From a time when “the hop” was evidently the place to be, when men wore bow ties and it wasn’t a fashion statement, when African-American influences were finally being acknowledged and embraced in American music, when songs about God’s power could be top of the pops, when a music video consisted of people standing in front of puppets, and when speeding up your voice was considered experimental music: the top 100 songs of 1958.

This is the first in a short series loosely themed on nostalgia and music.

From Matt comes a wonderful live recording of Animal Collective at Pitchfork’s live music festival last week. The file is a .rar file, which can be unzipped using 7zip for Windows or UnRarX for OSX.

The tracklist, which was posted by a commenter on the site, is:

1. Chocolate Girl
2. Comfy in Nautica — a song from Panda Bear’s solo album
3. House
4. Lion in a Coma
5. Peacebone
6. Daily Routine
7. Bearhug
8. Fireworks / Essplode

Anyway, check it out. If you like what you hear, you can find Animal Collective’s upcoming tour dates and more songs at their myspace page.

From Kottke comes this gem of an article about the so-called cultural decline of Paris. The gist is that the city is no longer the cultural capital it used to be, because it has not kept up with the times, and this is a Bad Thing. I call bullshit (admittedly, partially because it is my favorite city). When I was living there a year ago, I found a great young scene centered around not only le clubbing, but also a great live music scene, a healthy, to say the least, selection of museums and theatres, both modern and classic, great fashion, and fantastic food, all within a downtown that is walkable and has an amazing public transportation system.

Catherine Field’s article doesn’t seem to do to benefit the argument, perhaps because the argument itself is vapid. The thesis is, more or less, that Paris is not the cultural landmark it once was, owing partially to its being suck in the past, and partially to the mobs of tourists who come swarming in to enjoy, ironically enough, the culture of Paris. Evidence to the fact that Paris is not the juggernaut it once was comes in almost list form. The largest piece of evidence is that in modern art museums, few living French artists are shown. The article of course must contradict itself by naming Paris a leader of cinematography, film, architecture, dance, food, and more, all while leaving off some of the most influential French artists in those respective categories. Field’s way of writing this off? The most pretentious of all sentiments: France is a leader, “…if these are accepted as arts.”

And so the article tips its hand. A decline in big-name visual artists from Paris is equated with a decline in culture. Visual art is the one true art, and art is the only important measuring stick of culture. You’ll excuse me if I call that stupid. Culture includes visual arts, those lesser or non-arts Ms. Field mentions, as well as a history, a tradition, politics, and so much more. To define culture as art is not only uninteresting, it misses the point of what creates vibrancy in a place. The very thing that the article points to as being Paris’ reason for a lack of culture actually will help to create a stronger one: looking to the past for inspiration for the future. Paris, and all of France, is a place that holds on strongly to its national identity, to its (history|mythology), to its old buildings and old arts. In doing so, it might miss opportunities in some arts, but it finds opportunities in others, and creates a very pleasant atmosphere to live in. In many ways Paris did well to hold on to the past, for we do not see the eyesore that is brutalist architecture that inhabits other European (and American!) cities.

The truth is, there is fantastic art coming out of Paris. I will offer one example in depth, but many more can be seen, especially in contemporary film, architecture and theatre. Look at Vincent Moon and his Concerts à emporter series. They’re an exciting mix of contemporary indie music, a film making style that is reminiscent of new-wave cinematography, and the sights of Paris, old buildings, contemporary neighborhoods, and the rest. Two of my favorites are below; Yeasayer performing while walking through the streets and then while within the metro, and below that Andrew Bird wandering the streets of Montmatre on the day that I saw him in concert in a venue nearby. This was the same concert where the audience made Dosh, Bird’s friend, drummer, and opening act, play an encore, something I’ve never seen done for or by an opening act before. It was a wonderful night, that night, and was more than enough to convince me that Paris does have a lot of culture left in it. It might not be the kind that manifests itself solely though having big-name visual artists, but it is a wonderful culture that puts it near the top of cities in Europe, or the world. Its a culture that knows its past and tradition, that melds (as French art has done since the middle ages) all the best Europe and America have to offer, and its a culture that is inherently French. Est-ce que Paris est en détresse ? Non.

#87.1 - YEASAYER - No need to worry / Redcave
Uploaded by lablogotheque

#45.3 - Andrew Bird - Spare-Oh
Uploaded by lablogotheque

Back in March, a friend of mine turned me on to this article in the New York Times, about the resurgence of the bow tie as a respectable, and somewhat hipsterish, piece of male fashion. I couldn’t have been more pleased. What has long languished as appropriate for only nerds, über-nerds, and this guy is ripe for the taking back. The bow tie can add a bit of formality to a costume without adding the weight and awkward flopping of a neck tie, and the likelihood that someone else is wearing one is slim enough that you’re bound to be distinguished. Also, an untied bow tie looks manly, cool, and relaxed, while an untied or too-loose neck tie just looks sloppy.

Of course, the flip side of being noticed is that if one doesn’t do it well, one faces all the more embarrassment. A bow tie can easily come off as bookish (as the first image in the Times article makes us all too aware), gaudy, or, well, like Pee-Wee Herman. Don’t let this happen. There are many styles, fabrics, patters, and colours of bow ties, and choosing one for an outfit should involve as much thought as choosing a neck tie, if not more. For a night out and about, a solid tie on the skinny side (such as the third and fourth in the Times article) will serve you well. With a suit, a silk striped tie, such as those from the Andover Shop or J. Press. For a spring morning of sailing and being a douche, this one. And for that special outfit that just must be over the top, might I suggest an over-sized or paisley tie? You’ll be sure to turn some heads.

