So tonight, I've got sweatpants, a six-pack of Anchor Steam (and a ridiculous mug to drink it out of), some sandalwood burning, and the high possibility of a phone call from the ladyfriend.
Shit's going good.
Also, I wrapped dinner in a tortilla. This will likely become habit!
How are you ringing in the New Year tonight?
With a 6-pack of Anchor Steam!
(Note: this is probably among the angriest blog posts I've ever made. Rest assured that every word of it is sincere, and that I'm not talking from an overly emotional standpoint.)
So yeah, this week has been the shittiest week ever. Spent most of it depressed for various reasons. Now I want to get really drunk, but I don't have any beer left, and I've already sobered up from earlier when I got drunk.
This morning my sister comes over and starts screaming at me for some really dumbass reason, and tells me I'm a terrible brother. I responded by asking her to not speak to me anymore. Hopefully she doesn't, because I sincerely hate her (not a distinction I use lightly) and wish her nothing but for her stupidity to keep biting her in the ass. She is probably among the dumbest human beings alive and has absolutely nothing to contribute to anyone's well-being, while being a huge burden on everyone she manages to call a friend. She's a spoiled waste of any life-sustaining resources that she sucks down.
And then there's a bunch of other stuff I don't want to talk about. I probably won't want to talk about it with anyone except the person it concerns. I hate hurting people I care about, but somehow, I never fail to do it.
I also got put on pills for some weird-ass sinus infection thing I got. They were kinda nice 'cause they made me feel way drunker than I was, but that doesn't mean a whole lot if I don't have any beer left. Maybe I'll scrounge up a little spare change and get some Pabst or a forty of Olde English tomorrow. Or maybe not. I just don't want to be sober right now. I want to be chain-smoking and perpetually drunk, like I was most of the earlier part of this year.
And I think I just want to leave.
I was cleaning my room, and stumbled across this picture of me in 10th grade. Shit, I was a dork. I thought, "fucking hell, I was the dorkiest motherfucker alive!" so, of course I had to share it!
So yeah, this made me laugh. I still have that sword. Brandon cut his up with a real knife that he got.
What were your New Year's resolutions for 2006? How did you do?
My New Year's resolution was to stay vegan (or as close to it as I could manage) all year.
And... uh... I'm still vegan. Neat.
Show us something from the 80's.
I found this catalog when I was cleaning out my dresser drawers. My parents got it on their first trip to Hawaii in 1982, meaning that, yes, it's older than I am (but only by 3 years)!
What's something you did when you were younger that you still haven't confessed to your parents?
Submitted by Bizz.
I threw dog shit on the Mormon neighbors' trampoline when I was like 8 or 9 because they kept bitching at my parents about how loud I was.
And there was this one time my sister was asleep on the couch, and I walked over and farted right on her head just because I found such things hilarious. I actually still do.
Okay, let me indulge myself, here, because I sure as hell ain't indulging you. My musical taste is kinda "all over the place," so the placement of pretty much any given one of these albums except maybe the "number 1" is largely arbitrary. Hell, I liked way more than 10 records this year. The selection of records that made the list is largely arbitrary, too. Oh well. Here goes.
10. Lily Allen - Alright, Still
I have to admit, I didn't expect to like this nearly as much as I did, but, somehow, I really like it. It's got a sense of humor that very few pop singers could pull off very well. The "ska-ish" backdrop to the whole thing actually makes it far more enjoyable (especially to a reformed "ska kid" like me).
If Gwen Stefani was putting out records like this instead of pretending to be Asian, I bet No Doubt would still have fans.
9. Cursive - Happy Hollow
I love this record, I really do, but it lost a lot of impact over time. It doesn't hit me quite as hard as it used to, otherwise, it'd be much further up on the list. Still, it's a great record to pick up. It's definitely a different Cursive than you'd remember if you first heard them on Such Blinding Stars For Starving Eyes, but it's still good stuff.
Actually, enough of this bullshit. This is mainly here for the porn-bass on "So So Gigolo" and that catchy-assed chorus of "At Conception."
Converge put out another really heavy-assed record this year. More of the same nice, filthy, punk-metal they've come to be known for, but with some new tricks. The band is tighter than they've ever been. They're trying new things (I do believe I heard some actual singing in there, and not in that cheesy "scene" way).
