en http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 Thu, 1 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 60 http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal The Last.fm journal for infinite_zero. Last.fm journals are a place to talk about all things music. http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2010/01/01/3atoxd_the_aeroplane_flies_high Fri, 1 Jan 2010 03:23:20 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2010/01/01/3atoxd_the_aeroplane_flies_high the aeroplane flies high, turns left, looks right. the aeroplane knows that it is alone in it's drama bones. madness, preconceptions, ray gun logics run and spit and rationalized until a whole chorus of mug wumps, blue in the face from yelling their divisive mantras, run out of young breath and just plain give in to the spirit of the whole damn apple. face it, you love it, it's fun for one and all, and for all you know the earth spins on it's rusty axis just because of it. the aeroplane moves whether you want it to or not. cram packed with fuel injected jet missile action, this is war motherfucker and don't you forget it for one second. it is us versus them, and if you're giving in then you are giving up. all the names don't mean shit. ugly, beautiful, pretentious, arrogant, old, tired, happy, sell outs, careerists, transcendent, hypnotic, trippy, spellbinding, numb, egocentric, solipsistic, empty, hollow, shallow, lost, 70's, 60's, 80's, 20's, long winded, phony, grand, the worst, the best, creepy, cranky, desperate... the aeroplane just flies higher, faster, stronger. there isn't much time for maybes, even goodbyes sometimes. dust settles, the arcwelders come out and reconstruct the obvious, and we are all left holding the blur. life will always be sentimental way, you can vivisect it all you want. blood and will are indivisible. the aeroplane flies high, turns left, looks right. the world pisses a silver stream to let you know it is there. on the other side of the slipstream of countless thoughtless thoughts. it shatters and divides into a million fragments because life is not a lifestyle choice. we are not a fashion accessory. music is god's bones creaking pleasure, amusement, even occasional approval. we salute you all with a crack of the back, a baseball bat and a smile. god bless us all, for what we think and feel is all we really have. but when is too far far enough. no limit that i ever knew really matters. there is strength in the dirt of your garden sorrows, there are no more tomorrows, only blissed todays, purple and immeasurable, in stature and stealth, because the sun is always sneaking around behind your sneaky back, can you hear us because if you can't we will turn it up till your ears bleed nascent approving harmony. it's all good, and don't you forget it. the fourth wall is down and deserves to stay down, because all you are really watching in others is yourself, the third generation t.v. reflection. time is never time at all. there is no time, no heartbeats, no babies, no french fries, just spider webs strung to oscillate the fever pitch of blandkind, oops i mean mankind. once the sonic dart leaves your fingers, it is hard to get back. scratch, sniff, observe, obey, deceive, distort, disarm it all, the bomb is on and ticking. we know but we ain't telling anyone anything, because we know nothing. "t.v. generation x.y.u," zero command calling, capt. coconut sounds the alarm, every band you ever like has reformed and is playing on a single bill, one night only at the bottom of the ocean. once it is gone there is no going back, and it is never ever the same. wave to the magic balloons with your names attached, 5 zillion strong circling the precious earth in search of a friend in search of another. i hope you all find what you need in whatever hole you peer down, whatever cloud you peek behind, let the disaster dukes masticate on the green grass of hope and love. this year is the most joyous and happy, mournful and sad year i have known. life is good bleats the bleating heart, and it keeps on bleating like an 808. never ever forever tomorrow comes, new dawns blister, new songs to be sung. the aeroplane flies high, turns left, looks right. the aeroplane knows you know, sings the song of truth, of redemption, of sorrow. look no further than your dirty feet.

-BC]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/09/03/2zhuur_artists_i%27ve_seen Thu, 3 Sep 2009 21:05:38 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/09/03/2zhuur_artists_i%27ve_seen Here is my attempt at listing all the artists I've seen live. I feel like seeing it written down will give me some sort of perspective on the broad range of music styles and copious amounts of hearing damage I've accumulated over the past 5 years or so. I encourage anyone reading this to do the same! Maybe we could compare.

