2004 was my year.

not to get all sentimental/nostalgic on this thing, but as i stated previously, writing is theraputic and a nice outlet for me. plus, there's only so many sleigh bells posts i can throw up in one week.

today i cannot stop thinking. so to avoid worrying about things out of my control, or getting worked up on certain social situations/familial dramabullshit, i'm going to avoid thinking on my yesteryear. 2004 was a pretty good year. a lot of personal growth, attributed mostly, to my soundtrack of the time.

this sounds cliche and lame, but there were several memorable releases that shaped me that were either released/discovered in tthis timeframe.

yeah yeah yeahs - fever to tell

a lot of music reminds me of someone or something or some experience. sometimes it's good and i can't help but smile (tessa and reggie and the full effect, freshman year). other times it really bums me out and reminds me of old break-ups or sorrows (shout out louds, "very loud"- break-up; wallflowers, "one headlight" - my grandma's passing). when i'm really bummed or stressed out, i strive to find the ultimate "jodi" album. the one where i can listen, front to back, and maybe remember when i listened to the album back in its heyday, but not be reminded of other people or situations. an album for me. of me. just so i can remember me and noone else. not sure if this makes sense, but believe me, if you try to flip through your ipod and find a song/album/artist you can enjoy without some sort of connection/memory, it's trickier than you'd think.

this album is it for me. the yeah yeah yeahs may have taken a turn in their artistic direction since their debut, but i ain't mad at em. 'fever to tell' is the one album, front to back, where i can feel sentimental without any attached personal romance (as i was perpetually single in 2004) - "modern romance/hidden track." i can feel empowered, fuck you in your face, sexy and alive - "y control". i can jump around my apartment sans caffeine or pants, screaming at the top of my lungs and not giving a shit if anyone walks in on me (well, 'cept maybe carrie b/c she's never seen me in my underpants), - "Date with the night," "rich."

BOY YOU'RE JUST A STUPID BITCH AND GIRL YOU'RE JUST A NO GOOD DICK. - black tongue. i mean, seriously. karen o yelping, shrieking, moaning, having hot sex with her microphone. this album is almost surely effective in transitioning my mood from blah to what-the-fuck-ever. and the greatest part is that it's not attached to another single living soul. just me, being me, not giving a shit, and doing what i do. plus, it kicks ass and it's fun to play really really loud until my subwoofer shakes my dining room floorboards.

i wanna be karen o when i grow up.

kanye west - college dropout

ok, so maybe the obsession didn't fully evolve until 2008, but i had many-a girly dance parties on my old madison crew's coffee table to 'all falls down,' 'kanye's work out plan' and 'through the wire." more of a guilty part-time pleasure, i didn't own any of kanye's full-length albums at the time of his debut release, but it was the beginning of my longest love affair with any man to date. when a newfound pal in 08 assured me liking hip-pop was not only ok, but awesome, i quickly caught up where i had left off with my old girly crew in the dairy state. i love kanye. this album, though, is still my fave. maybe 'good ass job' can change that come september.

george bush doesn't like black people.

elliott smith - from a basement on the hill

i didn't know much about mr. smith until after his passing. i knew he contributed some tracks to the good will hunting score, although i didn't know any of them by name or anything. i remember very clearly working the front desk of clemens hall, my old dorm at uw-oshkosh, being very bored. staring at the computer screen. seeing a mention on stereogum or somewhere, that elliott smith had died. i looked him up. i felt sad. didn't know why. a few months or however long later, i received his post-humous album, from a basement on the hill, at wrst. it came from a pretty consistent promoter, so i threw it in the disc changer in my old office immediately. from the haunting string opening, moving into the percussion build-up and epic instrumentation, i was crying before he even started singing. this sounds lame as fuck, i know. but believe me, i was not hip in 2004. i was an out of place wisconsinite who listened to saves the day and rx bandits. i didn't know what hipsters were. (truthfully, i even made one of my advanced radio pieces about the upcoming trend of "scenesters," describing them as the "kids too cool to wear a band t-shirt to the show." i interviewed members of motion city soundtrack for this piece. that's how hip i was).

the pain in his lyrics. in his song. his vocals. the instrumentation. bare and simple, yet epic and unforgettable. "a distorted reality is now a necessity to be free." "pretty (ugly before)." "a fond farewell." "king's crossing." (i can't prepare for death anymore than i already have.)

god, even thinking about these songs. and how much of an impact they made on me. and how many tears i shed. again - not attached to any person in particular, or even for the deceased songwriter, just the emotions that accumulated. no reason, really. just sad, empty, loneliness. i had recently gotten over a serious bout with depression and anxiety that took me across the state and two years of medicated therapy to overcome. while i wasn't a heroin addict like elliott, i could relate to the feeling of emptiness and the need to just feel, something, anything. it was theraputic to know that i wasn't alone, well, in the emotional sense i guess. shortly after listening to 'from a basement. . .' on repeat for the next 6 months, i eventually picked up the remainder of his catalogue. while 'figure 8,' 'xo,' 'either/or,' 'new moon,' 'roman candle' and his self-titled are all impeccable releases, i always wind up coming home to that basement on the hill.

