Self Explanatory: TEABONICS
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
New Fairmont Review
From Innocent Words.com:
By: John B. Moore
Fairmont
The Meadow at Dusk
(Mint 400)
It’s hard to imagine Fairmont frontman Neil Sabatino was once a punk rocker. His work with New Jersey’s Fairmont is more likely to bring up descriptions like “lush” and “atmospheric.”
On the band's latest effort, the six-song EP The Meadow At Dusk, indie rockers Fairmont stick to the same style (thankfully) that made 2008’s Transcendence such an enjoyable record, but have added in an extra vocalist. The addition of Samantha Carradori allows the band to experiment a bit more this time out and trade male/female call and response on most tracks.
Though there is hardly a weak track on the record, the infectious “High Above the City” and “The Moon Controls the Tide” are among the band’s best songs in an already impressive career. Punk rock indeed.
Underrated Records
These are some of my all time favorite underrated records:
1. Love - Forever Changes
This band never got popular because they didn't tour but this amazing 1967 release should be in the same category as Pet Sounds and Sgt. Peppers. The band completely came up with a style all their own as they dropped the jangly guitar garage rock they had previously been know for.
2. Failure - Fantastic Planet
This 90's band played an interesting form of grunge that was sludgier then Nirvana or Alice in Chains, it had a pop sensibility but had this intenseness that few other bands had. To me the record seemed a bit ahead of it's time but has over the last ten years become a favorite of mine especially the song "The Nurse Who Loved Me."
3. Bauhaus - Burning from the Inside
This album was the last album released by the goth band Bauhaus, recorded while Peter Murphy was very ill, the other members David J and Daniel Ash took over singing duties which later led to hostility and broke up the band. However this album is great although it's not quite as exciting as Joy Division but nears the same level of intensity on the track Antonin Artaud . It takes a lot of those Joy Division elements and moves in a darker weirder place especially in songs like She's in Parties. Overall my favorite Bauhaus record and you can really see the birth of Tones on Tale and Love and Rockets coming out of this session.
4. That Dog - Retreat From The Sun
Sadly the last That Dog record before they broke up, however the most stunning of their career and clearly an influence on bands like Mates of State and other pop acts. This 1997 album was supposedly intended to be Anna Waronkers first solo record however if you listen to her actual first solo record "Anna" it's missing all the charm of the Hayden sisters. This record is so catchy and just perfect from beginning to end and it's sad that it didn't garner the band more success. Possibly this record is in my top 5 albums of the 90's. From the first epic track to songs like Minneapolis and how Anna sings "Your so dreamy for a boy from Long Island", it's all sounds like it should be the soundtrack to some amazing 90's indie flick.
5. Pavement - Brighten the Corners
The Pavement record that supposedly was their attempt at being more mainstream. I think it shouldn't be a sin for a weird noisy indie band to try and grow a little musically and put out a great pop album. For me this is the Pavement record that I enjoy from beginning to end and don't skip any tracks on. It represents a time where radio was trying to play only dark grungey junk and finally a band like Pavement breaks through with a song like "Shady Lane". I'm not trying to diminish the success they had with "Cut your Hair" and the other songs on Crooked Rain Crooked Rain but it seemed with Gary Young's departure and the bands attempt to be more mainstream gave this album a bad rap when it's another of my favorite albums of the 90's. I look at it like Nirvana's Nevermind, just because Kurt said it was his version of pop songs doesn't mean it's not intense and great in it's own way, kind of like Pavement's attempt at mainstream rock is still pretty interesting and never feels trite or forced.
6. Wax - Thirteen Unlucky Numbers
Mostly known for the Spike Jonze video with a guy running to catch a bus while engulfed in flames this record was way more then the short songs "Southern California" shows. This album is from one of those great bands that takes all of their influences like everything from the Pixies to Husker Du and create something new and interesting from it. This record is the pinnacle of their career and never got the attention it deserved.
7. Pixies - Bossanova
Pretty much regarded as the beginning of the end for the Pixies, an album where Frank Black sort of took over the creative reigns and stripped away some of the abrasiveness that the Pixies had become known for. This record is much more pop then anything they had ever done and more cohesive then dare I say "Doolittle". Two high points include Velouria and Dig For Fire which were leaps in a different direction for the Pixies and makes this one of those rare gems of an album that never really gets talked about. The video below was in response to the record label forcing them to make a video.