Just please, whatever you do, learn to tie one yourself.

P.S., dudez: Charles Tyrwhitt is having a summer sale. Their shirts are going for as low as $35. I’d suggest checking it out before the sale ends, as even their most low-quality shirts are far above what you’d normally find for under $70. Other fine clothiers are having their sales now, as well. Just in time to get ready for the fall’s formal activities.

Radiohead has a new video out, for their song “House of Cards” from In Rainbows. The video was created without use of a traditional camera, instead relying on modeling techniques that use lasers to pinpoint the distance of an object and its topology. While the video isn’t the most action-packed, the visuals made are interesting, and, in their current style, Radiohead have released all the data from the video so that anyone can remix the video. I’d normally show the video here, but instead I recommend you head over to this page, which explains the concepts behind the rendering technology, and has the data available for download. Oh, and the video is there too.

Beck has a new album out. It’s fantastic. Produced with Danger Mouse of Grey Album and Gnarls Barkley fame, it’s both a throwback to the good old Beck (remember Midnight Vultures?) and an experimentation in the vein of Beck’s last few albums. Get it now, and watch the video for “Gamma Rays”, the first single, below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heXFhY7y1EI]

One of my favorite albums of the last year has been His Name is Alive’s XMMER. His Name is Alive is the work of Warn Defever, an eccentric if ever there was one, who does the song writing and most the instrumentals. As David Bowie remarked, HNIA feature a sort of “70’s singer-songwriter vibe”, but coupled with a heavier bass line and more electronics than you’d expect to hear from that type. I found the band through their song “How Dark is Your Dark Side?”, played on the radio and then over and over again when I finally found the mp3. I bought the album soon after, feeling that any band who could produce music as ethereal and beautiful as this deserved my $10. I wasn’t disappointed; in fact, the song I present now from the album was worth the money I paid on its own:

His Name is Alive - “Go to Hell Mountain”

Don’t think, though, that having this song excepts one from having the rest of the album. It is a beautiful album that I’ve loved putting on in the background while I do homework or wake up, staring at the ceiling, thinking my muddled morning thoughts. Get it from Amazon’s mp3 downloads (by far the best online non-subscription distributor of digital music) or, better yet, get it on vinyl. This is truly an album that will be made even better by vinyls warm sounds. Also, go to His Name is Alive’s website to grab a free EP or Remix album.

Isn’t the digital distribution of media wonderful?

Inaugural post? What to say?  Mission statement? Explanation? A post like any other? How about all three?

Welcome to Conservative Hipster. Now hosted at http://hipamcon.wordpress.com/, soon to be hosted at http://conservativehipster.com/, I’m planning on making this my personal blog of musings on music, culture, philosophy, and politics. It stems from an idea I had while posting here, when I realized that making others know that conservatives come in all shapes and colours, even in a hipster variety that cares about the shape and colour of the typeface on ones shirts, is an important endeavor.

Why Conservative Hipster? Well, while if you asked me about specific issues you wouldn’t assume I’m a conservative (Political Compass has me pegged far in the libertarian camp), my stance on many issues comes from having a fairly conservative view on philosophy and life. I’m definitely not what is typically thought of when one things “conservative” in America. An atheist, pro-ACLU, socialist apologist? Don’t I belong on the left? Well, probably not. But we’ll see.

And finally, I wanted to draw attention to this little nugget, gained from TPM*: According to Johan Goldberg in the LA Times, Obama wants to bring back slavery in the U.S. Sound silly? It is. Some hard-core rights-based libertarians might agree with him, but I think it’s pretty obvious the choice one has in working for a scholarship that Black American slaves did not have. What’s more, and this is important when discussing slavery and involentary servitude, under this plan one is not owned by the government. That’s a very important distinction to be made when discussing American slavery and making ridiculous analogies to it: if one isn’t property now, then it’s nothing like slavery was. However, this isn’t my point. My point comes form this paragraph:

Perhaps thanks to the JFK cult, which sees the refrain “Ask not what your country can do for you …” as an all-purpose writ for social meddling, even the idealistic hipster crowd is on board. Devotees of Rolling Stone and MTV, who normally preen like cats in a pool of sunshine over their alleged libertarianism when the issue is sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, see nothing wrong, and everything right, with involuntary servitude — as long as we just call it “voluntary.”

Um, confusion of terms much? First, last I checked no hipster would be caught dead reading the Rolling Stone or watching MTV (unless we’re doing it ironically). Secondly, I think he means “libertine”, not “libertarian”. Libertarianism does require some amount of economic conservatism. Finally, this isn’t involuntary servitude. No one is asking you to take money from the government. This is one of the large points of libertarianism: as long as no one is forcing me to buy more X or live like Y, then I’m OK, and I’m happy if they’re an option for others. No one is forcing me to accept money from the government to go to school, and I don’t see why teaching kids to work for their money and not expect (government) handouts for free is a bad thing. It sounds damn good to me. Now if we could just teach them to get off my lawn!

*You’ll find, as time goes on, that I read a lot of news sources on the right and left. I’ll eventually have a post on this very thing.