tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44576740899785714982024-03-07T19:36:20.179-08:00Xoxobra: Selected Writings About Music & Lifexoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.comBlogger141125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-66359952193855481752010-01-06T05:52:00.000-08:002010-01-06T05:52:00.338-08:0020:09, Part 3: My Year In Music & The Best Albums NOT Released in '09Let's face it: creating a list of best music that includes only music released during that calendar year is way limiting. Like most...hell, all music fans, a lot of my best listening experiences in a given year come courtesy of albums that are already years, if not decades, old. The list below recognizes these albums.2009: Return of the Gangsta RapIf I were to summarize my musical adventures in xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-33510261921203290792010-01-05T03:17:00.000-08:002010-01-05T05:51:47.845-08:00Harinezumi LuvFirst post of the new year. Acknowledging that this is my first post of the new year really has no significance to the rest of this. I just thought I should acknowledge it cuz...I dunno, everyone else does it.Anyway, the wife and I spent the holidays in Tokyo, during which we picked up a fun new toy camera called the Digital Harinezumi 2, which has the ability to shoot weird grainy video, which Ixoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-17290614643198895772009-12-24T20:45:00.000-08:002009-12-25T00:06:56.422-08:0020:09, Part 2: AlbumsIt's that time of year where music bloggers and publications post their picks for the best music of the past twelve months. I'm just following the crowd. As a gimmick to force me to narrow down my selections, I'm presenting my list in the form of the nine (09) best albums and songs. Go here for the songs. Below are the albums::09) The Devin Townsend Project - AddictedDevin Townsend has always xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-45499545366470159832009-12-24T19:08:00.000-08:002009-12-25T00:21:27.512-08:0020:09, Part 1: SongsIt's that time of year where music bloggers and publications post their picks for the best music of the past twelve months. I'm just following the crowd. As a gimmick to force me to narrow down my selections, I'm presenting my list in the form of the nine (09) best albums and songs. Below are the songs::09) “Hand of the Host” by IsisI've sort of tired of Isis' repetitive song structures lately, xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-32454287706113415942009-12-19T18:05:00.000-08:002009-12-19T19:22:53.054-08:00High Ate Us(view of Himeji-jo from near my new home)I'm bringing this blog out of hiatus, much to the cheer and fanfare of no one but myself (but that's okay). If there does happen to be anyone reading this, I'll explain further.The difference between this post in my last one is that I'm writing this one from my apartment in Japan, where I've been living for the past four months. I moved here for the same xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-69123825331052064002009-08-14T14:22:00.000-07:002009-08-14T14:34:24.312-07:00Isis - Wavering Radiant (2009)IsisWavering Radiant (2009)One thing that Wavering Radiant does immediately is expose the weaknesses of In The Absence of Truth. Not that Absence was a bad album by any stretch, but it was missing that certain whatever-it-is that made you feel as if repeated listens would continue to reveal new and exciting subtleties. There were certainly good songs on there, but since its release in the fall ofxoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-17669178945505558992009-08-07T19:08:00.000-07:002009-08-07T19:20:08.236-07:00The Mars Volta - Octahedron (2009)The Mars VoltaOctahedron (2009)Reviewing Mars Volta albums feels slightly pointless. Chances are, you've already got your opinion of the band and it's not really going to change. So eff that; instead of reviewing Octahedron outright, I'll share some personal thoughts inspired by listening to Octahedron -- which will likely be barely distinguishable from a proper review, but that's neither here xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-55818258795951426712009-07-21T21:13:00.000-07:002009-07-21T21:22:51.949-07:00Ya Ho Wha - Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony (1974)Ya Ho Wha 13Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony (1974)Living very literally up to the phrase "cult" band, Ya Ho Wa 13's recordings are the product of California's Source Family, one of the more well known and slightly less creepy hippie communes formed during the 1970's. Led by well-traveled weirdo Jim Baker (a.k.a Father Yod a.k.a Ya Ho Wha), the Source Family gained a large following which xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-44963651941345819342009-06-27T15:22:00.001-07:002009-06-27T15:35:56.761-07:00Selda - Selda (1976)SeldaSelda (1976)The aging hippie at the register when I bought this while on vacation in Portland was totally unimpressed. I mean, I'm sure I'm not the only motherfucker who's ever come in there looking for Turkish rock, but certainly I'm one of a very small number, right? Right? "Oh yeah, Selda. Good choice. I really like the stuff she did later on that was just super avant garde, experimental xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-84017931952935243812009-06-15T15:18:00.000-07:002009-06-15T15:22:35.319-07:00Breaking the HiatusI didn't mean for my writing hiatus to last this long, but you know how things can go. I was on my honeymoon for the remainder of May, and the last weekend of that month was spent packing up and moving into the new apartment I'm writing from at this very moment. My excuses ran out as of the beginning of June, though, and my lack of any form of writing since then has come down to a few reasons. xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-31647363876562121162009-05-15T05:00:00.000-07:002009-05-15T05:00:02.008-07:00Roll OutToday my wife and I leave for our Honeymoon to the fabulous Northwest! We're going to Portland and Seattle to (hopefully) enjoy a relaxing week and a half vacation amongst trees and normal weather conditions. Phoenix has been in the triple digits for much of the last two weeks, so this break couldn't have come at a better time. We've got some things planned, but for the most part we'll be wingingxoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-44960071351757174532009-05-13T05:00:00.000-07:002009-05-13T05:00:01.233-07:00Digital Good Time: "Baby Baby Baby"Digital Good Time: "Baby Baby Baby"Damn. People sure are making creative use of nudity and censor bars in music videos lately. Last year there was Keith Schofield's video for the Brighton Port Authority, then there was Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim's "Lesson Learned" video, and now comes French electropop duo Make The Girl Dance with "Baby Baby Baby". Does the amount of female nudity in this video xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-18878436719751971622009-05-11T05:00:00.000-07:002009-05-11T05:00:01.122-07:00Revisited: Sub.bionic - You I Lov/// (2002)Revisited: Sub.bionic - You I Lov/// (2002)(I mentioned this band in Friday's feature and decided I'd share this old story of how I discovered this album)Growing up in Cincinnati, I would often listen to WOXY on 97.9 FM before it went off the air and became a popular internet radio station (which sadly folded for good in the fall of 2006). Seeing as I had only just discovered the radio station inxoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-11862438122737907462009-05-08T05:00:00.000-07:002009-05-08T05:00:00.624-07:008 Good Songs From Albums I Once LovedIn preparation for my upcoming move, I've spent the past couple of weeks going through my CD collection one-by-one and ripping them to my hard drive. With over 400 CD's to my name, this experience has been...how do you say....a time-consuming pain in my ass. I'm almost done, though. As I write this I've made it through S, and am hard at work on T (which reminds me: why the hell did Tool split xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-41893038895463447672009-05-06T05:00:00.000-07:002009-05-06T05:00:01.566-07:00K-The-I??? - Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (2008)K-The-I???Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (2008)I'm typically not one to dump on anyone who tries to experiment with music. I fully support it, actually. This is how genre's expand and how new sounds are brought to us: by artists who aren't afraid to push envelopes and turn off some listeners in favor of attracting those few who really want to hear something new. But as with any experiment, some xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-85756850404720086232009-05-04T05:00:00.000-07:002009-05-04T05:00:01.185-07:00Digital Good Time: "Warrior's Dance"Digital Good Time: "Warrior's Dance"Remember The Prodigy? Yeah, that techno-ish band that got really big in the late-1990's with songs like "Firestarter" and "Smack My Bitch Up"? They're still around, you know. Don't worry, I didn't know either until this new video, "Warrior's Dance", popped up about a month ago; and it's actually a pretty badass video. It was directed by the morbidly brilliant xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-28513091612826342952009-05-01T05:00:00.000-07:002009-05-01T05:00:01.016-07:00Good Songs: April 2009 EditionGood Songs: April 2009 Edition(A quick recap of some of the best songs from albums I reviewed in the month of April)There weren't many good songs in the month of April, mainly because I didn't write a lot of reviews, so I'll fatten this feature up a bit by taking an opportunity to post some video