NOTE: This is a re-write of some code I wrote at Yahoo!, so I wanted to give credit to the two folks who had a hand in the debugging system we built there, from which this is derived: Chris and Sara.

You’re welcome, America.

<?php
 
/**
 * The greatest debugging class in history. Here's why:
 * 
 *  - outputs to both the error log and optionally the screen.
 *  - formats output nicely so you can see your debugging output
 *  - shows you where the yo() call is IN THE OUTPUT so if you
 *    leave a yo() in someplace, you can track it down easy-peasy.
 *  - accepts multiple args just like var_dump
 *  - feel free to use the sub functions too (like var_dump_str)
 *   
 * @author Jacob Rosenberg <themasterof@rightuptop.com>
 * @author Sara Golemon
 * @author Chris Draycott
 *
 */
class Yo {
 
 
    /* {{{ */
    /**
     * getCallerLine
     *
     * gets the calling line of the function it was called from,
     * i.e., this function's grandparent.
     *
     * @returns string Name of calling function
     */
    static public function getCallerLine($levels = 2)
    {
        $bt = debug_backtrace();
 
        $file = isset($bt[$levels]['file']) ? $bt[$levels]['file'] : '';
        $line = isset($bt[$levels]['line']) ? $bt[$levels]['line'] : '';
 
        return array($file, $line);
    }
    /* }}} */
 
 
    /* {{{ */
    /**
     * getCaller
     *
     * gets the calling function of the function it was called from,
     * i.e., this function's grandparent.
     *
     * @returns string Name of calling function
     */
    static public function getCaller($levels = 2)
    {
        $bt = debug_backtrace();
 
        if (isset($bt[$levels])) {
            $caller = $bt[$levels]['function'];
 
            if (isset($bt[$levels]['class'])) {
                $caller = $bt[$levels]['class'] . "::" . $caller;
            }
        } else {
            $caller = 'main';
        }
 
        return $caller;
    }
 
 
    /* {{{ */
    /**
     * var_dump_str
     *
     * var_dump, but with returned output.
     * OB capture is gross, but print_r($x,1) sucks compared to var_dump.
     *
     * @param mixed PHP Variable to be var_dump'd
     * @returns string var_dump representation of that variable
     */
    function var_dump_str($var)
    {
        ob_start();
        var_dump($var);
        $out = ob_get_contents();
        ob_end_clean();
        return $out;
    }
    /* }}} */
 
    /**
     * isInternal
     *
     * determines if a user is an internal user.
     *
     * @return bool true if the user is internal and should see debug output
     */
    public static function isInternal()
    {
        // feel free to add some code here that
        // turns on debug output for only a subset of users.
        //
        return true;
    }
 
    /* }}} */
 
    /* {{{ */
    /**
     * yo - figure it out yourself, dummy
     *
     * @param mixed Variable(s) to be dumped (var args)
     * ...
     */
    public static function do_yo()
    {
        $internal = self::isInternal();
 
        $caller = self::getCaller();
 
        if ($internal) {
            echo "<pre><h1>YO!!: $caller</h1>";  
        }
 
        error_log("YO!!:: $caller");
 
        foreach (func_get_args() as $var) {
            $output = ($var === false) ? 'bool(false)' : Yo::var_dump_str($var);
            if ($internal) {
                echo htmlentities($output, ENT_QUOTES, 'UTF-8') . "\n";
            }
            error_log($output);
        }
 
        if ($internal) echo "</pre>";
    }
    /* }}} */
 
    /* {{{ */
    /**
     * yo_bt - figure it out yourself, dummy
     *
     */
    public static function do_yo_bt()
    {
        $internal = self::isInternal();
        $caller = self::getCaller();
 
        if ($internal) {
            echo "<pre><h1>YO bt!!: $caller</h1>";
        }
        error_log("YO bt!!:: $caller");
 