Ok. Here goes in no particular order:

1. The Smashing Pumpkins (2x)
2. Foo Fighters (2x)
3. Weezer
4. Kaiser Chiefs
5. The Killers (2x)
6. The Strokes
7. The Cure
8. My Bloody Valentine (loudest show ever)
9. Mates of State
10. Wilderness
11. Spoon
12. Year Long Disaster
13. Death Cab For Cutie (3x)
14. Eagles of Death Metal
15. David Bazan (2x)
16. Sea Wolf
17. Mute Math (3x)
18. Silversun Pickups (2x)
19. OK Go
20. Snow Patrol
21. Rooney
22. Doves
23. Film School
24. The Felice Brothers
25. Slim Cessna's Auto Club
26. M83
27. My Way My Love (1st show)
28. El Paso Hot Button
29. New Rome
30. Switchblade Affair
31. Modest Mouse
32. 65daysofstatic
33. The Fray
34. Eisley
35. The Bravery
36. Pictureplane
37. The Wallflowers
38. Paper Route
39. Honorary Title
40. Transit War (2nd loudest show ever)
41. Rogue Wave
42. AMUSEMENT PARKS ON FIRE
43. Happy Mondays
44. The Psychedelic Furs
45. Citizen Cope
46. Say Hi
47. fun. (2x)
48. Dreamend
49. The Appleseed Cast
50. Julian Casablancas
51. Shearwater
52. Band of Horses
53. Robert Plant
54. SWIMMING (3x)
55. Carl Barat
56. The Radio Dept
57. Ty Segall (2x)
58. Roger Waters (best show)
59. Thee Oh Sees (2x)
60. Apparat
61. Moby
62. The Horrors
63. Plant Plants
64. Ducktails
65. Washed Out
66. Chad VanGaalen
67. Com Truise
68. Neon Indian
69. Sleeper Agent
70. DIIV
71. Wild Nothing
72. The Cinematics]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/07/26/2waecd_shine_on_you_crazy_diamond_parts_9_and_beyond... Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:59:46 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/07/26/2waecd_shine_on_you_crazy_diamond_parts_9_and_beyond... Something always happens when I listen to Pink Floyd. Their album Wish You Were Here, in particular. It could be that the album reflects a sort of mysticism about the unknown. It could be the knowledge that the album is dedicated to the late Syd Barrett, who chose to live his life in obscurity. Or it could be a combination of these things and revelation that there are people who we care about that we sadly may never see again.

To lots of people, being a Pink Floyd fan means that you're stoner or a hippie descendant, or that you tend to listen to Pink Floyd because of the psychedelic associations with the band. However, to the open-ear, open-minded person, these stereotypes are wrong. Granted it takes an appreciative mindset and a welcomeness to weirdness and all that is psychedelic music, once you scale that initial obstacle, it is revealed that Pink Floyd are geniuses in their own way and are able to affect your perception in a way that other bands don't even come close.



For me, I got into Pink Floyd when my "normal" friends introduced me to 70s music. There was still a lot of weird crap going on with modern day music, so listening to older music meant that it couldn't be any worse. After I bought Dark Side on the Moon, and listened to it for the first time, it was as if I was watching a movie in my head. I could see all the images clearly, relating to the music and how they all progressed into one another. And it was surely not like anything I'd ever listened to before. There were times when it seemed a bit beyond my grasp to understand... particularly with all the tripped out songs that were mostly just instrumentals (i.e. Any Colour You Like), but the more and more I listened, the more I found it was like abstract music and it allowed you to interpret it how ever you wanted it to be. Some people use drugs as a means of escaping or interpreting a lot of these weird sounds, but I instead used art and drawing. As funny as it may sound, when you have the right attention focused on their music (and as I would find a lot of earlier PF music to be extremely psychedelic), it stimulates the same parts of you brain. Because of this, I rapidly saw a change in my drawing styles and how it seemed a completely new creative world had just opened up. For everything; how I thought about people, how I perceived our world, how I saw art and most importantly, how I became aware of this idea of the unknown.