i'm so "scenester" i even have two tats semi-dedicated to the dude.

the arcade fire - funeral

my friend seth wasn't even promoting this record at his label, but after we became buddy buddy on our weekly phone chats, he sent me a few burned discs he personally recommended. dude introduced me to annie, the knife, de la soul and most importantly, the arcade fire. i had heard a few tracks here and there from 'funeral' and at first was bored. dude's voice was wavy and off kilter. the music was accordians and not really my thing. but then, i realized this shit was bigger than that. neighborhood 3? how can one deny that intro, it's fast tempo, marbly vocals, xylophone/accordian/string sections. neighborhood 2? perfect shower shout-along, LAAAAAAAAAAIKA! wake up - well, we all know it was so catchy that spike jonez caught on 5 years later. rebellion (lies), however, is where i lost my shit. this is another album that is for jodi. sometimes i remember how i introduced my ex-beau to it and it was one of the few agreeable discs to play for long car rides, but really, it was mine. that blank burned cd. thanks, seth. i don't know where you are these days since gym class heroes broke up unless you're still band manager for that shit, but thanks for introducing me to funeral. this shit makes me happy, hopeful and back in my shower in 2004 on 715 wright street, oshkosh, wisconsin. not such a bad place or time.

plus, i vaguely remember smoking a mystery joint and sipping on some whiskey at central park watching this 12-member outfit rock the park stage, complete with david bowie on hand for the encore.

if only life was still that amazing.

jimmy eat world - futures

at first, i was over jimmy eat world. bleed american was the shit. clarity was the album you were supposed to like the most, and eventually i almost did, but when i heard a new one was coming out, i had just exited my "emo/punk" stages and was embarassed to admit my former love for these pop superstars. this changed, though, after the third or so listen to this record. this record isn't really a collection of singles, persay. i don't think i could really enjoy each track individually as much as i enjoy listening to the album from front to back completion, but when i do have 46 or so minutes, this is a good visit to the past. unfortunately, its' not a jodi album, it's a former dude album, but i have been able to remove myself from that time to the point where listening to this album is just an enjoyable glimpse of the time before. i had the record before the ex-boyfriend. i was really, really happy in 2005, so those memories are good ones. like looking in a photo album before all pictures transitioned to digital formats.

"i always believed in futures. i hope for better, (in november)." oh, mr. jimmy eat world, you are so deep.

please quit making overproduced shit now and go back to simple pop ditties, thanx.

modest mouse - good news for people who love bad news

if i ever have to introduce music to people of another ethnicity or another species from another planet. i think this album should be a crucial educational text. this album, from start to finish, is one of the most solid albums i've ever owned and if i need to explain why to you, you should go directly to a record store (or online) and find out for yourself, right. now. isaac brock is cool. even when he's fucked up on drugs. and making albums that aren't as tight (see, 09's noone's first and you're last). who cares. dude knows how to make a catchy track you don't need to feel embarassed about. can't wait to catch em at p4k this july. i really hope they play 'the ocean breathes salty' or 'the view'. then i can just shut my eyes, move my feet, shake my hair and scream marbly along with brock, and feel alright.

this would be a jodi album, although it takes me to a different time. summer of 2004 in wisconsin dells. residing in the extinct trailer 8. (trailer 8 is great!) where i could see the grass below the rusted/rotted hole in the bathroom by the toilet. i'd stare at the wildlife below every time i peed, praying a centipede wouldn't crawl in. this was probably my favorite summer of wisconsin dells. i remember my old friend nikki and i driving to borrow her dad's truck to move my furniture in oshkosh on our day off. cranking this album full blast, shouting along to 'float on,' arms flailing out the windows, knowing a long day was ahead but that our youthful states would get everything completed on time to return to our trailers on time for the night ski show. smoking cigarettes and pulling beer bongs in the picnic concrete courtyard between our trailers. climbing on the roofs. a hell of a lot of miller lite, hamms and pepsi. petey pablo. 50 cent posters. doritos. video camera. trips to walmart. and always, modest mouse bumping in the background.

i wish more than anything, i could get those friendships with nikki and kelly and days of my happy youth back.

revisitng this album isn't a bad consolation prize, though.

reggie & the full effect - greatest hits '84-'87 (re-issue)

ok, so this album had been released a few years prior to 04 initially. but i'll never forget the day the re-issue arrived at my office at wrst. i opened the package and screamed in glee! there were a few additional bonus tracks, and it was polished up a bit, but it was mine! and reminded me of my freshman year at uw-riverfalls, drunkenly shouting and singing along with tessa and quinn to these quirky key-heavy pop punk tracks. 'girl, why'd you run away,' 'your girlfriend hates me,' 'another runaway song,' and 'your boyfriend hates me' are hardly deep meaningful tracks, but they sure are fun as fuck to sing super loud and dance around in your underpants to. crooning to my cat, mostly. but if tessa or quinn were here, you're damned tooting they'd get a special lapdance tribute.

fiona apple can kiss my black ass.

