Redirections, ETC.

Blogs are forming at a trickle right now, as are coherent thoughts from my brain pan.  But we do have this for you.  It's the Chella Blog's first entry!  Wanna know what it's like to be dirty, overstimulated and frazzled beyond control?  Well then I recommend some glue, some kiddie porn and a trip to your local DMV.

Wanna know what it was like to be at Coachella?  Go here, young man!

En Route: Chellin'

As you read this, I'm experiencing the musical equivalent of blissfully soiled undies... Which could very well consist of blissfully soiled undies.

The good news is that my campsite is just around the way.  It has cleaned undies and lots and lots of cold beer.  So as you can see, my weekend is once again going to be better than yours.  But don't be upset! Enjoy it with me!

After you enjoy these:

• First this happens, then Buffalo loses... The gods favor Boston (Hockey World Blog)
• I'm nuts for D(z) nuts (Empty the Bench)
• Man, I wanna be Darren Sharper (The Big Lead)
• The true meaning of The Masters (Joe Sports Fan)

Go on...

My Weekend was Better than Yours

When is that ever not the case though?

It was a music bonanza this weekend at The Paradise in Terrier territory, shaking off the odd venue layout and gaining traction nonetheless.  Friday night, Midlake took the crowd on a captivating trip to Middle Earth with their Zeppelin-inspired brand of psychedelic folk rock.  Better than I thought it was gonna be, especially when they rocked out on this track for about 9 minutes.

Core of Nature - Midlake

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Hi, My Name is Chris Evans

And I only do superhero movies.

And why is that? Well, because as everyone knows, super heroes are smart, buff, and very, very confident. Some would even say cocky. And why shouldn't they be?  They're smart, buff, and very, very confident.

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Rock Cridick: Measure by Field Music

Field Music's Mypsace (and homepage) displays the following caption:

Pretending to be a band since 2005

Well, at least they have the courage to admit to their tenuous existence in the rock world.  Most bands continue to flutter around, pretending to be a band, long after we have all stopped pretending to care.  And at first blush, one could very well assume that Field Music is not only pretending to be a band, but pretending to be a band that has already existed in the past, based on the tight pop arrangements, glittering harmonies, a soothingly casual approach to melody, and an almost obsessive attention to detail.

Go on...

Introducing The pCSL!

Is there anything in life better than a nice, quiet night with your sweetheart by the fire?  You have just shared a nice meal, maybe had a few glasses of wine, and now you are ready to relax and allow the evening to take you where it may.  That is until....

OOPS!

What on earth is that funky smell?

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Rock Cridick: Contra by Vampire Weekend

It's difficult to review an album that immediately turns your stomach within the first few words uttered.  In fact, who knew the English language could trigger such recoil?  Maybe it has something to do with the words horchata and balaclava being used in consecutive lines as the rhyming convention that managed to push the right buttons.  Unfortunately, the maddening effect that Contra has on the mind of the listener is not pacified once you finally manage to escape the evil clutches of this kind of Ivy-League-family-ski-trip discourse.

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(COAC)HELLOOO?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Go on...

Rock CriDick: Best Songs of 2009; Part 2

All "End of Year" lists are, as a rule, self-indulgent, and well, when have we here at FSD ever shied away from such endeavors?  After all, why do you think this blog exists?  And continuing along with our Points(s) of Attack, we just went ahead and created a 50 item selection of the best "soft spots" of the year.  Whether or not pursuing these artists any further is of worth, well proceed at your own risk.

And so, with any further delay, our top 50 singles (finishing up with 25-1), are as follows...

25. Rivertown
The Greencards
While Fascination was primarily in exercise in Carol Young's poppier songwriting and delicate vocals, The Greencards had to return to their roots at some point, delivering an explosion of high-wire, foot-stomping bluegrass.  Loaded with virtuosic mandolin and fiddle-playing, check your pulse if this one doesn't put you in motion.

Rivertown - The Greencards

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Rock Cridick: Best Shows of 2009

Now, as objective as the other lists have been, this post comes from a more personal place.  Mainly because I was personally at these shows.   Passion Pit and White Rabbits at the Fillmore may have very well been a great show... But I wasn't there.  So, you get the idea and here it goes.


10. Bowerbirds and Elvis Perkins in Dearland
@ The Paradise 11/30/2009
I was forced to fly solo to this event as the Patriots and Saints were doing battle on Monday Night Football.  It was supposed to be a captivating matchup, but fortunately for me, the only captivating event that took place that night was on Comm. Ave.  During the opening set, the Bowerbirds held the audience in the palm of their hand.  No one made a sound and there was hardly any movement.  Eyes were transfixed upon an invading presence that gained entry not by force but through hypnosis.  And once the crowd was sufficiently softened, Dearland descended from on high, literally taking the stage from the balcony via jazz procession.  In time, Elvis would join the band on stage for a super tight set of cuts off their self-titled (and top 25!) album.

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Le Ginge's Top 10 Albums of 2009

Le Ginge was certainly dissastisfied with our blog's previous musical prognostications, and therefore, decided to go nomad on us, designing his own "Best of" list for 2009.  Let's see what he's got in store for us all, shall we?



10. Backspacer
Pearl Jam
Dude...

Go on...

Rock Cridick: Best Songs of 2009; Part 1

All "End of Year" lists are, as a rule, self-indulgent, and well, when have we here at FSD ever shied away from such endeavors?  After all, why do you think this blog exists?  And continuing along with our Points(s) of Attack, we just went ahead and created a 50 item selection of the best "soft spots" of the year.  Whether or not pursuing these artists any further is of worth, well proceed at your own risk.