        $bt = debug_backtrace();
 
        foreach ($bt as $line) {
            if ($internal) echo $line['function'] . "\n";
            error_log($line['function']);
        }
 
        if ($internal) echo "</pre>";
    }
    /* }}} */
}
/* }}} */
 
// shortcuts! ------
function yo() { return Yo::do_yo(); }
function yo_bt() { return Yo::do_yo_bt(); }

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Recently, I stumbled upon this clip thanks to Videogum (which, by the way, is currently tied for first place on the List of My Favorite Things Ever [with The Best Show on WFMU]).  Being that he and I are both connoisseurs of Harrison Ford’s work (we’ve had a Harrison Ford-related music project in the works for a few years now), I figured he’d enjoy it, and I sent it his way.  Take a look-see for yourself:

In response to this video, I received the following email:

From what I can tell, these are the what clips are from:

• Air Force One
• Firewall
• Frantic – they have quite a bit from the underrated Frantic (one of the only Roman Polanski films I really like, probably because Ford is in it).  This is the one where he is going around asking about his wife being kidnapped (Someone should do this with Polanski and films featuring bad things happening to women – Frantic, Rosemary’s Baby, Tess, and incest in Chinatown).
• The Fugitive
• Random Hearts
• Patriot Games

In the 29 feature films Ford has starred in, 6 of them he is married and something happens to his family.  These are all the above films.  I am not counting [Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the] Crystal Skull, although he gets married in the finale and he is ostensibly fighting for his family throughout the film.  I am also not including What Lies Beneath, in which he murders his wife.  That’s about 20%.  Note: the first film he did this in was the aforementioned Frantic.

In those same 29 feature films, Ford is married in 12 of them (again, not counting Crystal Skull), which means he is predominantly single in his film career (60% of the time).  However, ever since Presumed Innocent, he has been married in 10 of those 15 films, meaning that since 1990, he has been way more married than the first half of his career.

I don’t know about Crossing Over, the film he did earlier this year.  It was only a limited release.

Writing these kinds of emails is what Jesse does, and I don’t think it’s just luck that he happens to associate with folks like me who appreciate them to no end.  But I thought that this analysis might have a little more impact with some visual flair, so I whipped up some art to help bring this data home.  I therefore proudly present the Harrison Ford “Get Off My Family” breakdown:

A few things to note here, aside from what Jesse already pointed out about What Lies Beneath and Crystal Skull:

• I chose Mosquito Coast instead of Presumed Innocent to start the second count, because it’s Ford’s first starring role in which he is married. That film was shot in early 1986, while Ford was 43. I guess Hollywood decided he finally looked old enough to play a family man.
• We’ve assumed Ford is single in all films in which that topic is not specifically addressed; if I’m not mistaken, that is true in both Force 10 from Navarone and K-19: The Widowmaker. I can’t remember if the topic comes up in The Frisco Kid.
• One could argue that Ford’s family isn’t exactly living in the safest of conditions in Mosquito Coast, but I think that goes against the spirit of what we’re doing at here.  We’re looking at cases in which Harrison Ford is specifically struggling to find or protect his family, which is why What Lies Beneath doesn’t fall into the “Family in Trouble” category either.
• It is also interesting to note that in three of the twelve films in which Ford is married, he has committed adultery (What Lies Beneath, Presumed Innocent, Regarding Henry).  That’s a 25% adultery rate, just below the average rate for American males, which MSNBC puts at 28% (though obviously that’s a tough statistic to measure accurately).  It is also interesting to note that all three of these indiscretions took place before the start of their respective films; as far as I know, Ford has never committed adultery on screen (unless you count Hanover Street, in which he is the other man).

Lord knows it’s been a rough fifteen years for us Ford lovers (he is, in my opinion, two for ten since Clear and Present Danger), but let’s all just hang in there, and here’s hoping he gets back on track.

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This clip slipped under my radar until yesterday, but on July 8, Brian Kilmeade of Fox & Friends apparently lost his damn mind:

Thanks to Gawker for the clip.