tegan and sara - so jealous

i didn't listen to this album as much as i should have when it first arrived at wrst. but after a little prodding and encouragement from a certain promoter, i decided to give it a go. these lesbian canuck twins had strange haircuts and high pitched voices, singing into their acoustic guitars and keyboards about heartbreak, loves lost and jealousy. as a human being with a vagina, naturally, i could relate. and this album became my all-time 'i hate boys' anthem album. total vaginafest at its best, so jealous ignited a life-long relationship with their tunes. while this record doesn't necessarily count as my fave t&s record, (maybe 'if it wasn't you'? or 'the con'?), it's pretty solid and awesome. i even devoted my film pre-production final project to creating the music video for 'you wouldn't like me.'

i still have the hand drawn stick person tegan and sara drawings on neon construction paper in my closet.

i'm a really, really good illustrator.

now i think i need to revisit these, but maybe i'll start back in 2003 while i'm reminscing, i haven't checked 'give up' for a while now. the postal service always brings back memories. . .

fact vs. fiction.

i am not really a fiction writer. in fact, i really suck at it. my whole life i've always yearned and stretched for a creative outlet. whether it was smearing my ghostbuster's ink stamp set all over my bedroom walls at the age of six, 'YOU GOT SLIMERED!', writing plays for my 2nd grade reading class to perform for our parents, (Frankie and the Unicorns, sadly, was not exactly a smash), or getting a D in 5th grade with my less than mad saxophone/french horn skill in band, I always wanted some sort of channel or access to be creative.

Junior high came and went, along with my witchcraft/ouija board storytelling obsession. High school hung out for four years where I experimented with typical teenage angst and lameass "i wish i had a boyfriend" poetry. College, well, I guess I'll write arts&entertainment and cd reviews for the paper. Then grown up world, where at first, the only thing I'd write would be drunken letters to friends or scribbles about how lousy my last lay was in my diary. (Yep, I kept a diary until the ripe old age of 22).

Now I'm here. 27 and something. Bored? Probably. Trying to figure out what to do with all this free time I have. I've been attempting to keep busy writing music reviews, just like the college years, but maybe a few more readers, with a variety of blogs, magazines and websites. Sometimes I want a little more than that, though. Like a novel or something. Something long. Something conversational. Something NOT about the hip new band you'll all wish you listened to before after reading my article, but by the time you come around to reading it, guess what? the band's not relevant anymore. Such is the industry. Such is life, or at least mine, anyway.

I've always written about what I know, to some extent anyway. So I'm sitting here, and let's just say I've had a rough day, week, month, whatever. Nothing too extreme, but I'm feeling a little shook up and confused. It's times like these when I just start typing. Not sure what the next three words will say, let alone paragraphs. Let alone, chapters. Whatever. I one time sat down out of boredom and wrote a ten page story about lesbians. It might be backlogged on this blog, I don't know. At the time I didn't know why I wrote it or where anything came from, but I felt pretty good about it. I felt good that the words came magically, unbeknownst to me at the time of their creation. I felt good that I was able to stay sitting, slurping my coffee and keep manically typing away until I was complete.

I showed it to a couple friends. Not a single person said a word back to me. Not one. I know at least three people read it, but not a word. So, I'm taking that as a sign of "Jodi, I love you, but your fiction skills, my dear, they blow." And that's fine. Becuase i was writing more for me than for them anyway. An outlet. Let out the steam. It's my exercise of all the crazy scenarios floating around in my head.

Right now, personally, I'm feeling a little lost and a little lonesome. I don't care that any of you read this know this, whatever, it's human nature, right? Last night I was thinking on some past experiences and tried to put my current situation(s) into perspective. Needless to say, this didn't last long and within five minutes of "deep thought," I found myself back on facebook, clicking on pictures of former classmates. I'm sick of this shit. I'm sick of all this vanity. All these games. All this running around and trying to exert myself for everyone except myself. The thing is, I don't know how to please myself or do things for me. If I did, I can assure you I wouldn't be wasting this sunny 70 degree summer day in my dark bedroom, typing maniacally to avoid my own inner thoughts.

So, I wrote something today. I'm not happy with it. I thought it started out okay, and I once again was bit with the 'ghost-writer' bug I had when I wrote my sucky lesbo-love story, so I went with it. Why the hell not. But then I realized some of the aspects may have been more towards the non-fiction than fictional aspects, so I tried to make up new characters, and throw additional twists in. And the ending result? Quite frankly, an overblown and exhausting piece of shit, "woe is me, i am a girl" story with no conculsion. So please, spare yourself and quit reading this post now. I just can't bring myself to delete/remove it, because then the past hour and a half of typing would be wasted.

With that, I'm going on a bike ride.

xo,

jodi

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"It's time, sweetheart," she murmured in my ear.

"No, just five more minutes," grumbling, rolling over back into my nest of cushions and depression.

"No, really. Get your ass up." Leslie grabbed my upper arm and flipped me over in my bed. "You've been lying here, day after day, wallowing in your self pity. Time to get your ass out of bed, into that shower and out into the real world."

"The real world can suck my dick, I'm fucking tired. Let me sleep."

