Thoughts On The Dead

Musings on the Most Ridiculous Band I Can't Stop Listening To

Tag: day of the dead

This Is Just A Tribute

May 19, 2016 / / 5 Comments

IMG_4362 3

MOTHERFUCKER.

Don’t do this.

I WILL FIGHT YOU, JARNOW. I WILL FIGHT YOU AND YOUR BEARD.

Please. I’m almost certain he was being nice.

PEOPLE FROM BROOKLYN AREN’T NICE.

Stop yelling.

Sorry.

You’re screaming–for no reason at all, it should be noted–about the great Jesse Jarnow’s review of that catholic tribute to the Dead that a bunch of people no one’s heard of made?

Yes.

I’m going to ask you why, and if you say “Everybody keeps stealing my choogle,” then I am going kick you in the neck.

…

Okee dokee. So maybe stop yelling at people. Especially people who send you two copies of their book–the critically acclaimed Heads: A Biography of Psychedelic America— that you haven’t reviewed yet because you’re jealous of people who have written books.

Please stop telling the truth like that.

If you want to write a book, write a book.

But: it’s hard.

…

…

…

I’d just like to move on.

Let’s.

Are you going to offer any thoughts on the album?

Here are my thoughts: if someone pays me to listen to it, I will.

Reasonable, actually.

Three-and-a-half hours? Kiss my cock and buy a red pen, you self-indulgent dribblers. Do it as a series and release a bunch at a time, or maybe just cut one of the eleven versions of Dark Star; I don’t care, but don’t dump 59 songs on me and say, “Here.”

Also reasonable.

This album is so long you have to go to Bayreuth to hear it.

Well done.

This album is so long that by the time you’re done listening, it’s time for the next generation’s Dead tribute album.

Eh.

Probably should’ve stood pat. Listen: J.J. does a good job and makes fun of the backing band; he’s the man to listen to about this. If someone wants to give me a short list of the standout tracks, I’ll listen to them, but I’m not wading through this whole thing.

Sure. You should–

WAIT.

—ask people…oh, God, what.

THAT FUCKER.

You’re yelling again.

Right. But I just came up with another reason to be mad at Jarnow: he made me go to Pitchfork.

…

I’ll allow it.

The Pitchforktron 5000

May 4, 2016 / / 0 Comments

There’s an article over at Pitchfork about the new Dead tribute album that the guys from The National (which is apparently a band) put together. Many musicians are asked about the Dead; they all respond by talking about themselves. (In their defense: if they weren’t talking about themselves, how else would you know they were in show biz?) The article also contains all of the following words or phrases, which are all mandated by Pitchfork editorial policy to appear in articles:

  • Elegiac.
  • Brooding.
  • John Cale.
  • “…tapes were the first internet…”
  • Church studio.
  • Bon Iyer.
  • “…splitting his time between the Catskills and Paris.”
  • “…dominant cultural mode of appropriation.”
  • “It was an appropriation of the appropriation.”

Thoughts In Real-Time On The Five New Tracks From The Tribute Album

April 27, 2016 / / 18 Comments

Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Friends, Ruben & Cherise

  • Okay.
  • Pretty guitar part.
  • How Bonnie is Prince Billy?
  • More Bonnie than Franklin?
  • Always loved this song; they didn’t play it enough.
  • This guy’s voice is not growing on me.
  • I thought it would.
  • But he’s not actually singing notes.
  • One of the bridgiest bridges in the Dead’s canon.
  • This guy’s nickname is offensive.
  • Too soon.
  • Drums still sound like shit, and I think this will be a thread in the blanket that is this post.
  • All right, I guess: the song is so good that it’s a treat to hear in any form, but if you’re just going to play the Dead’s arrangement, then I’ll just listen to the Dead doing it.
  • Bobbie Billy hit a lovely note or two while I was writing that last sentence, and I think I get what he’s doing now, and I like it.
  • I am now silly for Bonnie “Prince” Billy.
  • And the fade.
  • Painless.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IHIgrrk-i8[/embedyt]

