My Indie World

Saturday, December 30, 2006

So Meta

It's such a cliché for bloggers to apologize for not posting. And pretty much pointless too. I mean, who are we kidding? Most blog readers read dozens of blogs each day, and one not being updated for, say, two weeks means nothing. This is especially true during the Chrismukkah season, with people visiting family and running around buying shit for people who don't really need it, all quiet on the blogger front just means one less thing to do.

That said, let me apologize for my dearth of posts as of late. To myself. I mostly blog for selfish reasons, and not having time to really do it in the past few weeks really pissed me off. With the usually bevy of Top N lists floating around the blogosphere towards the end of the year, I'm not happy with myself for not yet joining the fray. The truth is, my Top 37 is on the verge of being completed, but I still haven't decided whether or not to do little write-ups as I usually do. On the one hand, it's like 4-year tradition that I want to continue; on the other hand, the days aren't getting any longer.

Hmm. Let me mull. The year-end CD definitely won't be out until 2007, but I'm hoping to get this sucker ~~out~~ started this year. Hoping.

NP: Junior Boys - In the Morning

posted by Hanson | 12:19 AM |

Friday, December 15, 2006

Sound of Silence

A week and a half of not blogging. Wow. That's probably my longest stretch of silence, excluding vacations, since this blog was revived 4 years ago. I'm posting today just to break the streak, and to say that I'm not going the review the excellent Joanna Newsom and DeVotchka/My Brightest Diamond shows I saw during that time. Also, I want to make a half-hearted promise of discussing in detail the two Decemberists shows that took place here over the last two days. The second one was definitely better, as special guest Chris Walla came out to guitar-duel Chris Funk. Battle of the Chrisses -- good practice for the Funk in preparation for his duel with Stephen Colbert of Dec. 20th.

Ah. And it's Top XX season. I (heart) arbitrary and self-indulgent lists ranking shit I like, so ya'll better expect a good showing from me in this department.

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 2:42 AM |

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Extras

I have six -- count'em -- /6/ extra tickets to Sarah Slean's show at the Stanley on Monday, Dec. 18th: 4 for row 5, dead centre in the orchestra, and 2 for row 7, dead centre in the orchestra again. I'll sell them off at a slightly lower price then I got them: $35 each. Right now all the orchestra seats are sold out from Ticketmaster, and all you can get are row 3s in the balcony. So if you want to check out, from good seats, the wondrous Slean Slean do her thing at a pretty cool venue, let me know.

(How did I manage to get 6 /extra/ tickets, you might ask? Long story short, my missionary zeal to get even better seats got the better of me. Now, my friends and I are in row 2, which are the best seats in the house. Hehe.)

Frank over at Chromwaves has started the Best-Of season with his Top 10 records of the year. And here I was thinking that mine would be the only Top XX list that'll contain Margot and the Nuclear So and So's.

Buffy, Season 8, in comic book form: March 7, 2006. Yay!

Another sign of the apocalypse: Vicente Padilla got $33.75 million for 3 years while Adam Eaton got $24 million over the same period. Why the hell would you pay baller money to mediocre pitchers? I have three words for you, GMs of the Phillies and Rangers: Chan Ho Park.

NP: (nothing)

posted by Hanson | 12:43 AM |

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Because of You

In between playing (Advanced) Dungeons and Dragons (Second Edition), going to wrestling practice, and reading Asimov novels, I spent a good deal of my time during high school listening to music. One of my favourite bands back then was Letters to Cleo, a power-pop five-piece from Boston fronted by the honey-voiced pixie Kay Hanley. Their sound was typical mid-90s, post-riot grrl alt-pop (e.g. Juliana Hatfield, Veruca Salt, etc.) Frankly, I liked almost every one of those bands I was exposed to during that era, but LTC especially.

I distinctly remember when I first heard them: it was at a Red Robins, a Vancouver chain restaurant at the level of Chili's or Applebee's, (I think) after some sort of drama event. I'm pretty sure it was Grade 9, maybe 10. We were waiting for a table, the lot of us, when a refreshing bit of music blared through the speakers and caught my ear. It was a girl singing behind of crunchy guitars, a combination that was not very common on mainstream radio at the time, which was basically what I was exclusively listening to. (I'm pretty sure it was a satellite feed we were listening to at the restaurant, as I don't remember Letters to Cleo being on Vancouver radio at all during that time.)

I remember scribbling down the phrase that was repeated over and over in the chorus, "Here and Now," in an effort to find out who the hell they were. The song was so damn catchy, and somewhat similar to my favourite band at the time, Veruca Salt. Somehow, I was able to map that chorus to the band name Letters to Cleo, though I don't recall how. Remember, this was before internet access was widespread, circa 1995 -- I might've hit up the school library or computer room and did a web search, or I might've gone to a record store and asked. The former was more likely, as I didn't go to record stores that much back then. Not that long after, I ordered their record Aurora Gory Alice, through Columbia House (oh yeah, remember them?), and soon, I got their second LP too, Whole Sale Meats and Fish. A little later, I got the soundtrack to the movie "The Craft" on which one of their songs, "Dangerous Type", was prominently featured. I even got the Hempilations, Vol. II compilation because they had a song on it.

There was a time when I followed everything they did. When they re-released their debut full-length, Sister, I went "yay!" When Kay got married to USA Mike, I went "nice!" When Kay had her baby, I went "woah!" When they broke up, I went "doh!" I followed their goings-on with as much dedication as I've ever put forth for any particular band. I was probably more excited during the lead-up to their third LP Go as I've ever been waiting for a record to be released. Hell, I even quoted them in my high school yearbook personal message thingy. ("Be more like a fire than a firefly" -- so high school.)

Along with Veruca Salt, Letters to Cleo was the band that got me really into surfing the internet for music stuff. My Pitchfork habit, I could blame on them. I remember scouring the infant interwebs at school for 500k .WAV files of clips of rarities, then downloading them to my floppy disk to bring home to play on my 486 DX2-66 (with my awesome SoundBlaster-16 sound card!). The LTC board was the first web forum I participated in as well, though I don't remember what pseudonym I had posted under. It was all brand new back then -- listening to music that was not on the radio, talking to people from across the country using a computer. It was all every exciting.

Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, but I quite missed those days when I could count on my two hands the total number of bands I was really into. Now, there's just too much music out there that I care about to follow any particular band with kind of fervour that characterized my fandom during my teenage years. I used to track down every import single ever released by those bands just for those b-sides. Now, I just don't have the time anymore. Oh, to be young again.

I'll leave you with something from the band I've been talking so much about. Oh the 90s. How I miss you.

Download: Letters to Cleo - Step Back
Download: Letters to Cleo - Veda Very Shining
Download: Letters to Cleo - Sparkle Girl

And lastly, the video for "Here & Now":