"Jenna, listen to me. Now." Leslie was giving me the 'if-you-don't-do-as-I-say-this-exact-moment-I-will-make-the-rest-of-your-life-a-living-hell' look. I caved and sat up, stretching my arms above my ratnest bedhead and swung both feet on the floor. "Now I know shit sucks right now, but what the fuck ever. You can't go on about this asshole loser forever. The job thing is temporary, you'll find something awesome and someone awesome, surely. But not with this woe is me bullshit apathy attitude. You have to fucking want it, and work for it." Transitioning into a coy, mischievious and playful tone, Leslie smiled. "Soooo, we're going on a trip."

"No benjamins, sister. No can do," I grumbled, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"None needed. I borrowed my sister's car. I have the next three days off from the office. We're going camping."

"Fuck that shit, I'm not sleeping with no bugs." I protested, grabbing my pair of shorts from the floor, slipping into them and heading to the shower.

"Who said anything about bugs? I didn't tell you WHERE we're camping," she flashed that smile again.

"Ok, I give. WHERE are we camping?"

"Kansas City," her smile broadened.

"What the fuck is in Kansas City? No way, no how. Not sleeping outside, not driving nine hours to do it."

"Well, you see, we're not necessarily camping outside, more so, on someone's couch."

"Whose? Fuck this, this is stupid. Out with it, what's your stupid big plan?"

"Don't you remember who lives there? A certain somebody you used to know and bore me to sleep with on a nightly basis back in college?"

I paused and tried to think. My head was still groggy with sleep and my unusal sequence of dreams from the night-who am I kidding-afternoon/morning before. That's the real kicker about depression, time is meaningless. It's your biggest opportunity yet strongest enemy. When you lose all to complete apathy, it doesn't matter one bit what numbers are flashing on your digital alarm clock. It's just a reminder to pay xyz bills on time and how much later Walgreen's is open. Depression rules. It's my favorite pastime. Laying in emptiness, no excuses, no obligations, just existing. Sort of, anyway. As much as I tried to think, though, all I could remember was the kitty water balloon parade I had dreamt half-awake, making up all the details I wanted to happen in my dream, but didn't, clutching my body pillow tight, sucking in my drool puddle. "Kitties," I mumbled, smiling in thought.

"Jesus Christ Jenna. You are a genius. That is exactly right. We are going to visit some kitties in Kansas City. Good god." She yanked the pillow I had reclutched in my grip away and pushed me towards the bathroom. "Take your damned shower. I'll pack your bag. The car's here and waiting, only thing waiting is you."

"Blah blah blah!" I obnoxiously shrieked, stomping my way into the shower.

Good god, this shower has overheated water. No matter how many times I turn the rusted knobs, more cold, less hot, the hotter the water gets. Today I didn't give a shit. At least I felt something, even if it was just the scalding pressure tearing away at my sensitive skin. Something about the pain served as a nice little reminder, like at least I can feel something.

I thought back on the topic at hand. Kansas City. Who the fuck do I know in Kansas City? I was friends with a couple of kids a few years younger than me last year who were from there. I haven't talked to any of them though since Lara moved to Washington. Leslie didn't even know those girls so there's no way that's who we are visitng. I suddenly remembered her mentioning college. College? That was five-six fucking years ago, and Leslie didn't even attend the same university as me. But we did have lenghty phone dates. I didn't have any friends at school from there, so that's out. I mainly dated scrubby little drunk punk kids who were as disposable as my lady bic razors, so I subtracted them from the equation.

Then I thought of the radio station. Man, those were the years when everything was right. Sure, I was lonely and scared of whatever came post-collegiate years for sure, but for the moment, living in the moment, the right. fucking. now. moment of it all, that was perfect. I had my own space. I had motivation. I had aspirations to do whatever the fuck I felt like. AND my metabolism was banging. I could inhale greasy ass pizza and soda like nobody's business and get away without a single sit-up and still have the figure of a slender 21-year old girl. Damn. But yeah, back on track here, radio station. . .  Someone at the station? A label contact? A promoter? Then it hit me. Nolle. How could I have forgotten??? But then again, did he live in Kansas City? I remember he was from Missouri, but the one of two steamy times I had met up with him were in St. Louis. Aaaaand bam, Kansas City.

But how the fuck would Leslie have known how to get in touch with him? And what would she have said? And WHY would she have reached out to him? Furiously scrubbing, I tried to quickly rinse the shampoo out of my hair so I could confront her. God. If it's him. If it's really him, I'm screwed. This is the one man who fucking grabbed my heart instantaneously without ever even seeing me. Our conversations together. The drunk personal dials. The flirtatious texting. It was all too much. One time post college when I had been in my relationship with Jason, I had reached out to Nolle via MySpace and got reaquainted. Things started to get a little too flirtatious on both ends, and suddenly, like our connection had restarted, ended. How did that ever end? I thought. . . . couldn't quite remember. Stepping out of the shower, I made a grab for the burgundy towel draped over my radiator and wrapped it around my wet, glistening body.

"Leslie??!" I shouted, "You goddamn whore, what are you up to???"