8. Jawbreaker - Dear You
Considered the sell out album that killed their career, Dear You presented a more polished Jawbreaker and never came anywhere close to selling as many copies as 24 Hour Revenge Therapy but in recent years with the band acquiring the rights and releasing it on their own label Black Ball Records this has become a staple of most 25-35 year olds record collections. The record seemed way ahead of it's time and seemed to be the spark that ignited the sound of many of the Vagrant Record bands from 1999-2003.
9. Weezer - Pinkerton
Considered a complete failure at the time of it's release this album was written by Rivers Cuomo while he was under the influence of painkillers because of a painful leg surgery. It was said the whole album was written using only the first position on his guitars fretboard so he wouldn't have to move around to play. I consider this possibly the best album of the 90's and unfortunately Weezer never again would write anything that sounded like this album. This possibly is the most underrated record of the 90's.
10. The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys
A record that Robert Smith has said he despises, however it's one of those records that just has something about it. It's raw energetic and simple. When thinking of The Cure most people think of Disintegration but this debut album seemed to be ahead of it's time with riffs and bass lines similar to the Pixies. The band seemed to almost have a punk edge in the late 70's that disappeared completely by the time they wrote their next record, this could be due to the firing of Mick Dempsey who supposedly was not thrilled with the material that Smith was writing for their follow up record "17 Seconds".
11. Nada Surf - Proximity Effect
I saw these guys along with 12 other people at the Loop Lounge in Passaic Park, NJ when they were still promoting this album. I picked it up that night and found not only an album that I consider to be amazing but I found a band that I consider to be one of my biggest musical influences and as well influenced me to never quit on something if I really believe it is good. This was supposed to be their 2nd major label release but it ended up being self released by the band and lead them to their deal with Barsuk where they met with much indie success on their following three albums. This album has some of their most honest and heartfelt songs like Amateur and 80 Windows. The song Hyperspace pretty much has been on every mix tape and playlist I have made in the last 10 years.
1. Love - Forever Changes
This band never got popular because they didn't tour but this amazing 1967 release should be in the same category as Pet Sounds and Sgt. Peppers. The band completely came up with a style all their own as they dropped the jangly guitar garage rock they had previously been know for.
2. Failure - Fantastic Planet
This 90's band played an interesting form of grunge that was sludgier then Nirvana or Alice in Chains, it had a pop sensibility but had this intenseness that few other bands had. To me the record seemed a bit ahead of it's time but has over the last ten years become a favorite of mine especially the song "The Nurse Who Loved Me."
3. Bauhaus - Burning from the Inside
This album was the last album released by the goth band Bauhaus, recorded while Peter Murphy was very ill, the other members David J and Daniel Ash took over singing duties which later led to hostility and broke up the band. However this album is great although it's not quite as exciting as Joy Division but nears the same level of intensity on the track Antonin Artaud . It takes a lot of those Joy Division elements and moves in a darker weirder place especially in songs like She's in Parties. Overall my favorite Bauhaus record and you can really see the birth of Tones on Tale and Love and Rockets coming out of this session.
4. That Dog - Retreat From The Sun
Sadly the last That Dog record before they broke up, however the most stunning of their career and clearly an influence on bands like Mates of State and other pop acts. This 1997 album was supposedly intended to be Anna Waronkers first solo record however if you listen to her actual first solo record "Anna" it's missing all the charm of the Hayden sisters. This record is so catchy and just perfect from beginning to end and it's sad that it didn't garner the band more success. Possibly this record is in my top 5 albums of the 90's. From the first epic track to songs like Minneapolis and how Anna sings "Your so dreamy for a boy from Long Island", it's all sounds like it should be the soundtrack to some amazing 90's indie flick.