Jim James & Friends, Candyman

  • WHO RECORDED THESE MOTHERFUCKING DRUMS?
  • Arrest him.
  • Hunt down and imprison the person who was responsible for this drum sound.
  • Everything else is good, especially the organ, but the drums sound like a hobo raping a cardboard box.
  • Two in a row: same arrangement, same feel, same vocal phrasing.
  • Also not my favorite song, if we’re honest.
  • There was an American Dad episode about this Jim Jones person, and he has a large beard and is given to fringed jackets.
  • Digging the solo: Venusian AM radio crackle and hiss; it is unpleasant and wonderful.
  • This is all right
  • It’s not awful, and Jim Jones is doing kind of a ’74 Dylan thing.
  • It could be over now, though.
  • Alpaca.
  • Bison.
  • Cat.
  • Dog.
  • Elephant.
  • Fox.
  • And we’re done.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCanZehKVD0[/embedyt]

Charles Bradley & Menehan Street Band, Cumberland Blues

  • Hey now.
  • This is not West Virginny coalmining music!
  • …
  • All right: this is good, or at least adventurous or just shows effort.
  • It’s totally the riff from Thank You Falettin Me Be Mice Elf..
  • THIS BREAKDOWN.
  • Okay, I love this.
  • Best one yet by an incredibly large margin.
  • Catfish Collins on lead guitar.
  • Yeah: this is a band with a sound, not some random Pitchfork darling with a passable backing band running through the tune once or twice.
  • And it’s short!
  • WINNER.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtQd-i4pIBA[/embedyt]

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Shakedown Street

  • I don’t know about this already.
  • I continue to not know how i feel about this.
  • Is this the Disco Biscuits?
  • Oh, God: is this a Disco Biscuit tribute band?
  • Bass player’s pretty good, but the keyboard is like a nail file in my left ear.
  • Wait: is this Jamiroquai?
  • Is it a Jamiroquai/Disco Biscuits super-group?
  • The chorus is great and energetic and fun, but then they dip back into the verse and let their keyboard player play and I feel hatred in my heart.
  • Jamming?
  • On a Grateful Dead-related record?
  • Stop that!
  • Oops.
  • They did.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53us2EAEbm4[/embedyt]

Perfume Genius, Sharon Van Etten & Friends, To Lay Me Down

  • I do not like the name Perfume Genius.
  • Who’s singing?
  • The Et?
  • Whoever it is, she can sing.
  • Very good, strong.
  • Many people can sing well, but I sing Grateful Dead songs better.
  • Hey! Get out of here, Donald!
  • That was weird.
  • Anyway, this is a dirge.
  • I mean, the song has always been a dirge–AND THERE’S THAT FUCKING KEYBOARDIST AGAIN–but I think the Perfect Genie and Sharon van Houten have chosen to emphasize the dirgiest qualities of said dirge.
  • Giraffe.
  • Heron.
  • Ibex.
  • Jaguar.
  • There’s two fucking minutes left.
  • I know I’m not a good man, but I don’t deserve this.
  • 1,2,3.
  • 1,2,3.
  • 1,2,3.
  • We get it.
  • You’re lying down, he’s lying down, you’re being laid down: everyone is horizontal.
  • Kangaroo.
  • Lynx.
  • Marmoset.
  • Nipplehound.
  • Osteopathfish.
  • This is never going to–IT ENDED.

Day Of The Dead Listening Party In Real Time

March 24, 2016 / / 8 Comments

THE WAR ON DRUGS – TOUCH OF GREY

  • Is it the 80’s again?
  • Are Men Without Hats back?
  • The lead singer has never been in a fight.
  • Who stole my Cavaricci pants?
  • I wanted to wear them with my Capezio shoes and vote for Dukakis.
  • Maybe start a fanzine.
  • Jesus, how much longer is this?
  • I want to get in a fight with this lead singFUCK GOD, NO HARMONICA.
  • Dammit.
  • Good rule of recording: before you release a song, look in the mirror and take off the harmonica track.
  • I will fight this singer and his drum machine.
  • If you took The War on Drugs to a restaurant, they would have many questions about the food, due to their allergies and beliefs.
  • When Garcia sang “That’s really all I have to say,” it was bittersweet, but when this guy does it, it’s the best news you’ve heard in a while.
  • Fuck, he’s scat singing during the outro.
  • And more harmonica.

