and make everyone happy.
I pulled out a favorite of mine that I haven't heard in a while... Soul Asylum's - Grave Dancers Union. An album that has a handful of memorable singles and a couple of great deep cuts that never seem to get enough attention.
Example: Without a Trace - The song features one of my favorite opening lyrics:
I fell In Love with a hooker
She Laughed in my Face
The song has a theme that I always take a strong liking too... it talks about picking up and leaving a place without notice. I don't know why I fantasize about this so much... but it's soothing that I think about with great regularity.
The album also features a song called New World, a swelling power ballad that seems to be missing from musical artists I listen to these days. I many need to sit and dwell on that comment....
Anyhoo, the album brought back a number of great memories, if you haven't heard this in a while I highly recommend it.
Stand out tracks:
Artists: Soul Asylum
Album: Grave Dancers Union
Producer: Michael Beinhorn
Label: Columbia
Recorded: The Powerstation and River Sound
Today's album of the day was fully influenced by the passing of Phillip Seymour Hoffman... The moment I heard of his passing - all I could think about was him playing the part of Lester Bangs in the movie Almost Famous.
I'm strongly of the opinion that Fun House and their Self Titled debut are better albums... but it's really hard to gather thoughts on why when heroine has claimed another artist I admire.
If you're unfamiliar with the work of Iggy & the Stooges - you're pretty fortunate to have your head caved in by the opening track - Search and Destroy. I envy you in a weird way...
Play any of these suggested tracks LOUDLY:
Artist: Iggy & the Stooges
Album: Raw Power
Producer: Iggy Pop, David Bowie
Label: Columbia
Recorded: CBS Studios, Whitfield Street
Dilemma of the day - should I plunk down 60 bucks and watch the Royal Rumble because I have a faint interest in watching Wrestlemania 30 in April... or pocket 60 bucks and hate watch the Grammys.
I'm leaning towards the latter one because everyone will be tweeting the awards ceremonies and I always have an interest in what wins the album of the year.
Sorta torn on who I want album of the year to go to... Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City - was my favorite album of 2012. But because of the strange calendar year that the Grammy operates in, I always find it odd that they are recognizing something that was released in 2012 for 2014.
I believe that the logical pick for Album of Year is Daft Punk's - Random Access Memories. It was arguably the first "must listen to" album of 2013 and it ended up having the song that co-ruled the summer last year - Get Lucky.
There's a small part of me that wants to see it win for successfully aping the Michael Jackson -Thriller font...
In all serious though - I beg that you take 6 minutes out of your day, hole yourself into a dark fucking room and listen to the song Motherboard. It will do your soul a world of good...
Stand out tracks:
Artist: Daft Punk
Album: Random Access Memories
Producer: Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo
Label: Columbia
Recorded: Gang Recording Studio, Electric Lady Studios, Henson Recording Studios, Capitol Studios, Conway Recording Studios