5. Pavement - Brighten the Corners
The Pavement record that supposedly was their attempt at being more mainstream. I think it shouldn't be a sin for a weird noisy indie band to try and grow a little musically and put out a great pop album. For me this is the Pavement record that I enjoy from beginning to end and don't skip any tracks on. It represents a time where radio was trying to play only dark grungey junk and finally a band like Pavement breaks through with a song like "Shady Lane". I'm not trying to diminish the success they had with "Cut your Hair" and the other songs on Crooked Rain Crooked Rain but it seemed with Gary Young's departure and the bands attempt to be more mainstream gave this album a bad rap when it's another of my favorite albums of the 90's. I look at it like Nirvana's Nevermind, just because Kurt said it was his version of pop songs doesn't mean it's not intense and great in it's own way, kind of like Pavement's attempt at mainstream rock is still pretty interesting and never feels trite or forced.
6. Wax - Thirteen Unlucky Numbers
Mostly known for the Spike Jonze video with a guy running to catch a bus while engulfed in flames this record was way more then the short songs "Southern California" shows. This album is from one of those great bands that takes all of their influences like everything from the Pixies to Husker Du and create something new and interesting from it. This record is the pinnacle of their career and never got the attention it deserved.
7. Pixies - Bossanova
Pretty much regarded as the beginning of the end for the Pixies, an album where Frank Black sort of took over the creative reigns and stripped away some of the abrasiveness that the Pixies had become known for. This record is much more pop then anything they had ever done and more cohesive then dare I say "Doolittle". Two high points include Velouria and Dig For Fire which were leaps in a different direction for the Pixies and makes this one of those rare gems of an album that never really gets talked about. The video below was in response to the record label forcing them to make a video.
8. Jawbreaker - Dear You
Considered the sell out album that killed their career, Dear You presented a more polished Jawbreaker and never came anywhere close to selling as many copies as 24 Hour Revenge Therapy but in recent years with the band acquiring the rights and releasing it on their own label Black Ball Records this has become a staple of most 25-35 year olds record collections. The record seemed way ahead of it's time and seemed to be the spark that ignited the sound of many of the Vagrant Record bands from 1999-2003.
9. Weezer - Pinkerton
Considered a complete failure at the time of it's release this album was written by Rivers Cuomo while he was under the influence of painkillers because of a painful leg surgery. It was said the whole album was written using only the first position on his guitars fretboard so he wouldn't have to move around to play. I consider this possibly the best album of the 90's and unfortunately Weezer never again would write anything that sounded like this album. This possibly is the most underrated record of the 90's.
10. The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys
A record that Robert Smith has said he despises, however it's one of those records that just has something about it. It's raw energetic and simple. When thinking of The Cure most people think of Disintegration but this debut album seemed to be ahead of it's time with riffs and bass lines similar to the Pixies. The band seemed to almost have a punk edge in the late 70's that disappeared completely by the time they wrote their next record, this could be due to the firing of Mick Dempsey who supposedly was not thrilled with the material that Smith was writing for their follow up record "17 Seconds".
11. Nada Surf - Proximity Effect
I saw these guys along with 12 other people at the Loop Lounge in Passaic Park, NJ when they were still promoting this album. I picked it up that night and found not only an album that I consider to be amazing but I found a band that I consider to be one of my biggest musical influences and as well influenced me to never quit on something if I really believe it is good. This was supposed to be their 2nd major label release but it ended up being self released by the band and lead them to their deal with Barsuk where they met with much indie success on their following three albums. This album has some of their most honest and heartfelt songs like Amateur and 80 Windows. The song Hyperspace pretty much has been on every mix tape and playlist I have made in the last 10 years.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution
"I believe that every child in America has the right to fresh, nutritious school meals, and that every family deserves real, honest, wholesome food. Too many people are being affected by what they eat. It's time for a national revolution. America needs to stand up for better food!" - Jamie Oliver
This sounds like a reasonable statement made by someone who is knowledgeable in the culinary arts. I recently sat down to watch Jamie Oliver's food revolution and quickly remembered that south of the Mason-Dixon line is not only a divider for where the North and South were split many years ago during the Civil War, it as well was the imaginary line that separates our country like a time machine, where as everywhere below thinks that eating healthy means lettuce as one of the radio DJ's in the show announced. Basically what I got out of it is that the people of Huntington, West Virginia enjoy being fat and lazy and don't want to be told otherwise. Many frightening things happened throughout the premiere episode.
