Well, first some sad news: I’m going to have to miss both Pinback in New Haven and of Montreal in NYC due to other engagements. What’s worse is that I even bought tickets to the of Montreal show. Spendy tickets. However, this is good news for you, dear reader: I’ve posted the tickets online to be sold to the first person who offers me something reasonable.

Of Montreal puts on a great show, and this one will likely be made better by the fact that they’ve finished their new album, and it is in printing to be released by the end of October. The packaging used is exceptional: the CD will come in a specially-made case, digital downloads will be offered with bags, decals, t-shirts, and other objects, and the vinyl comes in a beautifully-decorated package. As of Montreal put it on their blog today:

of Montreal has, from the beginning, taken great pains to always put a lot of thought and care into the art packaging for our records. We’ve always felt that the packaging was just as important as the music inside of it. We’ve worked within the constraints of conventional album packaging, and have tried to create something fantastically uncommon every time. Now, we find ourselves in the middle of an exciting epoch: A time, when new technology has shattered the conventional business model and has set a paradigm shift in motion. For some people in the music biz, this is terrifying. For us, it is a fucking miracle! While the kings are in a stupor, we are going to take full advantage of the changing guard.

And if the packaging is great, the music inside it is even better. The new album is perhaps their best yet: combining the high-fidelity sounds and pop feel of their previous few albums with the longer, meandering concept album style of their earliest albums. Add to that a heavy dose of gender-bending sexuality and some great dance groves, and you have a recipe for amazing. I reviewed a single track from the album earlier, and can only recommend that people pick up the whole thing when it comes out. I know I’ll be buying one of the packages as soon as its available. Until then, here are two songs from the new album to whet your appetite (and maybe convince you to buy those tickets):

• Nonpareil Of Favor — of Montreal
• Gallery Piece — of Montreal

I popped over to Reason today to see that two great articles were recently published online: The Libertarian Case for Obama, and The Libertarian Case for McCain.

Upon reading them, I was instantly struck by how much more reasoned these articles are than the typical Conservatives for Obama articles that have been kicking around since even before he clinched the nomination. Mainly, the articles from a conservative point of view almost always try to define Obama as “conservative” himself or the “conservative choice”, whereas these articles seem to know the pragmatic truth all too well: neither candidate is libertarian, but there are still reasons to vote for each from a libertarian perspective. Myself, I try to shy away from the “is this conservative?” arguments, leaning more towards the “is this right?” arguments, partially because I don’t actually identify strongly as conservative, partially because these discussions often miss the point in trying to define conservatism narrowly, and partially because I think it’s more important to ask what is right, as opposed to what fits my politics. Thus, the Reason articles appeal to me more, both for being pragmatic and for not falling into the trap of making choices from the way one chooses to identity oneself.

I have noticed that this is actually a large problem with many of the self-identifying conservatives I know: that they must find a way to define all they do, even post-hoc, as “conservative”. (Libertarians, on the other hand, seem largely obsessed with having an internally-consistent philosophy.) I can’t quite see the point of this; I’d much rather worry about whether something is the right or pragmatic thing to do. I think that Reason understands this to an extent, perhaps due to the fact that libertarians are used to not having any candidate with a reasonable chance at winning who is not even near being libertarian. Given these odds, and given the futility of voting third-party, libertarians must learn to vote for the lesser of two evils, for the candidate who is good on the issues they care most about, without ignoring the fact that their candidate is still not libertarian.

So, my advice to all the conservatives considering voting for Obama: Don’t worry if it is not the conservative choice, worry about whether it is the right one! There are reasons to vote for the man, and they don’t necessarily have to be conservative. If he will make a better leader, if he will be better for the country, if he will be more likely to lead us in a direction that is good, better out economy, make us respected in the world again, then you don’t have to justify it as being conservative. It might not even be a very conservative choice. But that doesn’t have to stop it from being a correct one.

All right, I hope that was coherent. I have to go back to finishing the last season of LOST now so that I can wake up at a decent hour this morning.

If everyone, progressive and conservative, dislikes the current bailout plan, why is it is still happening? Is there ANY accountability in government any more?

I suppose I should already know the answer to that question: No.

Update: Josh Marshal’s post previous to the one linked above is also very good. I suggest you read both. Especially for this quote:

This morning a friend told me it’s like the Iraq War all over again — Shock & Awe, followed by an occupation of Wall Street, and all with no exit plan.

Good stuff coming from a guy who’s gotten a bit too partisan over the past month or so.

I’ve had a busy week with a friend visiting and continuing the job hunt — at least on that front I’ve gotten a few web development gigs — but here are two non-edited reviews I wrote recently for Yale’s music mag, Volume.

