Why I Oughtta

Search terms used to find this site:

1. “miguel tejada bobblehead dolls” (which has 11 hits)
2. “curtains match the drapes”
3. trent reznor sex habits
4. potbelly’s calories in milkshake
5. wheelbarrows
6. purchase “gold teeth shining”
7. “only girly boys wear sweaters”

1. Gay flamingos (redundant?) adopt a chick.
2. Threadless has a sale. Be a pal and use my link.
3. The Immaculate Machine has a new single out. Download it here.
4. Apparently not everyone likes gay jews.
5. Ridiculous behavior from Ekrobi, Drewbear and Mary at the German Embassy.
6. The best novels you’ve never read.

I try not to write too much like an indie kid on this blog. Like mentioning bands off-hand like you’ve all heard them. I mean, I’ll link to an article on a band I like, but I figure if you’re interested you’ll click it and if not you’ll skip it. But I have been kind of loving a lot of music lately, so I’m going to geek out and make you all a little mixtape of what I love right now. I’ll try to include some links to downloads/streams when possible.

Sadly, this might be a substitute for participation in this year’s wild-n-crazy mix game.

Side A:

1. Arrah and the Ferns - Skylark (stream it on their MySpace)

I’ll start you out with a double dose of cute. First up, Arrah and company. There are so many good songs on this record — Evan is a Vegan — but for some reason this one sticks with me. It features the male vocalist more, which is atypical of the album, but Arrah comes in soon enough. And the ending of the song is really quite lovely with the piano and boy/girl vocal harmonies.

2. The Seedy Seeds - Earned Average Dance America (stream it on their MySpace)

Cute take two. I really can’t wait for this band to come out with a studio album and tour. They’re from Cincinnati, so I periodically daydream about taking a road trip out there and, on the way to the show, getting some Skyline Chili, stopping by Jungle Jim’s and staying with my aunts (and avoiding their cats). But until then, they’ve got some lovely streamables on their MySpace. This track is a lot of fun and has their typical wacky instrumentation — banjo, accordion and a cowbell loop. Add the boy/girl vocals and I’m sold.

3. Menomena - Duel

I wasn’t really expecting too much from this band, because they seemed (at first) to be a Pitchfork-y flash-in-the-pan. However, I have really become obsessed with this song. It’s a weird one — driven by an organ and whimpering vocals — and featuring acoustic guitar licks and random trombones. I have to admit, the rest of the album hasn’t grabbed me as much as this track, but you can download Wet and Rustling here and it’ll give you a taste of the band.

4. Tom Vek - That Can Be Arranged

This is an older track (then again, my definition of ‘old’ is two years) from Tom Vek — his new album is allegedly coming out this summer. I was initially obsessed with the song “C-C (You Set The Fire In Me)” (download it here) because of its amazing drumwork, but now I’ve moved onto the closer, “That Can Be Arranged.” The whole album is really melodic, but it’s not done through guitars. That said, this track is probably one of the more guitar-heavy ones, although the guitars on the song are tinny and acoustic. It’s hard to describe this song — full of bloops and bleeps, a slinky beat and Vek’s relaxed, slightly accented vocals (he’s from London). If you like C-C, get the album and then turn it to track ten. Mkay?

5. Get Him Eat Him - CBT (demo) (download the solid track 2×2 at the Arms Down Web site)

So, Get Him Eat Him’s new album doesn’t come out til early June, but I managed to get my hands on their Do As I Tell You demo EP, which contains this song. The studio version will appear on the album, Arms Down. This song has been in my heavy rotation for a long time, with its crashing guitars and harmony-soaked conclusion. I can’t wait to find out what the polished-up version sounds like, even though nothing really sounds wrong with the demo to me.

6. Idlewild - Finished It Remains (download it here)

By now you probably know that Idlewild is pretty much my favorite band. When I first acquired the new CD, Make Another World, I listened to it one track at a time. Starting at number one, I’d just keep listening to new tracks every couple days to savor having a new Idlewild album in my life. So, imagine my surprise and delight when the final track on the album turns out to be one of the best. Finished It Remains is surprisingly up-tempo for an album closer and has a pretty great vocal turn from good old Roddy. The songwriting seems a bit more personal than I’m used to hearing out of him — he’s never really been a confessional lyricist — and the tone of the song seems a bit plaintive (especially at the end), which is not really a tone I’m used to from this band.

1. A lot of my Fairbanks pictures were sort of brown and burnt-out looking. That’s kind of what it was like. The puppy-petting station at an event I went too though — that was a highlight.
2. If you’re going to buy something big at Best Buy, here’s a 10% off coupon.
3. A TiFaux update on Studio 60.
4. This is an accident waiting to happen.
5. Oh, Mitt. You mean you don’t hate gay people? Well, all’s forgiven! Want to come over to my house for some appletinis and we’ll watch the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy!
6. The hammerhead shark virgin birth.
7. A contestant on the Australian Big Brother’s father died and the producers won’t tell her.
8. A new He-Man movie.

When I was in college, I used to keep a constantly changing list of “things that suck” and “things that don’t suck” in my AIM profile. They would range from bands, to concepts, to foods.

These lists would inevitably stir up emotions and I would occasionally receive a tersely worded IM from someone who, thank you very much, loved portabello mushrooms and that I could go fuck my non-mushroom-eating self. Generally, I tried to include several things that I only sort of hated so that I could stir up controversy.

Here are two expansive lists in that grand tradition:

Things that suck: Home schooling, gin, discussing the real estate market, mint chip ice cream, morning people, commercial radio, football, pundits, at least 90% of gay men, middle seats in airplanes, the name “Madison,” most e-mail abbreviations, when you’re hanging out with someone and they carry on lengthy cell phone conversations while you just sit there and play with the salt shaker, when you share a fact about yourself and (instead of responding) just proceed to talk about themselves, double parkers, excessive public canoodlers, people with poor concert etiquette, misuse of the word ‘literally,’ pleated pants, spelling ‘boy’ b-o-i, people who spit.

Things that don’t suck: Dark jeans, raspberries, when straight guys hug (and not the handshake-that-turns-into-a-one-armed-hug thing — actual hugs), my digital tape recorder, whiskey, fake meat, string sections, gay weddings, ducklings, getting pitchers instead of pints, girls with cute short haircuts, bands whose members swap instruments during the live show, my thumb drive, highlighters, Arrested Development DVDs, getting prints of digital photos instead of just looking at them on the screen.

It’s taut, violent, surreal, miraculous and glorious. In that order.

Not for the squeamish.

Via Towleroad.

1. I don’t really care what Montag’s (above) music sounds like. He just needs to stay pretty and Canadian.
2. You can listen to the new Smashing Pumpkins song here. Meh.
3. Download Final Fantasy’s version of Stars’ “Your Ex-Lover is Dead.”
4. Esquire sends napkins to writers, has them write stories.
5. Miami University researches try to scientifically prove if someone “looks like a Bob.”
6. Why Bush hasn’t been impeached: he’s been too big of a disaster.

“We’re so lonely.”

I just had the shit scared out of me. Upon returning to my house from the Pretty Girls Make Graves show, an opossum was sitting directly in front of my front door staring at me.

I screamed “Jesus Christ!” into the middle of the night and stamped my foot against the concrete until it ran away.

It was horrible.