Jamie Oliver a world renowned chef basically offers to come in and try to train this town how to eat like human beings. He figures starting at their elementary school would be a good start where he finds the kindergartners - 5th graders starting their day with chocolate milk and pizza for breakfast. Now you can call it a breakfast pizza if it has eggs or some kind of breakfast meats but how is it breakfast pizza when it looks exactly like regular pizza. I think maybe they thought because it contained sausage that was a magic loophole. That was nothing compared to the fact that the children in the younger classes could not distinguish what vegetables were which and thought tomatoes were potatoes.
You know that seen in every fish out of water movie where someone walks into a bar and the record skips and everyone stares? That pretty much happens when Jamie meets the "lunch ladies". He calls them lunch ladies and is quickly corrected and told they are cooks. Guess what? You heat up chicken nuggets and microwave pizza, you are not chef, you are not a cook, and you barely deserve the title lunch lady. They sort of reminded me of this:
So anyway this one lady is such a bitch and you'll clearly know who I'm talking about. Basically she gets really angry, really quickly because Jamie Oliver comes in and tells her instead of using all of the professional cooking equipment they have to heat up chicken nuggets and pizza that maybe it would be a good thing to actually use their culinary skills to feed these children something slightly healthier. Now this lady stinks of laziness, her eyes roll at the very thought of having to do anything other than the bare minimum and at all costs she tries to prove Oliver wrong and have him thrown out of the school. Over and over again she claims the children don't wanna eat nuthin healthy, they like their pizza and nuggets. So Jamie Oliver watches the children drink their chocolate milk and eat their nuggets and throw away everything that is healthy on their plates like apples and home made bread. Can I explain something to you lunch lady, they are children, they would eat chocolate bars for every meal if you let them, they would eat crayons and paste if you let them. Maybe the adults should tell them what they should eat, and if they refuse then maybe they'd lose a little weight. I wish to god someone explained to me nutrition and healthy eating habits when I was in High School, I was eating french fries on a daily basis and lived on a fast food diet. It wasn't until one of my good friends educated me on calorie content, sugar content and fat content that I lost 60 pounds.
My absolute favorite part of the show is the red neck radio DJ, he's exactly the stereotypical morning guy and right off the bat you could tell he wanted to say something like "we don't want to eat your faggot food, we eat meat and fried stuff." Basically from the get go is content with being a fat fuck and prefers everyone around him looks like a walking heart attack because well, that's a lot easier then trying to eat healthy. Hey, I'd be the first guy to tell you I'd love to eat junk food and fast food all the time, but seriously you will look like Jabba The Hut and you will be slowly killing yourself. You think things like meth and heroin should be illegal right? You're basically killing everyone in your town by promoting unhealthy eating habits. I don't mean that these people in Huntington just fall off the wagon once in awhile and have Mcdonalds once a week, they show a family who only eats french fries, pizza and ice cream for every meal and they all are on the verge of diabetes.
Jamie gets blasted for saying they are ignorant in their eating habits by the local paper and the entire community gets up in arms over it. Ever hear the saying if the shoe fits? These people all have fupas (fat upper pussy area) you know like they wear sweat pants every day and the waist line is a little tight and where it pinches in their fat it creates the effect of them having essentially two stomachs. Let's not even get into back fat or how all the women look like they 6 tits (4 in front where the bra pinches the actual boob into 2 segments and the side boob that is created from the side fat being pinched by the bra strap. Should he be so nice to them? Should he really kiss their asses and apologize? The children in the school had no idea how to properly use a fork and knife because they had been eating finger foods for so long. I'm all for unhealthy eating once in awhile, but aren't you a little worried about ending up like the fat lady in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"? Is Huntington actually trying to break records for fattest town, because then I mean hey that's great you have a goal in mind.