With every new Pink Floyd album I bought after Dark Side of the Moon, I kind of had a new experience and mindset. As I had mentioned, listening to their music made me see images in my head, so you could imagine each album was like a different subject or a different concept/theme. And it was always exciting to hear/see what I would experience next. Although I thought this music was just brilliant, I also began to realize that it was very easy to get stuck in this weird music void. And that having an obsession with what I listened to and what I saw when I listened, kind of alienated me in some ways with my surroundings. And this was good and bad. it was good because being in High School meant that I would be avoiding a less than appreciative social scene and all the bullshit that tends to come from trying to be with everyone and please everyone. But being alienated was difficult in the way that it kind of stamped me with an outcast, or anti-social label. It was just the fact that the music, as great as it was, seemed to disconnect me with reality. This is why for me, when I REALLY let go and dive into Pink Floyd music, it serves as an escape into the sonic-world/creative-chaos/painless-purpose-palace or what ever have you. Their music is my drug. Plain and simple.

There are so many reasons that every one of their albums are great. Yet it would take a lifetime to analyze every interpretation of sound or every chord and what it causes in my head. And that's not important. But I suppose what is important is the fact that their music can still create new things for me and not only on the level that other artists do, but beyond that level. It would be on a par with this analogy: Some music is everything we see above a lake; mountains, trees, islands, etc. We see it and it looks beautiful. But Pink Floyd Music is that AND what's below that we can't see. Under water, the depths and crevices, and lifeforms on a molecular level and gigantic level. In some ways the surreal world too. Where nothing makes sense. Like if you were to jump into a Salvador Dali painting.

But perhaps the most meaningful album I discovered and my most favorite album is Wish You Were Here. It's the Pink Floyd album that resonates on all the right levels and for all the right reasons. AND it's the only album to carry a bit of compassion and caring to the places that we can't see and to the people who we don't know where they are. Wish You Were Here is my ode to the people I care about, where ever they disappeared to.

Wish You Were Here was one of the last Pink Floyd albums I bought in high school, and it coincided with the end of high school and graduation. Now it's honest to say that there are a lot of experiences and people in high school that you have no problem with parting ways with. However, there are also a lot of great experiences and great people who really were there and who really did mean a lot to you in some way, shape, or form. Wish You Were Here was formed on this basis for me and since then has been fit to include all parts of my life where someone was nice, or I met a really amazing person that I cared about a lot, or even family that has passed away. This "mystery" and this compassion to the "unknown" theme in the album is something I find to be very powerful. Of course, the main songs Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 1-9) serve as kind of a book beginning and a book end. They're the central pieces. While the lead into Welcome to the Machine is quite dark and very ominous. As dark a song as it is, I've always been obsessed with Welcome to the Machine. So much so that it places my idea of reality and society as being a machine and our careers and all we do to keep the machine going. The music makes this very similar comparison. And the music video I have always found to be the staple for my art inspiration and creative inspiration. It's SUCH a great piece of art and one of the few music videos that I feel portrays EXACTLY what the song would look like in visual form. And for this, I've grown to admire Gerald Scarfe, his art, and the whole integration with The Wall, Pink Floyd imagry, etc. Have a Cigar was always a very cool song with an upbeat attitude and a mocking fashion of the music industry. The song Wish You Were Here is probably my favorite song because of it's simple yet powerful message. The title says it all. Yet, I also identify with the last verse of the song. Year after year we still seem to find the same old fears and nothing ever changes at what keeps us apart. It's a sad reality, but its true and necessary. People need to be off living their own lives, but this song is good at grasping that initiative for hope or possibility.

Collectively, Wish You Were Here plays on this neutral note that I am forever comforted with the idea that I may or may not see the people I care about again. It's this uncertainty, but it's shown in a positive, gratifying way. Which may in fact be one of the most contradictory album meanings... It's not a sad album to me and doesn't hold a sad meaning. Again, it has this neutral ground that allows you to explore your nostalgia while transitioning back to reality safely and without a overly melancholy feeling. Maybe that is the capital of this album then; Nostalgia. Either way, Wish You Were Here is my favorite Pink Floyd album and it always allows me to revisit the best times and still have the hope for seeing them again. On to infinity. Shine On!

