Gorillaz - Gorillaz

I wish I could describe the excitement I had when I discovered the Gorillaz in 2001.  I walked Switched on CDs and the shop owner Glen mentioned to me that a cartoon album was about to drop featuring Damon Albarn as a vocalist.

I had taken a really strong liking to a lot of later Blur stuff so I was intrigued to hear what his post Blur stuff would sound like.

I never expected however to hear the style hoppy goodness that turned out to be the Gorillaz. It was everything that I ever wanted in "virtual band".   They leveraged the available technology and mediums to the extremes at a time where everything was blurry.

This album is nearly 15 years old and I'm having a hard time trying to remember - how I became obsessed with the band.   I'm pretty sure that I spent a lot of time on the net visiting websites...  I just double checked the album and confirmed that it was an "enhanced CD".   For a brief period of time, a lot of albums came with multimedia you could drag and drop onto your computer.

My computer at the time wasn't particularly good, so I never bothered seeing the extended content.   I now have a better computer, but I wonder if the multimedia is obsolete.

Hmmm...  a potential weekend project.  Go thru my stack of CD's and find examples of multimedia material from albums I own.

Stand out tracks:

Artists: Gorillaz
Album: Gorillaz
Producer: Tom Girling, Jason Cox, Dan the Automator, Gorillaz
Label: Parlophone, Virgin, Warner Bros.
Recorded: Studio 13, Geejam Studios

Blind Melon - Soup

One of my favorite high school memories was driving to and from school with Chivo for nearly 3 years.  Every time we set foot into a car, there was always a chance that we would end up in some strange side-track-adventure.

Said adventures could include taking bizarre country roads in South Texas, trips to taco stands that were not certified by the state of Texas and the occasional drive out to South Padre Island.

In addition to sharing some very funny conversations, we would sometimes sit in silence and just listen to a CD from beginning to end.  An album we listened to with some regularity was SOUP by Blind Melon.

I'm not entirely sure why the album has always had a strong pull on me...   I've always found it to be both rewarding when I listen to its musical arrangements or poured over Shannon Hoon's lyrics.

I just listened to the song Dumptruck and I still get goosebumps after hearing the track spin out perfectly and then slip into the Jim Morrisonesque - Car Seat (God's Present). 

Incredible work by the produce Andy Wallace.

I haven't listened to this album in a while, but it came up yesterday when picking out stuff for the Dead Front Men podcast I recorded last night.   I may have to call Chivo and ask him if he fondly remembers listening to this on our drives around Tejas.

Stand Out Tracks:

Artists: Blind Melon
Album: Soup
Producer: Andy Wallace
Label: Capitol 
Recorded: ?

Late Night Conversations - Episode 10, Dead Front Men

Dropped everything tonight to stay in and record an episode of Late Night Conversations with Terrible Ted.   The theme of the show is "Dead Front Men".... lead singers who passed away before they reached their 30s.

I'm really happy with the way this one turned out.  Recording kinks have been worked out for the most part.  We do it in one take and there's no post production of the show...  we just do it live - warts and all.

It felt like a typical conversation I would have with Ted by phone.

Nirvana - In Utero

I wish I could describe how big of an impact Nirvana had on people (my age) in 1991/1992.  For some, their musical output would transform and dominate their being for many, many, many years to come.

I'm a little surprised to say this, but the artwork on this CD still spooks me after 20 years

Today marks the 20th anniversary of news breaking over Kurt Cobain's death.  I got word of his passing during a lunch break on a Friday afternoon...  and recall having a lot of feelings to process. I was surrounded by a group of friends and things got quiet. Everyone sorta acknowledged that something significant had just happened but no one quite understood what  to fucking do or say...

I recall getting home and watching MTV News, Kurt Loader was trying to make sense of a senseless act.   MTV quickly turned into a "news" outlet and it may have been the first time that my Dad asked me what the fuck all the fuss was about.

 I especially recall David Fricke (Rolling Stone) helping me sorta piece together a number of feelings I didn't quite understand how to deal with.  As the music editor for Rolling Stone, he was a key interview that evening that sorta helped me calm the fuck down.

I rarely revisit any Nirvana records and I think it largely has to do with hearing the promise that could have been...  

It took a very long time before I came around to liking the album "In Utero"...  I could write a paragraph about every song on this album.  The one that intrigues me the most after all these years is still "Rape Me".  It's a song that begs to be played loudly, yet it's the track that I'm most likely to turn down if I'm around others or skip all together because its just to heavy to have on in the background and not pay attention to it.