Overall the show disgusted me and made me feel sorry for Jamie Oliver. The school employees, the local DJ and even the local families seemed to not really understand that they are literally the fattest town in the fattest nation. When the one lunch lady repeatedly rolled her eyes I just wanted to reach through the TV and smack her. IT'S YOUR JOB LADY!!!!!!!! You should understand nutrition and you should be able to cook healthy food for growing children. If everyone did their job as half assed as you planes would be falling out of the sky, bridges collapsing and cars exploding. Why has the school board not fired these women who put the ease of their job above the health of growing children. Now I'm not saying that this is 100% their fault the 50% of the blame belongs on the parents who are farming these young fatties.
I think the most poignant thing Jamie did on the show was when he cut up a raw chicken and then showed the children that this is the white meat, this is the dark meat and this leftover carcass is the shit. He then proceeded to put the shit into a blender and mix it with bread crumbs and filler and then formed chicken nuggets out of it and asked the children if they still wanted these nuggets knowing they are made of bone and cartilage and fat. You'd expect since they just viewed the process that they'd say no way much in the same way if you actually killed a cow in front of them and showed them the process of making burgers it might disgust them. However it didn't phase them really and they all wanted a taste after it was fried up. I'm inclined to say this may be a hopeless battle. Maybe Jamie should start with a town that is the 5th fattest or maybe even 10th fattest? I think going for numero uno might inhibit him from reaching his goal. It really comes down to a few things but mostly it comes down to ignorance being bliss. Whoever said that must have lived in the south and escaped to the north.
This rant has gone on long enough but check out the show and you tell me if I'm being too harsh. I'd rather just watch Jamie's cooking show then see him try to figure out the mindset of hillbilly's who are happy being the fattest people in the fattest town. Maybe they're proud of being number one at something however I think it's not fair to knowingly train your children to be failures, fat, fat failures who can't even walk when they hit their 30's because their tree trunk legs won't carry their 400 pound bodies.
This sounds like a reasonable statement made by someone who is knowledgeable in the culinary arts. I recently sat down to watch Jamie Oliver's food revolution and quickly remembered that south of the Mason-Dixon line is not only a divider for where the North and South were split many years ago during the Civil War, it as well was the imaginary line that separates our country like a time machine, where as everywhere below thinks that eating healthy means lettuce as one of the radio DJ's in the show announced. Basically what I got out of it is that the people of Huntington, West Virginia enjoy being fat and lazy and don't want to be told otherwise. Many frightening things happened throughout the premiere episode.
Jamie Oliver a world renowned chef basically offers to come in and try to train this town how to eat like human beings. He figures starting at their elementary school would be a good start where he finds the kindergartners - 5th graders starting their day with chocolate milk and pizza for breakfast. Now you can call it a breakfast pizza if it has eggs or some kind of breakfast meats but how is it breakfast pizza when it looks exactly like regular pizza. I think maybe they thought because it contained sausage that was a magic loophole. That was nothing compared to the fact that the children in the younger classes could not distinguish what vegetables were which and thought tomatoes were potatoes.
You know that seen in every fish out of water movie where someone walks into a bar and the record skips and everyone stares? That pretty much happens when Jamie meets the "lunch ladies". He calls them lunch ladies and is quickly corrected and told they are cooks. Guess what? You heat up chicken nuggets and microwave pizza, you are not chef, you are not a cook, and you barely deserve the title lunch lady. They sort of reminded me of this:
So anyway this one lady is such a bitch and you'll clearly know who I'm talking about. Basically she gets really angry, really quickly because Jamie Oliver comes in and tells her instead of using all of the professional cooking equipment they have to heat up chicken nuggets and pizza that maybe it would be a good thing to actually use their culinary skills to feed these children something slightly healthier. Now this lady stinks of laziness, her eyes roll at the very thought of having to do anything other than the bare minimum and at all costs she tries to prove Oliver wrong and have him thrown out of the school. Over and over again she claims the children don't wanna eat nuthin healthy, they like their pizza and nuggets. So Jamie Oliver watches the children drink their chocolate milk and eat their nuggets and throw away everything that is healthy on their plates like apples and home made bread. Can I explain something to you lunch lady, they are children, they would eat chocolate bars for every meal if you let them, they would eat crayons and paste if you let them. Maybe the adults should tell them what they should eat, and if they refuse then maybe they'd lose a little weight. I wish to god someone explained to me nutrition and healthy eating habits when I was in High School, I was eating french fries on a daily basis and lived on a fast food diet. It wasn't until one of my good friends educated me on calorie content, sugar content and fat content that I lost 60 pounds.