"Figure it out yet?" she laughed from the other room, "I have your things packed, don't worry," she winked at me as I stomped into my bedroom. "I grabbed all your sexiest panties and party dresses. You just gotta get yourself dressed and grab your make-up. We got plenty of time on the road for you to get all dolled up."

I just stared at her, blankly. I couldn't believe that this was happening. I couldn't even digest it. I eyed my crumpled up blankets on my queen sized bed and yearned to be hiding under their protection, making up dreams about kitties and parades. Leslie caught my glance, "Don't. Even. Think. About it."

Sighing, I grabbed some clothes from the corner they had occupied on my bedroom floor, threw them on and ran a comb through my hair, throwing my shoulder length wet black locks in a clumsy ponytail. "So what the fuck is going on, anyway?"

"Dude, I'm so sick of all your shit. You've been in denial about your dying relationship for god knows how long, you are so fucking lazy you can't even show up for coffee dates with your girlfriends anymore, let alone even think about getting a job. You just talk to your cat all day and lock yourself in your bedroom with that nasty ass Chinese weight loss tea, which just gives you fucking diarrhea, by the way, and mope. I miss you. You used to be fun. Fuck this loser asshole and fuck your woe is me pity parade. I'm taking you out for some fun. I know you used to be apeshit bananas over this dude and I think it'd be fun to see what happens. I found him through his band's page on MySpace, who sucks very much, by the way, and we're going to go pay a little visit. I told him we were driving through town for a wedding and had a couple days to kill on the way back. He doesn't know we're driving down there specifically for him, so you don't need to worry about that. He offered up his couches for us, although I doubt we'll need both of them," she mocked, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"ugh. I can't even think of this right now!! I'm still sort of with Eric and I've got a lot of shit to figure out before I can go on your stupid sisterhood travelling pants fascade bullshit. Leslie, I really shouldn't go."

"Dude, wake the fuck up. That's all I'm saying. Didn't you have plans yesterday? Oh wait, somebody blew them off. And today? Oh right, that's why I'm here instead of somebody else. Get over it and get your fat ass into my car."

Knowing I'd be kicking myself later for just wasting away another sunny day in bed, I decided to play along. I grabbed my packed bookbag and threw my toothbrush, cell charger and glasses inside, zipped it up and left my roommate a note, reading, "Gone, couple days. Do me a favor and make sure G-Unit doesn't die? His food is in the pantry, I should be back by Thursday. Gimme call if you need anything."

Locked the doors up, headed to the purple Honda waiting in the alley and wondered what the hell I had just gotten myself into.

"Don't worry Jenna, I got your Justin Bieber mix right here and waiting for you," Leslie smirked, offering up a blank cd into her car player.

"Fuck you, dude. Gimme a break, I hate that fucktard. He looks like a little lesbian and sounds like a chipmunk. Let's bump something real heavy, like say," I shuffled through her cd wallet, "Nada Surf. Yep. Here we go, I'm popular."

"You will never lose your charm, Miss J. Never. You piece of sarcastic shit," Leslie laughed, yanking the offered cd out of my grip. "Time to roll out sister, now or never."

And with that, we started the car and embarked on our 9-hour car ride.

I'm going to cut the rest of these little quirky conversations and the play by play of what really happened short here. We didn't make it to Kansas City. We didn't even make it 40 miles out from where we left. After stopping for a quick pee break and a bottle of water, Leslie confessed to me that she never called Nolle. That she didn't even ask permission from her sister to borrow her car. She had just wanted to see what my reaction would have been like and was going to try and convince me to upright and move with her, then and there, wherever the fuck we wound up. I appreciated where she was coming from and everything she did to get me out of bed, but in all honesty, I wasn't quite ready to give up what I had at home just yet. I had friends. I had a boyfriend, well kind of, anyway. I had an apartment. A cat. No job, yet, anyway, but that could easily enough be resolved. I did want to get away. I did want to run, as fast as I could, without turning back and just say fuck ya'll I'm out. But I couldn't. At this point in my life I felt too absurd of a strong connection to remain where I was and to tough the shittiest shit out. I didn't know how. I still don't. But I know that running away to Kansas City or Atlanta wasn't the answer. If I couldn't find happiness where I was currently, how was I to find it elsewhere? I knew everything was within myself. I just had to want to find it.

So thanks to my friend, I woke up that Tuesday morning/afternoon, whenever the hell she rolled my ass out of bed. Not to the point where I've succeeded in accomplishing whatever it is I want to be when I grow up, but I know now there are options and I can quote-unquote, escape and throw it all out the window. That's not how I roll, though. And I know that looking back into the past, especially that of an old flame, isn't the solution either.