Throw Me the Statue has had a whirl-wind year for a small pop group, and, unlike so many bands thrown into the limelight, their music has grown stronger for it. Where the slower songs on their first album, Moonbeams, tended towards the nondescript, the new single “Ship” is a 5-minute dream-walk through Wonderland: beautiful, gentle, and intriguing, but perhaps too fleeting. It’s a song to listen while drifting off into sleep for the quality of dream it will evoke. It’s a song you don’t want to let go of, but which still leaves you satisfied at the end. It’s a song that proves a band can mature without losing the voice that makes them distinct. If the songs on their new album have this strength and any can better command attention, then it will be an album impossible to overlook.

• Throw Me The Statue – “Ships” (via IGIF)

“Nonpareil of Favor” starts off as a single from any recent Of Montreal album: a simple arrangement, including guitar, vocals, bass, and drums, put together in a tight and fun manner. However, the song soon takes an unexpected turn, slowing and becoming darker. This change of tempo and tone happens every minute or so throughout the song, creating an experience similar to Of Montreal’s early albums, while keeping the fresh, high fidelity sound from their later albums. The song does lose some coherency and sense of climax to its schizophrenia, but that isn’t enough to discount this well-done return to form from a band that has had enough successful albums in recent time that they can afford to play with their style.

• Of Montreal – “Nonpareil of Favor” (via YANP)

Thanks to the New Yorker for their article about the current state of laptops in the live music scene, which has gotten me thinking again about one of my favorite subjects, art in the digital age. An excerpt:

Last December, a friend and I went to a release party for Mary J. Blige’s “Growing Pains” album. Near huge screens showing Blige videos, a d.j. was playing records on two turntables. The d.j.’s eyes, however, were trained on an Apple MacBook on a shelf above them. As a succession of Blige songs faded from one into the next, the d.j. never changed the records. My friend asked, “Is there a new Mary medley I don’t know about?”

The answer was no. The d.j., like many today, was using a program called Serato Scratch Live, which uses a turntable as a knob or a switch. Signals from a special Serato record being manipulated are fed into a box connected to a laptop. Serato translates the resulting signals, allowing the d.j. to cue and cross-fade digital audio files with the turntables. Why use a turntable at all? It’s still an efficient, familiar interface that, for blending songs, works better than a mouse. It’s also a visual indication that the d.j. is doing something with, and to, the music being heard.

The article continues to give examples of a few bands who use a laptop in their shows to different effect, and is well worth a read for a somewhat simple overview of the phenomenon. I do, however, have some issue with the article’s conclusion, referencing Girl Talk’s Greg Gillis:

If there was ever somebody who could simply hit “Play” and bounce around, it is Gillis. With some version of the Girl Talk mashup coming from the speakers and Gillis jumping out of his pants, most concertgoers would feel as though they had got what they paid for. There is no longer any way of telling whether or not the Wizard is behind the curtain. Does it matter?

My short answer is, “Yes, it does.”

I have seen quite a few acts that use a laptop or other digital equipment in their live shows, and there is usually a way of telling to what extent the laptop is a tool, and to what extent it is simply an over-powered boombox. The live, digital manipulation of music in the form of looping can have some wonderful effects, such as seen in Andrew Bird’s and Dosh’s live show, and as the article explains, in the Battles’. However, when used as simply a track on its own, it can be very disappointing. Pre-recorded music in a live show is understandable in some contexts, and no one expects the two-man band Ratatat to have someone on stage for every single track in their electronic-heavy songs. However, when a band is obviously playing pre-recorded tracks, with no acknowledgment or reason, it sours the taste of a show a bit. The question, “Why?” pops up. It takes the focus from the performers and performance, and puts it on the fakeness. It drains the energy. If I’d wanted to that, I could have put on a goddamned DVD.

This is the thing: you can tell, as energy is directly related to the immediacy of performing live. When “playing” live for a crowd, Greg Gillis’ energy comes not only from him and the bottle of Jack he requires before the show as part of his payment (this is true; I helped set up one of his shows), but also from his creativity, that he’s forced to do so much on the fly. Gillis might not be the best DJ ever, and his techniques are simple, but they are kept that way in order that he might do them all in real time. Tracks on his album come in part from getting lucky on a mix during one of his shows. This creativity and excitement from Gillis are part of what makes him so damned entertaining to watch. In the same way, the absolute perfection with which Dosh samples himself makes his show utterly entrancing. And it’s the exact counter reason that, when I realize that an important track in a live show was pre-recorded, not even sampled on the fly, that I also notice many of the artists do not have the same energy or holding power that those playing live do. It is an important distinction, and one that people can and do notice, and one that detracts from the beauty and power that can be felt only at a live show.

• Girl Talk – No Pause
• Dosh – Mpls Rock and Roll (m4a file)

So, I’m going to start actually posting again. My old wordpress-hosted blog will be defunct, and all new posting will happen here. I have a few longer articles to post in the next few days, including one about Sarah Palin, one about hipsters and underground culture, and some great new music. The design of the blog will also slowly change, and I’m hoping to set up a small online shop eventually. Until then, I hope you enjoy the new content.