I’ve addressed this “purity” argument before on this blog; it is experimentally disprovable as well as being just plain stupid.  Simple common sense and a basic understanding of genetics will tell you that “purity” is what happens when cousins marry, and that two parents with more genetic variation have the potential to make a daywalker.

But what’s mind-blowing is to hear this drivel coming not from some fringe white supremacist or universally reviled hate-monger, but from an anchor of a core show on a major news network.  I simply could not believe this; I dug through the internets to find the full clip, to make sure this wasn’t taken out of context. It wasn’t. Even his co-host, Gretchen Carlson, was making incredulous faces and tried to rein him in verbally, but to no avail. Let me repeat that: Gretchen Carlson thinks this is fringe crazy talk.

Congratulations, Brian Kilmeade.  You are officially that girl in that episode of House who has poo coming out of her mouth. This is you. This is what you look like:

Seriously though, how is this guy not being made to apologize for being an idiot?

Related stuff:

• HuffPo: Journalists Of Color Demand Fox News Apologize For Brian Kilmeade Comments
• Salon: Fox News’ Kilmeade: We “marry other species,” Finns “pure”
• Gawker: Brian Kilmeade Would Like Species and ‘Ethnics’ to Remain Pure

He looked very sincere. That was sarcasm.

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When he told me, all I could think about was a conversation he and I had in Istanbul in the summer of 2006.  We were sitting near the Blue Mosque at a cafe, and he was talking about his new girlfriend in a way I’d never seen him talk about a girl before.  I thought to myself, “He’s toast. He is definitely going to marry this girl.”

Way to go, dude!

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Best Suprise

Monotonix (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Holy moly. I’m not even sure if I’m that into these guys’ tunes, but you cannot help but be completely hypnotized by their antics. They seriously spent more time crowd surfing or climbing up the walls than standing on the stage, and most of the time they were playing their instruments on top of the crowd.  Did I mention the fifteen minute drum solo while they changed an amp that they blew in the middle of the show? I’ve pretty much never seen anything like this, and what a way to close out the trip.  If only they did fire tricks… OH WAIT:

The “I Can’t See These Guys Enough” Award

Gil Mantera’s Party Dream (Youngstown, OH)

Two clinically insane geniuses who strip down to their banana hammocks while simultaneously dancing their asses off, playing the shit out of matching Lucite guitars, and blowing everyone’s minds with their incredibly catchy electro-pop (which is drenched in vocoder vocals, brain-crushing hooks, and Stevie Nicks covers). Just go with it.

Runners up: Marnie Stern, Still’ Flyin

Most Overrated

Vivian Girls

My take on the Vivian Girls record was that it was highly mediocre, so I was sure there was a reason these ladies were getting so much attention.  I figured the live show was the key, and I really wanted to see what they were all about.  Turns out they are all about: being somewhat cute, wearing short shorts, and not being able to play their instruments (or faking as such, which is even worse).  I’ll take Marnie Stern’s sick chops any day of the week over this derivative slop.

Worst of the Worst

Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band

THEY ARE CALLED KEVIN DEVINE AND THE GODDAMN BAND.

Best Show of the Festival

Titus Andronicus

The Titus Andronicus debut The Airing of Grievances is an odd and invigorating combination of erudite wordplay and punk rock sensibility; these guys have no problem quoting a few lines from an existentialist philosopher and then closing a song by screaming “Fuck you!” at the top of their lungs.  It’s weird, and kinda great. But walking into a show after hearing an album like that, it’s tough to know if you are going to get the punks or the professors.  About five seconds into their set, it was clear that the punks had come out to play.  The setting was perfect: no stage, just a cleared out corner of a parking lot at a backyard barbecue. The crowd was stocked with uber-hipsters and gutterpunks alike, and everyone in attendance was treated to a simple, unpretentious, and completely furious ass-rocking.  Kudos to you, Titus Andronicus.  You win SXSW.

