Blog: the monsters under the bed are not real

My Andrew in Drag/When Next in Love 7" came in the mail today, to my great delight. Since I've already written about "Andrew in Drag," I'll share some thoughts about the b-side, "When Next in Love." Michael over at Aging Spinsters has kindly transcribed the lyrics for us. Understandably, the record did not come with a lyric sheet. "When Next in Love" will also not be on the upcoming record, Love at the Bottom of the Sea , so there are rare chances to hear it. The song is definitely a [...]

Listen to " Andrew in Drag ," from The Magnetic Fields' upcoming (10th!) album, Love at the Bottom of the Sea !!! I always say my gender/queer studies education begins and ends with Stephin Merritt, with slight detours through Foucault, Butler, Sedgewick, and graduate school.

The new album from The Magnetic Fields was just announced. Love at the Bottom of the Sea will be released in March, with a tour happening all through the spring. Synth is back! TMF are playing SXSW! You can pre-order the new album (including limited-edition, eggshell colored vinyl) on the Merge website , and buy tickets to the tour via the links on House of Tomorrow . Track Listing: God Wants Us to Wait Andrew in Drag [...]

I'll tell you what you're doing. You're going to Wonderroot to see a fantastic band called The Shondes . You're going to see the Shondes and fall in love because you love punk bands with violins and because their vocals sound like a grown up, east coast Agent M . And also because they have great style. You're going to wake up the next day and listen to their new album, Searchlights , over and over because something [...]

I started this blog maybe six years ago when I was writing a senior honors thesis and needed space for non-academic writing. Somehow, it became vaguely academic, because I don't operate in any other mode, and eventually I just grew tired of keeping up with everything. That and I started blogging elsewhere about a number of other things. Now that I'm starting the dissertation, I'll probably come back to it again, because writing about music gets my other geeky juices flowing. And ew, get your mind out of the gutter. For those of you who still have this [...]

my first thought was, "...wtf?" but this is really beautiful.

I've been delinquent with this blog for the last two years because graduate school has shifted my creative exploits elsewhere. Between sewing, getting ready to start an Etsy store, being a foodie, and learning to play the ukulele, there has not been a ton of time to listen to all of the music that nice people send me. At the same time, I've lost the energy and ability to pay attention to keep up with whatever the kids are listening to these days. There were, however, a few noteworthy items that I wanted to put out there, in [...]

I have given up entirely on making end of year lists because, frankly, who gives a damn? I don't. But I did want to say that a year ago right now, I was highly anticipating Realism, the most recent album from my favorite band, The Magnetic Fields. A year later, I am 1. kind of amazed that it has been that long. What a bizarre year! 2. Highly, highly, highly anticipating tomorrow's 5:00 p.m., when I will be having high tea with Stephin Merritt as the culmination of my third trip to NYC this year. !!! [...]

Stop what you are doing and go listen to it now !!!

My neighborhood has this folk club that's kind of a big deal and the Indigo Girls used to play there blah blah blah. I go there sometimes to see folks like the Farewell Drifters and Girlyman , who are now local to me. The latter were the headliners tonight, and they were amazingly funny and charismatic. But I was totally blown away by Lucy Wainwright Roche , whose shy, awkward, and perfectly timed sense of humor was matched with an incredible songwriting capability and such.a.gorgeous.voice. You know the kind of love at first [...]

You heard me. Check it out over at Paste .

Eyad Zahra's Taqwacores is the film version of the book by M. Knight of the same name. It tells the story of a good Muslim boy who goes to live in a Muslim punk rock house. The house is inhabited by a straight edge kid, a Shi'a skinhead, a burqa-wearing feminist, a skater kid, and a late '70's punk, all of whom practice Islam in deeply personal and often seemingly controversial ways. It is a really fantastic film--the best drama I've seen this year. It takes up many feminist issues in both subtle and sharp ways, including one [...]

because we all know what happens when I begin rants about my giant crush on Michael Cera ...yeah...C'mon, we're all grown-ups. Anyway, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was basically exactly like reading the comics, which in this case was a good thing. Unlike Heroes or all of the movie versions of Marvel comics, the film really expressed the dynamism of the original comics, which were more like a screen-by-screen visual representation of a video game happening inside a young man's head than anything else. Knives Chau was perfect, kind [...]

"but lonely is a freedom that breaths easy and weightless and lonely is healing if you make it." I'm not lonely but I am into being alone and thought this was just beautiful:

I wrote about Groom and their album, At the Natural History Museum, last year some time. The band's got a new one coming, called Marriage, and it is pretty much delightful. I hope I get to meet these guys some day because they make music that always appeals to my ears and combines what I consider to be the best elements of my favorite genres and bands. Anyway, the new album will be released by the Popical Islands collective (which as far as I can tell is their creation). Head on over [...]

I am currently undertaking some travels. It has been a good week here in NYC, and I leave tomorrow for another place that will hopefully be less hot and have more A/C. Though, having lived in Boston for a summer, I can already guess that this will not be the case. I have eaten more amazing vegan food in short spans of time than I thought possible (and I live in a PETA-approved food city!), seen some amazing shows, and chilled with a lot of friends who I seem to see more and more often now that [...]

In a fishbowl on the beach, I know the salty water stings but its not hard to see from the bowl the world's out of reach...

A+++ for audience participation. These guys know how to do it. The two openers were comprised of people from the band, which has like 10 people in it. They still managed to sound different (and not better; too jam band-y for my taste). Edward Sharpe played pretty much every song they have, including a few new ones. They were all remarkably easy to sing along to, which leads me to believe that some sort of intentional design is going on. What else can I say? They've got a shirtless charismatic leader, [...]

I'm on listen #4 and I'm still not blown away. Sometimes these things take time, but compared side by side with the first two albums, I'm having trouble finding anything to write home about. Thoughts, anyone?

The other day, someone claimed that Jagged Little Pill was the best album of the 90's. I humbly disagreed, but this song has pretty been a pretty potent force in my life for a long time, just about as potent as Daria and combat boots.