The adventure continues with Yo La Tengo...

Many people know that I have a simple and complete disgust for the show "Sound Opinions." I hate Greg Kot, and am embarrassed by Jim Derogatis' dumbing down of his own opinion. Kot is absolute in his pandering to mediority and Dero lets him get away with it. It makes me sick. I think that Derogatis is a good writer, though, and Kot, well...let's just say I threw his Wilco book across the room when I finished it, and then I threw it away. I guess I pretty much hate Greg Kot, I think he's an idiot and a bad writer, and I think that people that listen to his radio show and think he's smart should be forced to listen to the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack at full blast for eternity.

Of course it may come as surprise then that I first heard Yo La Tengo on "Sound Opnions" way back when. I'm pretty sure that it was a Sunday night, and definitely before Greg Kot started sucking the show up. Mostly it was before I knew any better. Anyways, Dero starts talking about how there's this band and they're from Hoboken and they used to be rock critics. They're called Yo La Tengo. I don't remember if he said bad things about their more recent albums at the time (which would have been Painful and Electr-o-Pura, both classics of a forgotten age) but I do remember him saying glowing things about the album he was gonna play. Fakebook is a collection of Ira Kaplan's favorite songs, songs he believes to be standard, to be worthy to play, a stunning, subdued take on beautiful, well crafted acoustic gems. The funny thing is, I don't remember what song they actually played!

For weeks I tried to get people to tell me about this band. Everybody I knew told me to shut up and just get into something that people actually liked. But I couldn't be detered. My search was mostly fruitless, as the pursuit of "rock music" was a bit of a sin around my house, but later in the summer of '95 I got my first taste of Yo La Tengo: Electr-O-Pura. Sitting in Miles Levy's house, I pulled the CD out and really dug in. Certainly different from the acoustic covers on Fakebook (containing an Kinks song, no less), this album tested my ability to listen to songs that weren't bombastic rock meltdowns. Cuts like Pablo and Andrea (their best, absolutely) and Blue Line Swinger (also their best) fucking kill me now, and certainly made me stop and listen then.

Here I pause to talk about a very important subject, drinking coffee and listening to the Band.

So I'm definitely enjoying this weather; crappy, gray, shit-sandwich weather that serves only one purpose: listen to some tunes and enjoy a fine cup of coffee.

So yeah, I'm supposed to be working, so what? I work in a morgue of an office where sometime my only solace is my coffee maker and my iPod. A little escapism never hurt anybody.

I'm currently enjoying "The Shape I'm In" by The Band, and the track that inspired this post, "Chest Fever" has just passed. These Canadians sure know how to rock it. Anyways, get yourself a copy of "The Band " or the Brown Album, and your favorite caffeinated beverage and join me in my quest to not work.

Just to point this out. "Pop" music taste is fucked. People need to get their heads out of their asses.

Here's the Grammy Nominations.

I'm always disgusted by the choices that are made at these award shows, but it's especially terrible this year.

Just so this isn't a completely negative post, here's my favorites this year:

Glitter in the Gutter - Jesse Malin
Magic - Bruce Springsteen
At My Age - Nick Lowe
Easy Tiger - Ryan Adams
Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
The Reminder - Feist
Challengers - New Pornographers

Fucked, we're just fucked I tell ya!