Runners up: Mojo Nixon, Monotonix

Technical awards:

• Most Likely to Die in a Horrific Stagediving Accident: Ami Shalev of Monotonix (Tel Aviv, Israel)
• The “Nastiest Chops” Award: Marnie Stern (New York, NY)
• The “Prima Donna” Award for longest and fussiest soundcheck: The Rosebuds (Raleigh, NC)
• The “Please Don’t Ever Hang It Up, I Don’t Care HOW Fat You Get” Award: Mojo Nixon (Chapel Hill, NC)
• Shortest Shorts: Hutch Harris of The Thermals (Portland, OR)
• The “Nice Job Pissing Off The Meatheads In Front of Me” Award: HEALTH (Los Angeles, CA)
• Most Judy Garland T-Shirts Per Capita: Abe Vigoda (Los Angeles, CA)
• Most Brew Grooves Jammed: Still Flyin’ (San Francisco, CA)

And if you think I am going on about Marnie Stern’s chops too much, suck on this:

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I also have some really great shots of friends, food, interesting people, etc, that I will sort through and post shortly.  I wanted to get the artist shots up ASAP.

Anyways, here are some of my favorites from the week, in case you don’t want to look through them all, followed by the full slideshow.

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I’ve got over 6000 photos to sort through, and I’ll get those up soon.  I’m also planning on doing a second annual SXSW awards (’08 awards are here and here) within the next few days, but in the meantime here’s my list for SXSW ’09:

Abe Vigoda (x2)
Alberta Cross
All the Saints
Andrew Bird
Au Revoir Simone
Bishop Allen
Crystal Antlers
Deer Tick
Eugene Mirman
fiasco
Gil Mantera’s Party Dream
Graham Coxon
Gringo Starr
HEALTH
Holy Liars
Horse Feathers
Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band
Little Boots
Loch Lamond
Lookbook
Marnie Stern
Max Tundra
MC Sweet and the Alisons
Mojo Nixon
Monotonix
Mount St. Helens Vietnam Band
NewVillager
Paper Chase
Pelican
Ponytail
Pre
Psychadelic Horseshit
Quiet Hooves
Red Cortez
Rosebuds
Solid Gold
Still Flyin’
Superdrag
Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down
The Dirty Projectors
The Donkeys (x2)
The Grates
The Intelligence
The Mae Shi (x2, second time w/ Kid Static)
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Thermals
The Uglysuit
The Week That Was
The Wheel
Titus Andronicus
Venice is Sinking
Vetiver
Viva Voce (x2)
Vivian Girls (x2)
Wavves
What Laura Says
Winter Sounds

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A little bit of background here for the few of you who may not have heard me ramble on about this at length: in 1952, my grandmother was a forty-seven-year-old immigration and civil rights attorney practicing in Los Angeles. She was indeed an active member of the Communist party, and did extensive work with the LA chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and worked cases for the Los Angeles Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born. She was a communist until the day she died, which was soon after I was born.  The tape is a bit of a family heirloom and a pretty amazing piece of living history, so it’s great to finally have it saved as an MP3 and be able to share it here.

However, even after the cleanup work I did, there were still a few parts of the tape that were unintelligible, so I went looking for a transcript of the audio. It took me a few hours of digging, but I eventually found the full archive of HUAC papers on archive.org. As it turns out, the printed copies of all the HUAC hearings, reports, and findings are all available at the Boston Public Library, but they’ve been scanned and posted online thanks to the Internet Archive.  Further investigation turned up a number of reports referencing Rosie’s name (see the image right for a page from one report entitled “Communist Legal Subversion: The Role of the Communist Lawyer“), transcripts of her serving as counsel for other people brought before the committee, the transcript of her second testimony in 1963 (of which my father and I were unaware) regarding her trips to Cuba, and most rewardingly, the full content of HUAC’s 1952 investigations into “Communist activities among professional groups in the Los Angeles area”, which contains the transcript of our recording. This was particularly exciting, mainly because I have heard the tape many times since I was a child, and now I can finally understand certain parts of the audio (especially the parts at the end during which everyone is talking over each other and arguing about book burnings).  Regardless, here’s one of my Grandmother’s better diatribes, and then the link to the audio.