of the from the 1-on-1's & Heartbreaks breakdancing competition I posted aboutearlier this week. xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-72150256646605002072009-04-29T05:00:00.000-07:002009-04-28T20:26:54.080-07:00Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound - When Sweet Sleep Returned (2009)Assemble Head In Sunburst SoundWhen Sweet Sleep Returned (2009)Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound exude a certain air in their music that I can only describe, perhaps badly, as a "California cool". Fitting, I suppose, being they're from San Francisco and all, but still not descriptive enough to properly get across their hazy, lethargic space rock sound. I suppose I mean that their sound brings to xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-35438396643203026852009-04-27T05:00:00.000-07:002009-04-27T05:00:02.472-07:001-On-1's & HeartbreaksBreakdancing has been a long time pipe dream of mine. It's such a creative and expressive art form, born from children living in poverty in New York just playing around in their free time, and eventually evolving into this worldwide phenomenon that has withstood the test of time (even surviving a fad period in the 1980's). It's amazing when you really think about it. Anyone who has known me in xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-29966331883860912772009-04-24T05:00:00.000-07:002009-04-24T05:00:01.586-07:00Doom - Born Like This (2009)DoomBorn Like This (2009)I was pretty sure Born Like This was going to be the next Chinese Democracy; the Hip-Hop Chinese Democracy, I should say. After so many unfounded release dates went by and MF Doom's impostor antics sullied his legacy a little, I was skeptical that the promised March 24th 2009 release date was actually real. But then three things happened: 1) Chinese Democracy was actuallyxoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-91903878534402605622009-04-22T05:00:00.000-07:002009-04-22T05:00:00.575-07:00Revisited: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999 Eternal (1995) Revisited: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E. 1999 Eternal (1995)Rappers would make great small business owners, and perhaps even great corporate CEO's. Most people listen to a rap album and hear boasting and braggadocio; I hear branding. Take Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for instance. They use E. 1999 Eternal to continually state what they're about and establish their brand. If they came up with a mission xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-31254582581941916482009-04-20T05:00:00.000-07:002009-04-20T05:00:01.052-07:00Live: Mastodon in Tempe, AZ - 4/16/2009I'd heard rumors that Mastodon were going to play their latest album, Crack The Skye, in it's entirety during their current tour. Once the band took stage, the opening riff to "Oblivion" confirmed those suspicions. With a large screen sitting behind the elevated drum set of Brann Dailor, Mastodon dove head first into their soon-to-be classic new album. Of all the concerts I've ever attended, thisxoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-4003722810144064532009-04-17T05:00:00.000-07:002009-04-17T05:00:01.103-07:00Headphones and AssesFeelin' a little lazy about writing a review today. My mind is sort of on a lot of things that I'll get to elaborating on at some point, but basically I'm preparing for a big move and it's requiring a lot of my time and energy. I'm still finding time to listen to music and I have plenty of albums to review, but my schedule has been making it difficult to find the motivation to put my feelings on xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-12245128912577012332009-04-15T05:00:00.000-07:002009-04-15T05:00:01.406-07:00Mastodon - Crack The Skye (2009)MastodonCrack the Skye (2009)"Hipster metal". What an unfortunate tag to have placed on you. Having your efforts reduced to nothing but a ploy to attract adventurous Pitchfork readers; a mere curiosity that provides a playlist break between Feist and Panda Bear and seems to say "Hey! Look guys, I actually like some metal!" -- in the same way MF Doom proves indie kids' hip hop chops. Mastodon xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4457674089978571498.post-70429749032463191522009-04-13T05:00:00.000-07:002009-04-13T05:00:00.881-07:00Digital Good Time: "Punches"Digital Good Time: "Punches"You can never underestimate the power of good cinematography. "Punches", the debut video from Ireland's Valerie Francis, has it down pat. Sure, it's only really one stationary shot for the entire thing, but it's a damn beautiful, well lit shot, and it works. Directed by Eoghan Kidney, the ambiance of the video nails the atmosphere the song creates. The particles and xoxobrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01015425404274799211noreply@blogger.com0