Piratas de Sudamerica

El Guincho rulez. While homeboy may just be one of many getting their hands wet in the whole chillwave genre, dude makes electro-sampling undeniably radical. Alegranza! was one of my favorite releases of 2009 and I was fortunate enough to make his Empty Bottle show late last year. Tropical, dizzying delectable pop, contagious hooks and lot's'o chanting I can't understand b/c I'm an ignorant white broad - this shit is perfect summer soundtrack. Dude's dropping a series of limited release EP's, and here's the link to stream the first one, Piratas de Sudamerica. Shit's been keepin' me in bed since I woke up, hiding in my dark, air conditioned bedroom cave. Makes me happy - hopefully ya'll can enjoy a spin as well.

http://www.piratasdesudamerica.com/

my boobs look better than yours do in slow motion.

need proof? copy/paste that address below in yer interwebs and then scroll to the 2:44 mark.

http://reels.creativecow.net/film/4070

i've got powers.

ok, i lied. i don't. but kanye does. his new joint from his forthcoming GOOD ASS JOB is pretty incredible. i know i'm biased when it comes to anything mr. west, but this shit ain't no 808's, but solid ass hooks. addicting proof that homeboy's crawled outta his pms cave and ditched the dunce cap, focused on making some solid ass beats. check out the track hurrrr: (this will for sure be my summer ass jams when this shit drops). http://usershare.net/gowherehiphop/tgt3akdytyrx

STAR talk : ain't no thang

oh man. i first fell in love with stars in 2005, when i first discovered "set yourself on fire" back at wrst fm in my days of music directorhood. instant infatuation, for realz. tracks like "your ex-lover is dead" and "one more night" got me hooked. beautiful and simple indie dream pop melodies. love it. never did i think that five years later i'd be living in chicago, interviewing them for a music site. but i did. on friday i chatted up torquil campbell for chicago innerview and i gotta say he won me over with his polite charm and nerdy humor. i was kinda pissed off at 08's "in our bedroom after the war" with all of campbell's wanna-be morrisey antics, but after speaking with him for 20-odd minutes and love love loving the newest release "the five ghosts," i'm won back. can't wait to check this outfit out at lincoln hall on june 9th. shit will be real. my condensed cleaned up version will appear on the site next month, but we had such a solid convo i felt inclined to post it somewhere for all the other stars fans out there.

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There’s not much to say about Canadian indie dream weavers Stars that hasn’t already been said. The Five Ghosts, Stars’ fifth studio release, may be the group’s very best collection to date—full of synth pop energy, the stories of love and death are gripping and majestic. Singer Torquil Campbell talks to Chicago Innerview about the band’s new label, the recording process and his belief in the afterlife. (Stars plays a sold-out show at Lincoln Hall on June 9th.)

Arts and Crafts was your home label since 2003’s “Heart.” Your upcoming release is being distributed via Vagrant Records, but is being put out on your own label, Soft Revolution. What inspired the start of your own label and the departure from Arts and Crafts?


Just you know the contract had come up and we’ve been doing what we do for ten years and it was literally just a chance to try something new, to set up a new paradigm a new system and we had an amazing time being with Arts and Crafts and we’re still going to put records out with them through other bands and stuff but it just was a time to do something else so we took that chance. I think in this era of music and this era of the music industry its implicit upon you to take as much control as you can of what you’re doing because you’re trying to get a piece of an ever decreasing pie and the more you can increase the directness of the relationship of you and the listener, the better off you are. I think that was the main thrust of what we were doing was just to take control a little bit more of what we were doing and open up the pathway between us and the people who buy our records more directly.

Do you think you’ll be signing other acts to your label?

That’s something we haven’t even talked about. I mean, that would require this record make a lot of money and that remain to be seen so you know, if we have a huge success on our hands, maybe we’ll go and find a bunch of people, but both those things seem highly unlikely, so. . . (laughs).

Would you mind describing the recording process of the Five Ghosts?

We did it in three sessions which had two halves to them, so there was a writing and recording half in each session. So we would write for three weeks and record for three weeks and we did that three or four times. We didn’t demo, everything that we recorded, we wrote and left sort of unfinished until we got into the studio and let the songs be finished and have its recording only be once. I think a lot of bands struggle against demoitis, you write it and record the demo and it’s got an energy and a freshness and a feeling to it and then you try and go back to the studio and recreate that and that I think has been a frustration for us in the past so we wanted to make sure that the recording that’s on the record is the one where that particular kind of magic happened. So we didn’t do demos and we left the process of finishing up the song to the studio and to our producer Tom Mc Crawl, and that was great I think we all benefitted from that a lot.

It seems like everyone gets their two cents in reviews these days, but very rarely do the artists themselves get the opportunity to sell their works directly—as your own critic, how would you describe the new record:? In comparison to past albums?

Oh god, I don’t know – how would you describe how you looked when you were twelve in opposed to fifiteen – it’s a reflection of all of us. I’m certainly more proud of this record and more sure that this record is a great piece of work than anything else we’ve ever done. Because we didn’t let any other circumstance be, we just didn’t stop until we all felt that way. I think in the past it’s been harder for us to be honest with ourselves and to face the parts of our music that we weren’t happy with and I think this time we gave ourselves time and we gave ourselves the circumstances to really tackle those weaknesses so they’re not there anymore, so I would say this record is the sound of the band who really knows what they’re doing now and aren’t going to settle for anything less the best they can do.

The Five Ghosts is more synth backed compared to past efforts. Was there any conscious decision towards this change?