And so, with any further delay, our top 50 singles (starting with 50-26), are as follows...

50. The Rake's Song
The Decemberists
On a "more than the sum of its parts" album, The Rake's Song stands out in its color and humor.  Color because it is more Tarantino than it is "A Series of Unfortunate Events", giving it a hue brighter than black.  And because how can one not laugh at the narrator's absurdly callous disregard?

The Rake's Song - The December...

Apologies, we can now begin with the actual list...

Go on...

Rock Cridick: Best Albums of 2009

All "End of Year" lists are, as a rule, self-indulgent, and well, when have we here at FSD ever shied away from such endeavors?  After all, why do you think this blog exists?  And while we do not necessarily subscribe to the notion that "anyone can like anything", considering that some music just sucks, we do believe a first impression is a good impression.  Therefore, through our Point(s) of Attack approach, we hope to provide you with a few soft spots to target before tackling the entire album.

And so, without any further delay, our top 25 albums of the year are as follows...


25.  Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Elvis Perkins in Dearland
Already an accomplished, albeit morose, songwriter, Elvis Perkins' decided to employ the help of Dearland to assist his old-fashioned, idiosyncratic lyrical delivery.  Through the employ of the versatile Dearland, Elvis was able to craft one of the most dynamic and atmospheric folk albums of the year.  Amplified by assorted brass instruments, heavy organ, and even a marching bass drum, Elvis' vocal arrangements combine to make for one of the most unique, yet familiar feeling albums in recent memory.

Point(s) of Attack: Track #8 (Doomsday)

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On the Set of Invictus

Clint Eastwood brings in both Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman to read the script before shooting has even begun.  Morgan Freeman is solemn.  Matt Damon is confused.  Clint Eastwood is ornery.

CE: Okay fellas, let's run through this a little bit so we can all get comfortable with the subject matter.  Even today, the issue of Apartheid is still controversial and we need to respect the fact that the situation is tender within South Africa.  And we must also pay tribute to this fact.

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My Music Week was Better than Yours

Sure, the weather outside is about to get awfully inconsiderate, but still, pre-New Year has to be considered the most wonderful time of year.

Why?  Even if you're anti-Christmas (which, if you are, you're an idiot from any religio-socio perspective), there is still plenty to love about this season.  Whether it is the free vacation time, the fact that everyone become as lazy about work as I am, or the rapid rise in the consumption of booze, there is something for everybody!  Maybe with the exception of recovering alcoholics... Sorry.

But the real reason why I love this time of year is due to the retrospective window that opens as the year crawls to an end.  And this year is even better, because not only do we get to compile a Best of 2009, but we also get to make our Best of the 2000's, drawn up in the most self-serving of fashions to legitimize our own tastes and cast dispersions upon those foolish enough to have differing opinions.

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Rock CriDick: Threadbare by Port O'Brien

Before even pressing play on your iPod or player, before you even have the opportunity to decipher the lyrical presentation, and prior to the first note of the opening track, the listener has all kinds of signals that what is about to transpire will be a somber affair.  Whether it is the melancholic cover art, the In Memoriam displayed in the liner notes, or the title of the album itself, the participant should be aware that heartbreak, daddy issues, and occasional outbursts of unhinged emotion will follow once the disc starts spinning its swirl of oppressive darkness and resilient light.

Go on...

Whoa! All Lollipops Are the Same?

Isn't a Chicago Red Hot easier to suck on...

 than a Red Hot Coal?  

Go on...

Rock CriDick: Avett Brothers LIVE 10/18/09

Would you look at that?  Some more sports-music-polism (from here on known as Spomulism) synthesis courtesy of FSD.  You're welcome.

Anyway, Sunday night was one filled with expectation and excitement.  After all, the Patriots steam-rolled the Titans, the Jets lost, and Brothers Avett having just dropped one of the best albums of the year, goose-stepped on into town to serenade Boston's swirling mass of college students... Well, at least that is what I determined to be the case based upon crowd composition.

And boy were they excited.  There was a serious pulse to the room, as if the audience were one collective organism sharing in the revelry, while I on the other hand, played the role of invasive organism; benign at heart, but still clearly an outsider.   Neither drunk, nor giddy, nor young enough, I did the only thing I could do, politely sliding into the least crowded section of the packed house, Stage Left.

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Rock CriDick: I and Love and You

The longer a band's run lasts, the easier it becomes for people to find faults with their approach.  The Avett Brothers began as a grungy folk band that, as a result of their instrumentation, veered inevitably off in the direction of bluegrass.  Song contents often dealing with lost love and the follies of youth, delivered with precociousness, but with a wisdom not expected from twenty-somethings.

On I and Love and You, we find a different approach; the banjo is now a piano, love lost has been traded in for eternal love discovered, loose meditations on life have now been replaced with concrete observations about the nature of existence in the modern world.  It's as if the boys have been kicked out of the house, and rather than continuing with a reliance on porous relationships and transient principles, the have opted for true bonds and steadfast principles.

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A GEM of a Music Venue

So I walk into this place, and I have a look around.  Technically, it's an "arts" studio.  Now who the fuck knows what that term means these days?  And when you are headed to an arts studio in order to see a band, well then things become even more muddled.  I see people walking around with bottles of beer.  And I'm not talking Bud Lights.  I'm talking real beer.  Heady beer.  Whatever.  The fact that there are alcoholic beverages present is a welcomed development.

Okay, so how do I get my hands wrapped around one of them?

Hey man, where'd you get that beer?

My cooler.

Ahm... What?

You can...

You mean...

I gotta get to the fucking liquor store.

Oh my goodness.  THIS PLACE IS BYOFB?!?

Go on...