Oh yeah, and it's technical as fuck, and it's going to melt your face off.
This is the token "punk" album on the list. It's on Fat Wreck Chords. It's got a poppy-assed sound. And yet, it's so much more than just another pop-punk record. The band sounds good. They sound good live (I saw them with The Draft and The Blackout Pact [R.I.P. - you guys were rad; it sucks you had a flaky drummer]) earlier this year. The songs are catchy. You'll hear them once, and a week later remember them almost perfectly.
Also, they know how to play chords with more than three notes in them and write songs that aren't about farting! How novel!
This album is Xiu Xiu getting prettier and exploring new territory. They even let Caralee sing on one of the songs. There's lots more twinkly shit than usual, too.
Of course, if you dig Xiu Xiu for all the stories of all the horrible things people do to each other, and all the scary noises, this one has plenty of that, too. Don't think they've gone soft on us (well, maybe just a little)!
An album like this is a career-ender for most hardcore bands. They've got weird samples, whistling, lyrics about "the opulence of a clear blue sky," and that's all in just the title track.
And all that stuff is pretty damn cool, but what's also cool is the fact that this won't be a career-ender. The band still has that dirty hardcore style that they're known for. They're still fucking awesome to get drunk to.
I'm pretty glad they finally decided to drop the "we hate full-length albums and CD's" nonsense and put together something like this.
At first, I was surprised that Joanna Newsom of all people would attempt a 5-track album made up of 7-16 minute songs. Then I started reading all the interviews about it and all that great stuff, and realized that this is the album she'd wanted to make all along.
I kinda miss the childishness of her voice on The Milk-Eyed Mender, but this whole album relies on a new-found maturity that probably wouldn't sound "right" sung by someone who had the voice of a little girl who was also half-cat. You can still hear hints of that on this album, but for the most part, it's like a whole different person.
As for the quality of the final product, it's fucking great. Only once (on "Only Skin," when they occasionally drown out the song itself) do the string accompaniments ever detract from the song, and a nicely-done recording by Steve Albini ensures that it sounds good the whole way through. The songs never overstay their welcome, and, occasionally, are quite "catchy," for lack of a better term. This is definitely one to pick up.
This album, and hell, this band, for me, just kinda came out of nowhere. I was bored on a weeknight, and checked the Neurolux's website to see who was playing that night. Some band I'd never heard called Califone. Better than doing nothing.
And, I was treated to one of the best surprises of the year for me. Apparently, I'm the last person alive to hear about these guys, but I really love this record. It's kinda southern rock meets post-rock, in the best possible way. Kind of like a less cheesy version of what the similarly-named (and equally excellent) Calexico goes for.
This one took me a little while to get into. But it was incredibly worth it when I finally did. It's surprisingly heavy for a major label debut, drawing from influences horribly cliche enough to include both Black Sabbath and Tool, and still manage to pull it all together into something really different, and incredibly innovative.
Mark my words: these guys are the next Slayer. Unless they make some major missteps, they're going to be that band that'll still be worshiped by metalheads 20 years from now.
I'm going to be completely honest here: I am incapable of judging Built to Spill objectively. They've been my favorite band since I was 12-13 years old (blah blah, yadda yadda) and kinda served as my earliest realization that good things could come from my hometown, after I heard "Car" on the radio (back when the radio sometimes occasionally played good things) and decided that I must hear more of the band who played it.
It was kinda weird finding out they were from Boise, especially since I'd never heard of them, and in my 12-13 year old mind, I thought that meant it couldn't exist here (of course, this turned out to be incredibly wrong, since it turns out I was rather oblivious to most things outside of the street where I lived).
I actually never got around to seeing them live until this year. There would always be some total bullshit nonsense that would keep me from going. One year, I was even at the show and the dude who provided the ride decides he doesn't want to stick around for no reason at all. Total freak things.
And it was totally worth all the anticipation. These guys are the best band touring right now. End of story. Ignore the kinda lame album cover, and just listen. In fact, go buy pretty much all of their back catalog. It's all excellent.
Oh yeah, and this album is awesome.
Audio: Share one of your favorite songs from 2006.
This is a great song.