Mrs. Rosenberg. There will come a time in this country when there
is no climate of fear and coercion and hysteria, and people will of their
own free will declare with pride and with honor as the Puritans said
they would be glad to — to declare their faith, but not under compulsion,
and not because there will be a subpoena over my head or a blacklist,
and not if the result will be loyalty oaths. This is precisely what has hap-
pened in civilizations that you’ve asked that question — the Puritans
were proud of their faith, the Jews were proud, too, and yet when
they were faced with Torquemada and with Hitler, what would you have
expected, sir, that they should rise up and say they are Jews? If that
cost of that would be their heads? Today the cost of declaring one’s
faith — which I say you have no right to ask me about — is a blacklist and
a subpoena and a loyalty oath and book burnings. This has been the
result of the force and violence of this committee.

Testimony of Rose Rosenberg before HUAC, October 1, 1952

One particularly fascinating part of the tape which I was never able to make out before is an aside from Rep. Donald Jackson of California, who is obviously frustrated and throws in a jab that seems to be apropos of nothing, but is quite telling:

Mrs. Rosenberg. In Oklahoma books were burned, and do you know
what the American Library Association said?

Mr. Jackson. Is this in answer to the question asked by counsel?
If there weren’t so many witches who left their brooms and tall hats
around, we would not have so much work to do.

Pretty amazing (and shameless) stuff.

Additionally, while I was searching for information on the HUAC hearings, I came across the website for a book written by Eric Etheridge called Breach of Peace, which contains photos and information about the 328 freedom riders who converged on Jackson, Mississippi in 1961, and there was a “Rose Schorr Rosenberg” listed there. A quick call to my father confirmed that Grandma did, in fact, go on a freedom ride in 1961, and when I contacted Mr. Etheridge, he sent me a link to the Mississipi Department of Archives & History, which has digitized all the records of the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission.

There, I found numerous photos and files referencing Rosie, including her mug shot taken on July 15, 1961 (shown right; also appears in the aforementioned Breach of Peace), the police report of her arrest, and a number of documents and fascinating articles, including ones showing that the DA in Jackson was working with the the folks over at HUAC in attempting to use her communist ties to discredit the riders. There was even one article written by Bob Novak which paints the entire civil rights movement as having sold its soul to the far left (sound familiar?), and another AP article which mentions my grandmother and her traveling companion Jean Pestana by name, the title of which was “Jackson Cops Link 2 Riders to Red Groups“.

I’m pretty excited by how much I found, and always suprised by how much information is available on the internet. I’ve asked my brother to dig out Rosie’s memoirs so that I can scan and digitize them for preservation, and maybe learn a bit more about what happened to her in Mississipi (she was issued a $200 fine and 4 months in jail, but I’m unaware at this point how much time she actually served).  I’m also working on an audio project that will contain discussion of the tape by my family members with portions of the tape cut in. I think it will make for a compelling story.

No related posts.

That’s when it occurred to me that what I wanted was a digest feed; a feed that combined a few hours worth of ffffound posts into one. And then I realized that this was not particularly hard to do. So I did it.

Here it is.

This feed updates every six hours, with a post that contains a table of thumbnails of all the ffffound posts within that six hour block. It’s perfect for any RSS readers that support basic HTML. Now I get one update every six hours with a bunch of cool images to browse. Perfect.

Enjoy!

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Jake and Jesse’s
Review(s) of the Pitchfork 500
Chapter 2: 1980-1982

I’ll paste Jesse’s list in here first. Also keep in mind that Jesse and I did not share our lists with each other until they were completed. Here goes:

My Least Favorite Tracks:

1. Adam and the Ants “Kings of the Wild Frontier”.  It’s funny because I have this record.  I really like the song “Press Darlings”, mostly because I liked the Rocket From the Crypt cover of that song.  I have the first Adam and the Ants record, which pitchfork rightly refers to as “S & M chic and Weimar.”  I like it OK, but have held on to it more because it’s somewhat collectible. Adam and the Ants  just tend to leave me cold.  With all the fancy lights, the genre-hopping, the cool recordings, it all comes down to a skeleton song that seems so dispassionate in its origin.