My absolute favorite part of the show is the red neck radio DJ, he's exactly the stereotypical morning guy and right off the bat you could tell he wanted to say something like "we don't want to eat your faggot food, we eat meat and fried stuff." Basically from the get go is content with being a fat fuck and prefers everyone around him looks like a walking heart attack because well, that's a lot easier then trying to eat healthy. Hey, I'd be the first guy to tell you I'd love to eat junk food and fast food all the time, but seriously you will look like Jabba The Hut and you will be slowly killing yourself. You think things like meth and heroin should be illegal right? You're basically killing everyone in your town by promoting unhealthy eating habits. I don't mean that these people in Huntington just fall off the wagon once in awhile and have Mcdonalds once a week, they show a family who only eats french fries, pizza and ice cream for every meal and they all are on the verge of diabetes.
Jamie gets blasted for saying they are ignorant in their eating habits by the local paper and the entire community gets up in arms over it. Ever hear the saying if the shoe fits? These people all have fupas (fat upper pussy area) you know like they wear sweat pants every day and the waist line is a little tight and where it pinches in their fat it creates the effect of them having essentially two stomachs. Let's not even get into back fat or how all the women look like they 6 tits (4 in front where the bra pinches the actual boob into 2 segments and the side boob that is created from the side fat being pinched by the bra strap. Should he be so nice to them? Should he really kiss their asses and apologize? The children in the school had no idea how to properly use a fork and knife because they had been eating finger foods for so long. I'm all for unhealthy eating once in awhile, but aren't you a little worried about ending up like the fat lady in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"? Is Huntington actually trying to break records for fattest town, because then I mean hey that's great you have a goal in mind.
Overall the show disgusted me and made me feel sorry for Jamie Oliver. The school employees, the local DJ and even the local families seemed to not really understand that they are literally the fattest town in the fattest nation. When the one lunch lady repeatedly rolled her eyes I just wanted to reach through the TV and smack her. IT'S YOUR JOB LADY!!!!!!!! You should understand nutrition and you should be able to cook healthy food for growing children. If everyone did their job as half assed as you planes would be falling out of the sky, bridges collapsing and cars exploding. Why has the school board not fired these women who put the ease of their job above the health of growing children. Now I'm not saying that this is 100% their fault the 50% of the blame belongs on the parents who are farming these young fatties.
I think the most poignant thing Jamie did on the show was when he cut up a raw chicken and then showed the children that this is the white meat, this is the dark meat and this leftover carcass is the shit. He then proceeded to put the shit into a blender and mix it with bread crumbs and filler and then formed chicken nuggets out of it and asked the children if they still wanted these nuggets knowing they are made of bone and cartilage and fat. You'd expect since they just viewed the process that they'd say no way much in the same way if you actually killed a cow in front of them and showed them the process of making burgers it might disgust them. However it didn't phase them really and they all wanted a taste after it was fried up. I'm inclined to say this may be a hopeless battle. Maybe Jamie should start with a town that is the 5th fattest or maybe even 10th fattest? I think going for numero uno might inhibit him from reaching his goal. It really comes down to a few things but mostly it comes down to ignorance being bliss. Whoever said that must have lived in the south and escaped to the north.
This rant has gone on long enough but check out the show and you tell me if I'm being too harsh. I'd rather just watch Jamie's cooking show then see him try to figure out the mindset of hillbilly's who are happy being the fattest people in the fattest town. Maybe they're proud of being number one at something however I think it's not fair to knowingly train your children to be failures, fat, fat failures who can't even walk when they hit their 30's because their tree trunk legs won't carry their 400 pound bodies.
Friday, March 26, 2010
New Photoshop Content Aware Feature!
HOLY CRAP! it's like black magic or something. I have no concept of how this works but am looking forward to using the "content aware" function of the new Adobe Photoshop. Basically it's a tool that will allow you to pull items out of a picture and the "content aware" feature fills in the background appropriately with just one click instead painstaking hours. Check out the video if you have no clue what I'm talking about.
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