PHOSPHORESCENT, JENNY LEWIS & FRIENDS – SUGAREE

  • Immediate points off for not using the Oxford Comma.
  • Is Jenny Lewis not singing?
  • Why not?
  • It’s a bar band kinda deal, but it’s too fast: the whole point of Sugaree is the floaty, dreamy tempo.
  • Is the drummer playing like a drum machine, or is the drum machine set to 90% wobble?
  • I’m going to forget ever hearing this two minutes after it ends.
  • Nice organ playing.
  • Bored.
  • Who cares?
  • Why is this?
  • Who chooses a band name so hard to spell?
  • I now hate the drummer.
  • Browns picked up RGIII, huh?
  • Man, this election.
  • Could go for a ’72 today.
  • I could actually listen to the Replacements today.
  • I’d like to use the Time Sheath to make the ‘Mats do a cover in Sugaree in ’88 or so.
  • While Bob was still in the group.
  • Oh, thank God.
  • Three more.

BRUCE HORNSBY & DEYARMOND EDISON  – BLACK MUDDY RIVER

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM-shsMngdw[/embedyt]

  • We’re playing it this slow?
  • That’s a choice.
  • It’s Bruce Hornsby: how bad could it be?
  • He was a card-carrying Grateful Dead.
  • (Bruce insisted on having business cards made up.)
  • Did the same person produce all of these tracks?
  • Because that person doesn’t understand how drums are supposed to sound.
  • Oh, now they’re just making spooky noises.
  • Just play the Jerry Ballad; don’t haunted house at me.
  • Still spooky.
  • Oooooooooooooooooh.
  • Oogie-boogie.
  • Oh, there’s the song.
  • Bruce Hornsby can play the piano.
  • This drum sound is an abomination: if a state passed legislation stripping this drum sound of its rights, I would move to that state.
  • Turtle with multiple sclerosis.
  • Rusted-out Chevy in the backyard.
  • Tectonic plates.
  • Dripping pitch.
  • All of these things are faster than this song.

COURTNEY BARNETT – NEW SPEEDWAY BOOGIE

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdaAQlmExmI[/embedyt]

  • I have heard Courtney Barnett: they play her on channel 29 and 31.
  • Ooh, swamp guitar.
  • Drums still sound like shit.
  • Is that the theme of the album?
  • Which is 59 songs long.
  • Some of my very favorite bands didn’t release 59 songs in total.
  • Courtney Barnett is Australian, I believe, and she sings in her accent.
  • I approve of people singing in their natural accents.
  • Unless you’re Joey Ramone or Bruce Springsteen.
  • Okay, I got it.
  • 90 seconds left.
  • Animals that start with “B”:
  • Bat.
  • Baboon.
  • …
  • Um.
  • Big spider.
  • Birch tree.
  • Banana.
  • Biafra.
  • And the fade.
  • Slow-ass fade.
  • Still going.
  • Really?
  • Stop this.
  • Done.

THE NATIONAL – MORNING DEW

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLVLCXgTx3o[/embedyt]

  • Cover of a cover.
  • This is already not for me.
  • Is this Danzig singing?
  • MOOOOOTHEEEER.
  • Cuz the guy’s doing sexy voice at me and the song’s about nuclear war.
  • Like a Bauhaus vibe, maybe?
  • Goth-y.
  • Where are the cellos?
  • Can’t be goth without cellos.
  • Nothing in the soundscape is where it is supposed to be.
  • They’re doing a big build-up thing, but it’s so thin-sounding.
  • Oh, the drums kicked in.
  • Sucked the drama out of that.
  • Good job.
  • It turns out that without Garcia soloing over this song, there’s not really much here.
  • It’s the Dead’s version of Beck’s Bolero.
  • 20 seconds left.
  • Ten.
  • Aaaaand that’s all she wrote.

The Stacks

Follow Us

Google Verification

Follow Us

Follow me on Twitter

© 2021 Thoughts On The Dead

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