Let Sleeping Blogs Lie...

Well, well, well...I guess I'm back in the saddle. Greeting from Seattle. I've decided to get back in swing for a few reasons.

One, its fall. The only season I've found where every waking moment isn't tentatively penciled in with activity. Its in between wake and snowboard season, the music scene slows down a bit, and I give my liver a break from 3 months of boozing simply because the sun was out.

Two, I've got something to say god-damnit. I think the reason I stopped blogging in the first place was because I ran out of things to say. This happened, not uncoincidentally (actually a word? probably not), around the same time Obama was elected. Once my big, black, beautiful underdog got elected, it seemed like someone popped my whippit balloon. In fact, it might have been one of the most anti-climatic moments of my life. All of the sudden everyone in America was eating my election cake. Well fuck that. I'm the one who slaved over the cake, and I want to eat the whole fucking thing by myself while everyone else starves. The idea that you could just show up, vote, and get a piece of the cake felt so wrong. Where were you when I was drinking myself into a god-damned coma after the Pennsylvania primary? Ok, enough. I've had a while to cool off and I don't want to make politics the main focus of this blog anymore. That said, I will inevitably delve into politics once in a while, but I will try to keep it minimal because I know you cake-stealing dick barnacles don't really like politics that much anyways.

Let's limber up a bit:

Reading: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Jamming to: "Sound the Alarms" by Immaculate Machine

Missing: Megan

Impression of Working Life: Still positive

Just Talked To: Steve (Jizz-Mouse) Grace

Super Happy That: Lauren and Sam are moving out here

Feel Bad For: The 90 year old woman I flat-tired three times in row about a month ago (just can't shake it)

Biggest Stress: Money

Scared Of: The Abrams Tank of a spider that was crawling on my shoulder this morning after i put my work-shirt on, which I tried to smack, only to have him scurry under my bed

Not Scared Of: Bill the Cat's dander

Terrified Of: This new marriage trend among my peers

Not Terrified Of: Flu Season...hit me with your best fucking shot, pig sniffles.

Alright, alright, I'm feeling nice and loose. Here are some important themes in my life right now.

Public Radio donor drives are.....so....fucking.....annoying. I love you KEXP and I would gladly donate $5.00 to you if you sent me something in the mail. Asking me 1 bajillion times a day over the radio makes me want to spend that money on anything that will kill me quickly and painlessly. You say you want me to be part of your community...well these drives make me want to be part of the other community...the one that razes your community's village at dawn, Apocalypto style.

I'm obsessed with Jerk dancing. If you don't know what that is, enlighten yourself. Not quite sure why I like it so much (enough to secretly bust a groove or two in my room before work), but if I had to say its a combination of three things.

The core demographic seems to be 15-18 year olds. They are so often the recipient of second-hand fads that have burned out in the older crowds; it's good to see them branching out on their own.

I recently bought a pair of tight jeans, which is one of the two most important aspects of jerk dancing. Now I just have to work on the actual dancing. HALF WAY THERE, BABY! in my tight jeans, in my tight jeans...

The subtle swagger of moves like The Dougie make it possible for anyone to participate. A friend attempted to make a comparison with this style of dancing. I could never, ever, in a hundred million years, hope to do that dance. It's like saying "Oh, you like looking at the stars, well you should become a fucking astronaut." Well thanks, buddy. I might just try that.

Good to be back.

Top Some Number of Albums of 2008 (Super Belated, but Not Yet Irrelevant)

1) Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow, and Blue 

     "I need a Life"

Upon first listen this album might strike you as the most annoying thing since biting that same quadrant of your tongue over and over again because its super fat from biting it the first time.  But, after 2-3 more listens you will come to realize that this is....THE BEST ALBUM OF 2008.  This Toronto based band rocks hard with sing-along lyrics, choppy guitars, and experimental percussion.  If anyone saw the extent to which I rock out in my car while listening to this album, they would probably no longer want to be my friend.  

2) Common Market - Tobacco Road

     "Winter Takes All"

Jazzy, meaningful hip-hop.  I swear there isn't a bad track on the entire album.  Common Market's flow entices the listener without demanding to be heard.  Whether your kickin' back with some friends or on a long drive by yourself, you will find this album suitable for many occasions.  Just another mossback doing his thing for NW hip-hop.  

*The title of this blog actually comes from a Common Market track. 

3) Black Mountain - In the Future

     "Tyrants"

Rocks; epic-style in an era where epic rockers forgot how to be epic.  

4) Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

     "Lights and Music"

An album of self-indulgence (for me and the band).  Electro-beats with that familiar uninterested,  patient lyrical tone (best displayed by bands like Depeche Mode and New Order).  At first the beats might strike you as too techno-y; but, if you'll just put down the ecstasy and that velvet body pillow for two seconds you'll see that the band incorporates as many breakdowns and changes of pace as it does synth-gasms.  They also got 100,000,000 extra points for the Ace of Base-ish vocal sample used in "Heart On Fire."

5) Langhorne Slim - Langhorne Slim

     "The Honeymoon"

The most equilateral album I've heard this year.  Slow songs, upbeat songs, happy songs, sad songs, you can find them all here.  The pace of the album works very well and its variety suggests that ol' Slim is far from his reaching his crescendo 

6) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

    "Oxford Comma"

You all know this album by now so I'm not even going to get into it.  Paul Simon bliggity blah blah, harvard grads bloggity blah.  

