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comments: 0A lot has gone on since my last entry. It's not that I declined to write for want of anything to write about, but I'm not sure that Wei's thought, that we have too much of a life to be updating our blogs all day, is all that precise either. I view it as having the "laziness" virtue of programming.
After the TX Beach party, we had a small shindig of our own with the Omicron Pi sorority. I took home the title of beer pong champion (although more precisely punch pong) with Vanessa Williams (no, not that one), enjoyed the company of women foreign and exotic to me, and all and all it was a great night. I should have been rushing to write about it, but I was content to sit around and see what came of new acquaintences. I spoke two of the girls at length yesterday, so I guess things are good; my non-presence at the Beta party tonight should patch that up and leave me without female friends soon enough.
As always, the desire for a girlfriend eventually dies off after I remember how much of a hassle they are, and gets replaced with some other preoccupation. I've been listening to music and sniffing out underground bands and small venue shows with quite a fervor recently; one third spurred on by my desire for new music, one third a random invite from Jesus to go see a Japanese girl rock show in the city and one third a comment by a reviewer about an album.
As I was cruising metacritic; because I'm too far removed from word of mouth to find out any good music in the traditional means, I found an album with the following comment: "It's the album you wish the strokes would have made". This was extremely intriguing, since I and most critics I've seen loved "Is This It?" and seemed to accept "Room On Fire" as a stepping stone to greater things. So I checked out the band (and the album), Franz Ferdinand. They are a revalation.
When "The Strokes", "The Hives", and "The White Stripes" threw their three punch combo a few years back, I kinda missed it. I only happened upon them through songs that I thought were uniquely good on the radio. I couldn't believe my ears with I heard the revivalist art-rock that "The Strokes" were putting out, the alt-punk of "The Hives", gritty but filled with great hooks, and the pure genius of "The White Stripes" and their deconstructionist fuzzy blues assault. I realized that there were a lot of groups like this wading around the underground, and I've come to know of a few of the best ones like "Yeah Yeah Yeahs" and "Hot Hot Heat" or "Interpol" and have a category to put them in.
Of course, I had heard all of this before. It was strangely reminiscent of one of my favorite bands, "The Pixies" and their bizzare alt-punk fusion that probably made the late 80's liveable for those born 5 years younger than me, but of course splitting off wildly in different directions. But the latest, and my favorite (even beyond TWS, who I consider one of the best bands of the last 10 years) has got to be Franz Ferdinand. Only time will tell if their incredibly good self titled debut, a wonderful high dive into indie art-damaged rock infused with hooks and somewhat of a witty, doors feel can translate to an "Elephant" like sophomore performance (yes I'm aware Elephant isn't TWS' 2nd album, but it did surpass all previous work).
Related to "The Pixies", although more to their Japanese counterparts "The Pillows" was the concert I went to on tuesday: samurai girl tour! 4 all girl all Japanese acts: Noodles, Bleach, Kokeshi Doll, and Petty & Booka. Noodles was a straight pick for the Japanese version of "The Breeders", which is the female version of "The Pixies"; so I guess them and "The Pillows" are basically it for me for Japanese rock. Not to be outdone, Kokeshi Doll (which I'm probably mis-spelling) put on an exceptional display of deconstructed heavy trash-metal, a term that I just made up but describes their sound pretty closely. Screams, screeches, heavy heavy distortion, lots of bass, and flawless tempo switching that let you know they were a tight band. Bleach were the metal queens though; they featured the loudest noise, the best guitarist (although the lead in Noodles was incredible in both talent and beauty) and the most mature sound, even though they are probably a good 5 - 10 years younger than the ladies in Noodles. Finaly, Petty & Booka were... can you guess? That's right, a two piece country-hawaiian Ukelele duo fully suited in chaps and cowboy hats! You're amazing! They were absolutely the most entertaining show I've ever seen, by far, but I just knew that the CD wouldn't be the same experience... I wish there was some other way I could have given them more money for the show. All in all, a great night, with a ticket for a 3 hour concert the same price as 2 beers.
My music binge has yielded these results: 3 Noodles, 2 Franz Ferdinand and a Kokeshi Doll CD. I was planning on going to see the Wrens at The Knitting Factory (the same place I saw the Japanese chicks at) tomorow night, but I'm not sure if their more laid back rock is the thing for me after a week spent of listening to alt-punk and art-damaged rock (I really didn't make up "art-damaged").If anyone is Japunks, a battle royale of Japanese punk rock bands happening at CBGB on may 22nd, drop me an email. I want to get a group together. Thankfully, it seems that I have a method of funding all of this stupid activity, so its not like I'm just ripping myself a new financially deficient asshole.
