Alright, it's been about a month and a half since I last posted and those were mostly shitty posts. Granted, a lot of them were about the best fighting game of the year, but that's beside the point.
The main reason I haven't been posting is because I knod of burnt myself out. I know, how the hell am I burnt out posting twice a year? Well, after the election, I got pretty pissed off and started this post that had really no end in sight. A way through it I decided "Fuck it, I don't care," scrapped the post and stopped blogging for awhile.
In terms of politics at the moment, I'm still pissed off but, given that a good deal of this country obviously votes against its own best interests, I'm tired of being a fiscal liberal. I'm (surprise, I'm sure you didn't see this coming) all for
BLMs third way: money for us, no legislation of taste and all are welcome,
even especially queers.
That's enough of that. The other reason I haven't been posting is that work has been fucking busy. I'm working shift work today though, which gives me a slight excuse to slack, hence this work time post.
But you (two people reading) don't really care/already know about work so let's get on to the
important meaningless crap!
With my giving up and all, I missed my 'blog's 1-year anniversary. A lot of people seem to do a year in review or some-such nonsense for their 'blogging anniversary. I've decided to follow the herd this time. Without further ado, I present
Eli's 2004/Blog Anniversary Unnecessary List.
(As a note, this may come as one complete post, a bunch of little posts, or one post that should be part of a bunch of little posts but I got too lazy to finish. Really, no shocker there.)
My Opinion on Some Music That May or May Not Have Come Out This Year
A lot of people have top 5 or 10 lists for the music of the year, but the truth is, I've kind of slacked off on music this year. I bought some CDs, but nowhere near the quantity I've consumed in the past, plus a lot of it was getting things I've meant to for years. Seriously, I didn't own a Fatboy Slim CD until a couple of months ago (I know the first two by heart though, living with BLM wil do that). On top of that, I had been listening to a lot more talk radio and a lot less music radio and now I'm mostly listening to CDs so not a lot of variety in the new is getting a fair shake.
Point is I don't feel qualified to make a "Top" list as I've heard fairly little this year. I do, however, feel qualified to make a list of stuff that I've liked this past year.
Seven Albums That Eli Really Likes That He's Pretty Sure Came Out This Year
William Shatner,
Has Been: With Ben Folds producing an album by the most distinctly voiced starship captain (Patrick Steward is a really close second) you just can't go wrong. Granted,
Shane really doesn't like the cover of Pulp's "Common People" and I see his point, but that shouldn't taint the rest of an album this good. Highlights include the track with Henry Rollins "I Can't Get Behind That" which features some fun bitching; "That's Me Trying" with lyrics by Nick Hornby (author of "High Fidelity" and "About A Boy") and vocalists Aimee Mann and Ben Folds; an "You'll Have Time" all about death and the associate insecurity.
Saul Williams,
Saul Williams:
See Here
MF DOOM,
MM.. Food?/Madvillian,
Madvillainy: Two great underground hip-hop disks featuring The Metal-Faced Villian (the second with produced Madlib). This is about all I've listened to on a regular basis for the past couple of weeks (one in the car, the other at home). Low-Fi feel to both of these with a great flow, and mostly original subject matter, especially on
MM.. Food?. I mean really, rapping about picnic food to the background of a battle with the Fantastic Four... yeah. Most people seem to like the Madvillian album a little better but I'm preferential to the MF DOOM disc, probably because the last track, "Kookies", samples the Sesame Street closing credits song.
Brian Wilson,
Smile:
I think Shane put it best.
The Hives,
Tyrannosaurus Hives: More of the Hives, a lttle different but mostly the same as the last album. No big deal on the similarity because "The Hives are your favorite band" as Howlin' Pele and the rest of the gang like to remind us.
Cake,
Pressure Chief: Best Cake album in awhile. Also, if you ordered early, like BLM did, it came with a bonus disk that has a cover of "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" which is pretty cool.
So there should probably be a few others on this list but those are what I remember at the moment.
Most Disappointing Album of the Year
Eminem,
Encore: Given the quality of his last three albums... wow, this is bad. I had a feeling after hearing "Just Lose It," with it being the most generic and least passionate thing that I think Eminem has released, but them "Mosh" came along and it gave me a sense of false hope. This isn't the worse piece of trash to come out this year, I'm sure, and might actually be considered good if it was someone else's release, but for Mr. Marshall Mathers, it's crap. Note to Eminem: making an album where you imitate Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, Pee wee Herman and back down from a battle to the tune of Martika's "Toy Soldiers" (which sucked when it came out) does not make for a good album. Please don't phone in your album next time.
Albums That I Sadly Still Have Not Gotten/Listened To This Year but Meant to and May Have Been On My List if I Had
Dizzee Rascal,
Showtime
Kanye West,
The College Dropout
Elliott Smith,
From A Basement On The Hill
Wilco,
A Ghost Is Born
Elbow,
Cast of Thousands
The Streets,
A Grand Don't Come For Free (I've heard part of this and like what I've heard)
Ghostface,
The Pretty Toney Album
The Roots,
The Tipping Point
Bjork,
Medulla
So that's this list. In conclusion, the new U2 is ass.