Stand out tracks:

Artists: Nirvana
Album: In Utero
Producer: Steve Albini
Label: DGC
Recorded: Pachyderm Studio

The Anniversary - Your Majesty

Have you ever listened to a recording artist and wonder why they never got big?   I sorta feel that way about the band the Anniversary.   They sorta remind me of the New Pornographers without feeling that they were heavily influenced by them...

At the hight of the emo backlash - Pitchfork Media gave this album a 2.0.  A rating thats kinda funny to look back on because the band was guilty of being on "Vagrant Records" and therefore guilty of sucking on arrival.

What I recall most about this record was thinking how un-emo it was when I listened to it for the first time.   I didn't really think about this record a lot until my ex found it in my collection and took a liking to it.

She asked me to tell her some stories about the band and recall discovering them because they had a song called The D in Detroit.

I ended up spinning the record and fell in love with the record all over again.   I now go out of my way to listen to it once or twice a year.

Stand out tracks:

Artists: The Anniversary 
Album: Your Majesty
Producer: Rob Schnapf
Label: Vagrant Records
Recorded: Sonora Recorders

Storm of Swords - Fantasy Thrones

Season Four is officially here and I'm comfortably in last place, due largely in part to having an opening episode that is setting characters in place for a full season of subplots.  

Prince Oberyn Martell - Bi-Sexual beast and soon to be Dothraki Taint. 

This means I will get dibs on picking up Prince Oberyn Martell...  A bi-sexual madman who's all about orgies and killing Lanisters.  He's taking a residency in Kings Landing, so he's potentially good for a hundred point episode.  Another character that I would consider picking up... is the nameless dude with all the weird scars on his face.  He's bald and kinda reminds me of the Michael Berryman in the Hills Have Eyes.   He's a cannibal and that gets you big time points in Fantasy Thrones.
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Freaky guy about to eat some Crow.   This show insane.

One team however did score a lot of points tho'.  Kyle's Golden Lions dropped 186 total points on the league tonight and did so in the closing 10 minutes of the season premiere.

The Hound - who felt a little to comfortable saying the word "cunt" in front of a 14 year old girl....
Fought 5 people = 50
Killed 3 unnamed = 22.5
Decisively won 3 fights = 75
The Hound Drinking Ale = 1 

Arya  - is slowly easing into being a murderous and avenging monster
Killed 1 named character and 1 unnamed = 37.5
We don't award points for enjoying the Kill... but if we did, Arya would be picking up points for that too'.

Chris's team Kentucky Fried Ravens dropped 20 points.
The Imp denied coitus for 10 points and I awarded 10 points for possessing a concealed erection.   Shout out to those who suck fingers by the way.  

Lastly, my team the Dothraki Taints only mustered 10 points.
Kalisi (mother of dragons) was awarded 10 points for possession of a concealed wet spot.  Dario (fellow Dothraki Taint) who I think is a different actor this season...  presented a blue rose, some dried white flowers and a poisonous plant to Kalisi.  To which she took... smiled and got all stirred up on the inside.   It won't be long before Kalisi goes in for the sexual kill.  

Fantasy Thrones

For many, watching Game of Thrones is fulfilling enough...  for me and co-workers Kyle and Chris, we've developed a Fantasy Game of Thrones games to accompany the episode viewing.

Here are the results and rules of our Fantasy Game of Thrones League

My team (the defending Fantasy Thrones Champions) the Dothraki Taints are as follows.

I picked 3rd in the draft and selected Kalisi, mother of Dragons with my first pick.  I'm not exactly sure how and why she fell into my lap again this season, but I will undoubtedly rack up the points if she levels another city this season.

I selected Jon Snow with my second pick of the draft.  Mainly because he's emo as all get out and he's likely to slay a snow zombie (white walker?) this season.

Picked up Dario with my third selection...  I figure if Kalisi decides to give it up, it would be a good idea to handcuff the pick to her boyfriend.  This is like have Manning and Welker in fantasy football.   He's also likely to kill someone at any moment.

Selected Tywin with my 4th pick...  I see a lot of late round value in this pick.  While he's not "sexual" he's been known to threaten people's lives a lot and he's always drinking.  These are worth points in our league and I don't know how he didn't get selected in the top 10 picks.

I selected Samwell with my last pick...   I figure he's good for at least 4 on screen weeps this season translating into 80 points before its all said and done.   You have only one job on my team Samwell!