Yeah there was, I mean the thing is that I think there’s synthesizers a lot on all our records, maybe they’re more veiled and doubled with organic instruments on other records and this time we kind of let them be and let them speak for themselves a little louder. We were very much conscious of wanting to, we’ve always been a synthesizer band and we’ve started out making synthesizer records and I think we wanted to rediscover that part of our sound and Chris had bought a lot of great metala keyboards during the time we were making In Our Bedroom and we just wanted to explore that part of stuff that we’ve always had in our lives but had things diminished by covering it up with a lot of other instrumentation.

There’s a hint of death with The Five Ghosts, both with the title namesake and such tracks as “I Died so I Could Haunt You,” “Dead Hearts,” and “The Last Song Ever Written.” Is there a story behind the album title or was it just picked at random?

It was a hard year for us, we lost people and we gained people and we experienced I think, losing people we love on a level we never experienced before and so ghosts were everywhere. And death and beginnings and endings were in our face, it was sort of inevitable that it would become a part of what the record was. I think that ghosts are sinister until you lose someone and then they become something you really hope exists and something that you, you want to feel them all around you because you suddenly realize that heaven is a great invention because it sort of speaks to the hardest thing about life which is the sense that one loses people one loves and they just go they don’t exist anymore, they’re not anywhere and that’s a terrifying thought when you lose someone you love. The idea of someone being a ghost becomes a way of communicating with them or a way of believing in their existence still and a way of them still having presence. So that was all stuff that was very much rattling around inside our heads while we were making this record.

Your albums always showcase original art, where do you come up with the concepts?

Well Bedroom was a painting by my brother Tom Campbell, who’s a great painter. This cover was designed by Jacob Lorenz who works at the Cardboard Box Project which is a wonderful company in Montreal that Chris (Selingman)’s brother runs. They do artwork and merch and design for us and Arcade Fire and for a number of other bands and they’re just an amazing sort of platform for people’s idea s and there’s a lot of creative people within that art house that help out to make those images work. Those photographs are 19th century spirit photographs – people used to, when their loved ones would die, they would be sent to have a photograph taken and the photographer would superimpose a photograph of their loved one over top as a sort of fake ghost photo that you would put up in your living room or your hallway, or whatever. That comes from that idea of sort of Victorian ghost photographs.



What is your favorite track on the record?

That’s a tough one, (repeats question to self), I dunno, it changes day to day, I think Love Fix, that’s a great pop song and I tend to love the ones I’m not singing on. I love Changes, you know then I can just be listening and enjoy them, whenever I hear my own voice I’m staring at a mirror, so. . .

What’s the last show you attended as a fan?

I went to see Phoenix, who I love.

What’s currently on your iPod? Any new artists we should be listening to?

Always, lots I think. There’s always tons of great music happening. I love the new Shout Out Louds record, I love that Washed Out record, I think that’s lovely. I think The Drums are a great band. I love so much stuff, whenever I’m asked to come up with stuff, my mind freezes but the new Gorillaz record is fantastic. I think he’s always someone you scramble to keep up with as far as his ability to write hooks and his pop know-how, you know? But I love that Shout Out Louds record, that’s certainly making a lot of time on my playlist I listen to that record a lot and that new Kings of Convenience record. I love a lot of stuff from Sweden and Norway and the Nordic countries, I think they share a lot in common with what Stars do I guess.

What’s the last great book you read?

I just read Farewell my Lovely by Raymond Chandler. It was an incredible book, extraordinary book – I try to narrow down my books so that I don’t read anything but great books because there’s so many books that it’s hard to waste time something you’re not certain is going to be amazing. So Raymond Chandler is a sure thing, all you have to do is buy a book by Raymond Chandler and you’re guaranteed a masterpiece.

If you could spend a night covering any other artists’ material, who would it be? Who would you want to cover your material?

That’s a tough one, I’d love to be in a Smiths cover band sometime, just because I know it so well or a Pre Five Sprout cover band but that would be tough to find other musicians who’d be able to play pre five sprout cover songs. Who to cover us, maybe Perro del Mar and Tom Waits? I’d like to hear them do a bunch of duets. They’ve got plenty of their own shit to do though, so not sure they’ll get around to it. (Maybe they’ll read this interview and give you a call), Maybe maybe, they’ll be inspired.

What’s your favorite part about being on the road?

Playing the shows, playing the shows to be honest is the only good part of being on the road at this point in my life. I have a baby daughter and a beautiful wife and there’s not much to compel me to hang out in hotel rooms and busses except the shows which are amazing and which are inevitably the highlight of the day so just being able to play the music for people who enjoy it and realize that we’ve gotten to the point where we can do that all over the world is a very privileged thing. You feel very lucky and grateful for that.

With the recent May release of BSS’s “Forgiveness Rock Record” and Stars’ June release of “The Five Ghosts” only a month apart, you must have all been pretty busy. Were you all equally involved in the latest BSS contribution or not so much this time around? Any chances of both groups coinciding any tour appearances?

Not much, Evan I think did a little bit of work on it, Amy did a little bit of work on it but mostly that was a record that those guys made as a five piece which are MacIntyre, so there was much less involvement from the sort of auxiliary members of Broken then there has been in the past. I think they felt they needed to focus their energy and their sound and we were making our record simultaneously so there was very little time as well to spend on it but I know Evan jumped on some tunes and I know Amy did some too.