2. Scritti Politti “The “Sweetest Girl’”.  I haven’t listened to much Scritti Politti, but their name pops up a lot on the DIY Brit stuff that I have.  I guess they were instrumental in engineering that scene, and I like, if not love a lot of the stuff that came out of the post punk pop DIY early 80s that is featured on such comps as Messthetics.  Marry that with one of my favorite performers, Robert Wyatt, tinkling on the piano (something I didn’t know about this song before) and you’d think it be a match made in heaven.  But no, this track still bores me as it always has.  You will notice that boredom is the main reason these tracks are listed.  All the wavering vocals and slight pop idiosynchrocies that pepper these bands (like my beloved Television Personalities) are absent in this track. It’s a slick repeating arty loop.

3. Flipper “Sex Bomb”. Speaking of boring. This band apparently was an inspiration to two bands that were fundamental in my upbringing of music: Nirvana and the Melvins.  I used to have a live Flipper cassette back in the early 90s based on the name drops.  At the time it seemed unlistenable, but I kinda liked that about it.  Now, hearing this track, it sounds far less noisy and much more, well, “fratty” to use pitchfork’s reference to the horns.  I know, I know, the horns are ironic I’m guessing, but this song seems a celebration, albeit noisy and avantgarde of the kind of decadent party music that is rooted in Wolly Bully and that kind of stuff.  And I’ve never been that attracted to that kind of thing. Chock it up next to blues rock.

4. The Specials “Ghost Town”. I’m guessing you’re gonna hate me for this one.  While I like parts of the song, especially part of it’s mood, it just goes on way too long for me.  Especially the sax solo.  Perhaps you can link my disliking the Parliament song, this, and the Flipper song, that I just don’t like the jams.  Including the MC5.

5. Altered Images “Happy Birthday”.  When I first heard this song on another comp a while ago, I liked it.  But the shelf life on it’s very short.  I still like the charming beginning, but it goes on way too long.  Do I just have Wire in my veins?  I have such ADD for certain songs sometimes.

My Favorite Songs of those I Hadn’t Heard Before (of 26):

1. Glenn Branca. “Lesson No. 1 For Electric Guitar”. Now listen, this is right up my alley: I love repeating krautrock, Neu!, and the repetitive guitar melodies of Michael Rother.  Far from being the “future noise rock” that pitchfork applies to this, all I hear is melody, melody, melody. It sounds beautiful to me.  It reminds me of flying over, and over again, to some destination that you never get to.  You are flying over repeating and repeating Dr. Seuss hills: you know those hills in the backgrounds of Dr. Seuss stories?  They are huge egg-like hills, colored purple, with some green strange trees on them.  And they go as far back as you can see, with no landmarks on them.  This is the trip, over these hills, like a looped cartoon.  And at some point, you realize that the beauty is not in trying to get to the destination, but the trip itself.  There’s something very comforting in that.

2. Bad Brains “Pay To Cum”.  I know, you’re like “How haven’t heard this before?”  I may have, but don’t remember. Bad Brains peppered a lot of the mix tapes I received in High School from my punk friends.  I remember hearing “Rock For Light” but not this.  And while I got into Minor Threat, I never really got into Black Flag and Bad Brains.  Hearing the Black Flag song, I don’t regret missing out on them that much, but this song is amazing.  It manages to sum up everything I like about hardcore punk in such a succinct statement. Where do you go from here?  Perfect.