Honorable Mentions:

 - Amadou and Mariam - Welcome to Mali

This album has a little something for everyone.  The first track, "Sabali," is a Damon Albarn produced track that offers up exactly the kind of tone you would expect from such a collaboration.  The second track keeps the train bound for glory with a guitar rift so warm you might just think you're laying on a beach somewhere next to your best friend's mom.  The strength of the album seems to wane a bit towards the end, but if your looking for solid mood music that will cast you as a 'worldy listener,' look no further.   

- Tom Gabel - Heart Burns

This album was everything that I wanted it to be, plus a little something extra.  It saw our anal retentive Against Me! frontman grow into a more experimental, less bitchy musician.  Some might hate the inclusion of the drum machine, but I really like it.  Tom's best Bob Dylan impression, "Anna is a Stool Pigeon," works very well.  Other tracks such as "100 Years of War" and "Cowards Sing at Night" return to Tom's formula of simple guitar and profound lyrics (although the album versions do contain some sonic experimentation).  Really, I was just happy to see an Against Me! related project that was wholly enjoyable, rather than having to convince myself it was worth another spin.

- Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

I think my friend Evan put it best when he said that this album was judged unfairly because of all the hype surrounding it.  Great album, but its not the folksy f#$-fest (complete with ball cupping) that Pitchfork seems to think it is.  

Biggest Disappointments:

- Ratatat - LP3

Wow.  What the $%# guys.....what the %@$#.  At least by ripping off the X-Files theme song for your first track you let me know that the bar had been set extremely low on this one.  If you hadn't given me two free remix tapes in the last year I would demand you give me the hard drive space back.  

- Albert Hammond Jr. - Como Te Llamas

Not nearly as disappointing as the Ratatat album, but it still stung a little bit.  I wanted to think that Albi was capable of doing this shit up right twice in a row.  In my head I think I knew he just got lucky on the first one, but damn, he got REAAALLLY lucky.  Next Strokes album, please.   

Biggest Surprise (that shouldn't have been a suprise)

The Killers - Day and Age

My friend Kevin almost had me convinced that The Killers were an over-produced group of polystyrene transvestites that sang nothing but over the top Springstein-esque ballads.  But then I came to terms with it.  That is exactly what The Killers do...but they kick tons of ass at it.  I love all three of full lengths this band has released and I am no longer going to be ashamed to defend them.  

K-Zim, you have bad taste in music, a large carbon footprint, and over 55% percent body fat.   None of that is true, but back up off The Killers, eh?

If you you would like to complain about my choices, feel free; but remember, it's just, like, my opinion man.  

.ben.

All complaints can be officially filed at kyle.brannick@gmail.com

My spidey-sense is tingling...

My trip to Whistler this weekend was a blast. Once again, the luck of the Spartan Ski Club pulled through and we got about 23 cms of freshies the day we showed up. Also, in one of the best "right place right time" moments of my life, we hopped on board the first few chairs of the Glacier Express and were 5 of the first 10 people to ski down the Blackhomb Glacier Bowl.

Reluctantly, I rode the new Peak to Peak gondola 45 mins after it opened on Friday. In one of the more memorable "bad place bad time" moments of my life, the gondola came to a halt for the first time ever just as we were suspended thousands of feet in the air over the Whistler valley. I spent the majority of the delay compulsively scraping off all of the snow attached to my skis trying not to look out the window.

I had a bad feeling about the Whistler gondolas the entire time I was there. They were old looking, they stopped often, and they were waaayyyy longer than any other gondolas I've been on.

Today, it seems, my senses were validated.

We toldaso...

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/12/a380-is-so-quie.html

Hikin'

Here are some cool photos of our hike this weekend.  

Nice work, Jon.

The Boy in the Bubble

I really couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable holiday weekend.  

Wednesday night we watched the Taj Mahal trio at a Seattle venue known as Jazz Alley (one of the coolest venues I've ever been to). 

 Thursday we joined some of our fellow Seattle transplants for a mash-up of awesome food, beer, and friendship.  Extra thanks to Becky for hosting.

I spent my Friday record shopping and hunting down Seattle's best cheese-steak, which has still alluded me to this day.  

Saturday I drove 90 minutes outside of Seattle to hike the Crystal Lake trail, a very rewarding experience.  

Walking to the coffee-shop today I couldn't help but enumerate the events of my weekend with a feeling of satisfaction, but this feeling quickly diminished once began making my Sunday rounds.  

While I was blithely going about my weekend more than 170 people were killed in Mumbai, political turmoil continued to escalate in Thailand, three Americans were killed in commerce related violence, eight restaurant patrons were killed in a Mexican border town, and a suicide bomber killed nine people at an Iraqi mosque.  

This sobering sense of reality is accompanied by a more powerful feeling of futility.  

 

We Are the Same We've Been Waiting For

I could handle Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff because you need a Washington insider in this position to get stuff done.

I could handle Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State because it gets Bill back in the mix and her Senate seat is sure to go democrat. (although I'd rather have Bill Richardson)

But letting Joe Lieberman, that fork-tongued, jowl-faced traitor, keep his chairmanship does not sit well with me. I thought we were talking about change in this election, but so far I see a lot of same. Replacing Lieberman would have been a good start.