How long have you known the other members of the band?

I’ve known Chris since I was 8 years old, so thirty years. I’ve known Evan since I was twelve, I’ve known Amy since I was 18, so a long ass time – Pat since I was 25?

What’s your relationship with Amy like – when it comes to songwriting is it a one-man show or is it a collaborative effort?

We help finish each other’s stuff, like I write for Amy a lot. So the conversation, the voice is always in our mind. The lyrics tend to be either a me or Amy kind of thing but there are some songs that we finish together or songs that Amy will write something and I’ll come up with something to add or vice versa. That happens quite a lot. The initial impulse of the song is generally one person and the basic, totality of the song tends to be one person but it can be finished or augmented or helped out by the other person and as I say, it’s always the conversation of the music is always in our minds you know and balancing those two vocal qualities and finding a way to, umm, I think that’s sort of more my job in the band, is writing songs for the two of us. It tends to be if a song that both of us are singing, I’ve written it. I mean, I’ve written the words, the music is always collaborative and always starts with Chris and Evan and Pat.

How would you say the internet has affected your music? With things like MySpace, blogs and digital piracy – would you say that your career has been positively or negatively affected?

Well you never know, because you can’t go back and replay it without it. I’d have to say positively in all total, because a band like ours, without the internet, we’re not getting to Singapore or Taiwan or Japan or Australia or any of those places that we have gotten to. If the internet didn’t exist, we might sell a couple of hundred records over in those places and never be able to afford to get there and never be able to build an audience there so it’s an incredible tool in the sense that it allows you to reach out all over the world to people. I think we’re also a band, however, that’s probably our records have probably been stolen 4 or 5 times often more than they’ve been bought, so in that sense I guess we’ve suffered – but without that technology would those people who are stealing the records even know we exist? Probably not, so, it’s a trade off. But ultimately I think it’s been an amazing thing for our band and the technology of MySpace – speaking of MySpace, although I know it’s not popular anymore, for a band as a platform, it’s an unbelievable simple and effective way of putting your music up and allowing people to hear to it. MySpace has died off recently, but we’ve had all of seven million hits, that’s a helluva lot of people who’ve been exposed to our music through that particular website.

i bought a bike today.

hopefully this bad boy arrives within the week.

trick or TREATS

so i know i rambled about how rad sleigh bells is the shit and whatever after catching them open up for yeasayer, but i just got my grubby lil' paws on a stream of their debut full length, TREATS. gots to say, this shit is what 2010's been lacking and waiting for. raw, unapologetic, thundrous, bass infused thrashcore. homegirl has got quite the lungs on her, innocently yet extremely tongue in cheekly singing in her high girly-ness but rocking full out screams and growls. heavy ass guitars. bass bass bass. bootyshaking madness.

i just gotta say, this is the shit.

i made a summer 2010 dance party mix the other day in preps of what will be the dance party of the millenium (milk factory, may 29th - be there or miss out), and while i do gotta say there's a bunch of new shit that isn't half bad (freelance whales, here we go magic, lookbook just to name a few), nothing has been as consistent from start-to-finish this year since Treats. Go buy it when it hits da' shelves this Tuesday, you'll thank me (for realzies).

jodi be sayin' YEA!!!!!!

yessss!!!! my first venus link!

http://www.venuszine.com/articles/music/live_reviews/6944/Yeasayer_takes_their_electro_pop_safari_to_Chicago

SLAYIN' BELLZ

So last Thursday evening I got my first Venus Concert Assignment, Yeasayer at the Metro. That's supposed to be up on their website today I think, so I'm pretty excited to see it up live. But I would be lying if I said Yeasayer owned the entire evening - up and coming buzzworthy openers Sleigh Bells really brought their shit too. My friend Anne wasn't familiar with the duo's electro-clash sugary sweet hardcore fire, so it was pretty awesome to watch her jaw drop as singer Alexis Krauss spat and shrieked, as guitarist Derek Miller wailed some heavy electro noise.

Their first time in Chicago as Sleigh Bells, the duo pulled off a pretty mind blowing set - even despite some technical difficulties with thier guitar sound. Krauss leapt, strutted, climbed and stripped. Screaming her hissy fit temper tantrum childlike shrieks, she still kept her shit delectably sugary sweet and innocent with her soft vocal contrast. plus, she looked hella hot rocking her skull and crossbone leggings and grey tie-dye frock. Homies rocked several tracks from their demo, including "A/B Machines," "Beach Girls" and "Crown to the Ground." Additional tracks included "Infinity Guitars," the spastic electro-noise single "Tell Em," (which is available free to download from their official website), and two new tracks I didn't recognize. I was slightly disappointed to not hear the delectable poppy, "Ring Ring," but understood why it wasn't accounted for - all their other tracks were loud, vivacious, trashy and heavy - it wouldn't have made much sense to throw in a girly pop joint. All in all, it was a stellar set and I'm just looking forward to their upcoming set at Pitchfork this July all the more. Sleigh Bells rules. (Obvs, since M.I.A. signed 'em to her label.)