3. Yoko Ono “Walking on Thin Ice”.  What a groove.  There’s a song on Plastic Ono band, the Yoko version, that has a ridiculously long name like “I Was Walking Through the Supermarket Pushing a Baby Cart” which sounds years ahead of its time.  Of course the rest of the album can be a trying experience, although there are some hilarious moments.  Now, given the context of what was going on, Walking On Thin Ice doesn’t sound years ahead, but fits right into a certain scene at the time.  But it sounds so good, still.  And the guitar work: Goddamn if people are always talking about how great “Beautiful Boy” is!  The guitar work on this trumps that entire song as far as some of the last work Lennon did.  Yoko manages to step into the scene and keep one foot out of it, due to the fact they were old fogey celebrities just fucking around.  And that’s what makes it seem like a timeless groove to me.  Who says I don’t like party music?

4. The Fall “The Classical”.  I have tried for years to get into the Fall, and, with the exception of a few songs, they have always been OVERRATED to me. I use the capitals because for a lot of people I know and have rubbed elbows musically with, they are such a big deal.  Maybe I just haven’t heard the right album.  This song is exactly what I was always looking for in the Fall: a combination of being hilariously absurd and dangerous. Hilariously dangerous. The guitar after “Hey there Fuck Face” is so sweet to hear. It’s like a musical satiation of the previous line.  The fact that he says “Hey There Fuck Face” is hilarious.  The fact a guitar starts the melody of the line “I’ve never felt better in my life” before he starts singing it makes the cut they are making so planned: planned, absurd, dangerous chaos.  Great.

5. Dexy’s Midnight Runners “There There My Dear”.  Oh, those rolling R’s. And how pumped is this track with those horns? It reminds me of the Futureheads and that whole scene in terms of accent but also in terms of restless energy, where the singer is so enthralled by his indictment, he threatens to outpace the band.

My Favorite Songs of Those That I Have Heard Before:

1. The Pretenders “Back On The Chain Gang”.  I have never listened so closely to the vocal performance on this song before, and for that I acknowledge the writer of the blurb for this song in the pitchfork book.  This is when the book scores highest for me so far, because, yes, I now feel too that it’s “one of the most heartbreaking records ever made”.  This is pop music at it’s highest: a song that I have sung along with many times at the bar and now, listening to it in my room, hearing that tightly controlled vocal performance that just threatens to break, I am full of tears.  To bring that kind of transformation is also great rock writing.  Thank you, pitchfork, you stuck up bunch of indie rock snobs.  You win this time.

2. Robert Wyatt “Shipbuilding”.  This song was my introduction to Robert Wyatt years ago.  It was on a Rough Trade comp and, perhaps because it was surrounded by post punk stuff like Altered Images, it stood out more, but it slayed them all with Wyatt’s voice.  I have always loved vulnerable voices, but Wyatt’s combines a hearftfelt wisdom with a shaky humanity.  He’s the fucking Gandalf of music my friends, and lord knows I love that shit. But more to the point, this song still makes me cry.

3. The Wipers “Youth of America”. It’s funny, when I saw they chose this song, I was a little disappointed as they could have chosen “Taken Too Long” or “Over the Edge” or some other Wipers songs that perhaps I like more.  This one is a long one.  But at soon as I heard it I knew why they chose this one.  The guitars on this, how they ascend and duplicate and come back – when you’re walking around listening to it, it doesn’t seem long at all, at least to me.  Then again, I apparently love repeating long guitar songs.  But not blues.

4. Michael Jackson “Billie Jean”. Bar none, my favorite Michael Jackson song.  It was hard not to dance while listening to this walking around.  From the very first moments of the song, I get excited.  It’s such a fun ride.

5. Mission of Burma “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver”.  Again, like the Wipers song, not my favorite Mission of Burma song.  But I still getting taken for the emotional rollercoaster everytime I hear this, like when I heard it at 17.  Sixteen years later, and I still wish I was playing the guitars and singing this song.  It’s too bad, because at the end of the song I hear the beginning of Outlaw and want to listen to the whole EP.  Signals, Calls, and Marches is one of my favorite recordings of all time.

Works for me. I’m not a huge fan of “Ghost Town” either. I feel the exact same way about both the Fall and “The Classical”. Also, I forgot about that Flipper song when I was making my lists, but it would have made my least favorite tracks, no doubt. The Scritti Politti song didn’t bore me as much as it did Jesse, I think, but other than that I take no issue with this list. Jesse, I approve (except for the part where you started talking about the important part being the journey and not the destination and all that; you sounded like Benjamin Button). And now, my list:

Least Favorite Tracks in This Chapter

Let me preface this by saying that I didn’t really dislike any of the songs in this chapter that much. These are simply my least favorite.

The Clash – Magnificent Seven

Too long, too repetitive. I appreciate the Clash’s willingness to experiment, and when it works (see last post re: “Guns of Brixton”) it’s great. To me, this is a failed experiment. I’d rather listen to actual rap, or even actual funk.

Altered Images – Happy Birthday

I think this one is just too chirpy, and wears thin way to fast. I was also really irritated by the P-fork blurb on this one, in which it discussed Altered Images conscious decision to abandon post-punk for pop in the pursuit of fame. How is that ok for them and not for Smashmouth? Ok, obviously they make better music than Smashmouth, but I’m just saying… abandoning what you’re into because it isn’t selling; isn’t there a phrase to describe that?

Adam Ant – Kings of the Wild Frontier

Meh, those Burundi drums are really a one-trick pony. You don’t even notice how weird they are in “Goody Two-Shoes” until you hear them used again in another song. And another thing, “Goody Two-Shoes” is a better song than this. Suck it up and put that one in here, P-fork.

Best Tracks I Had Never Heard

B-52′s – Private Idaho

Still not sure I’m a B-52′s fan, but this is a great song. Strikes me as having more bite than most B-52′s stuff I’ve heard before. I do like “Roam” as well.

Dexy’s Midnight Runners – There, There My Dear

Wow. This was the standout track for me. I’ve heard about Kevin Rowland and his craziness, but man, this song is great. The hook is ridiculously infectious, the lyrics are scathing and yet strangely self-unaware (once you decipher them). Fascinating and just plain great. Rrrrrrrobin!

Young Marble Giants – Final Day

Talk about creepy; blink and you miss the apocalypse. I always love when dark material is wrapped in pretty paper and tied with a bow. Makes it fun to open.

Bruce Springsteen – Atlantic City

It’s been all Springsteen this week. I picked up “Nebraska” after I heard this song (I’m somehow in love with the idea that he recorded the whole album as demos for the E-Street band and then just decided it was better as is), and then last night at the Superbowl he decided to power-slide his crotch right into my living room. Did that freak anyone else out? I think we just crossed a line.

Wipers – Youth of america

Always heard about Wipers and never got around to listening; this is great stuff and right up my alley. And anyone who has ever heard The Pulses should not be suprised that Jesse is into this; his singing style totally channels Greg Sage’s voice during the lines “it is time we rectify this now / we’ve got to feel now”. Awesome.

Runners Up
Duran Duran – The Chauffer
Bauhaus – Third Uncle

Best Tracks I Had Already Heard

The Message – Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five

Don’t think I really need to explain this one; a classic.

The Pretenders – Back on the Chain Gang

Take heed, all you aspiring pop songwriters: this is how you debate. How often do you hear something this unabashedly accessible with so much bite? This song is like a baby panda that just might tear your face off if you try to pet it.

The (English) Beat – Save It For Later

I never realized how dirty this song was. And oh, that chorus.

Tom Tom Club – Genius of Love

This beat is so brilliant I can even forgive that weird growling vocal part in the middle.

Bad Brains – Pay to Cum

P-fork really nailed it in the blurb for this one… catchier than pop-punk, tougher than hardcore, faster than grindcore. These guys were a level above.

Note: this video is not the 7″ version, which is the version that made the 500. The 7″ version is definitely a better recording, but I couldn’t find it.

Well, that’s chapter II. Jesse and I both marveled at the amount of crossover we had in our lists. Must be why we’re friends.

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