]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/07/13/2v5c2f_dogs Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:00:05 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/07/13/2v5c2f_dogs Some people never learn. And I guess that person is me. So this struck me as a real here, now story that is me. Emphasis on the last verse:

You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need.
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street,
You gotta be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed.
And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight,
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.

And after a while, you can work on points for style.
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake,
A certain look in the eye and an easy smile.
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to,
So that when they turn their backs on you,
You'll get the chance to put the knife in.

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder.
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you
get older.
And in the end you'll pack up and fly down south,
Hide your head in the sand,
Just another sad old man,
All alone and dying of cancer.

And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown.
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone.
And it's too late to lose the weight you used to need to throw
around.
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone,
Dragged down by the stone.

I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused.
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used.
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise.
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this
maze?

Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend.
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun,
And you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.

Who was born in a house full of pain.
Who was trained not to spit in the fan.
Who was told what to do by the man.
Who was broken by trained personnel.
Who was fitted with collar and chain.
Who was given a pat on the back.
Who was breaking away from the pack.
Who was only a stranger at home.
Who was ground down in the end.
Who was found dead on the phone.
Who was dragged down by the stone.

Pink Floyd
"Dogs"]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/06/25/2to7ry_the_stakes_were_raised Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:34:22 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/06/25/2to7ry_the_stakes_were_raised Where am I gonna land?
In the palm of someone's hand.
I should have known that the good part was over,
that you would leave at the end of the summer.

But the stakes were raised
and so, I looked the other way.

The sky turned red,
The world came true.
The way I wanted you.
I should have guessed that the moment was passing,
I didn't catch all the signs that were flashing

Cuz the stakes were raised...
And, so...I looked the other way.

All of my hoping just turned into lying
Kidding myself without even trying.
Should have noticed the whole thing was dying,

but the stakes were raised,
and so I looked the other way.
The stakes were raised,
and so I looked the other way.

Slow Runner
"The Stakes Were Raised"]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/06/02/2rmmoy_pet_grief Tue, 2 Jun 2009 05:06:44 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/06/02/2rmmoy_pet_grief And then he's gone
Never put up a fight
You think you know someone, right?
Maybe you never did, and how that scares you
I'll shut my mouth for you
Just like your friend would do

And this pet grief
It's just too bad
I've never seen you this sad
And if you need someone who doesn't talk back
I'll shut my mouth for you
Anything you want me to

What can I say?
What can I do?
Don't mean to analyze you
It is a double bind
I can't win this one
I'll shut my mouth for you
Anything you want me to

The Radio Dept
Pet Grief]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/05/21/2qmlx4_&_so_it_goes Thu, 21 May 2009 00:20:50 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/05/21/2qmlx4_&_so_it_goes can't find another one like you
and so we go
well, can't you see
where i have been
and what you'd find
find
my true love, what does this mean?

can't find another one
you are the only one
there are no other ones like you

and as we go
well, all day long
all through the streets
and as we walk,
walk, walk, walk
i begin to see

can't get another one
you are the only one
there are no other ones quite like you

please i'll stay just for a while
if you and i begin to cry
i'll find it more real
and as we beat,
beat
now i know,
i'll take you with me

another one
you are the only one
can't get another one
and now you're gone
and now you're gone
and now you're gone
and now you're gone
and now you're gone
and now you're gone

i'm all alone

Albert Hammond, Jr.
& So It Goes]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/05/15/2q43zf_jugband_blues Fri, 15 May 2009 03:50:50 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/05/15/2q43zf_jugband_blues Syd said it best, granted he wasn't in the best of mental shape. I've always had a strange obsession with this tune.

It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here
And I'm much obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here.
And I never knew the moon could be so big
And I never knew the moon could be so blue
And I'm grateful that you threw away my old shoes
And brought me here instead dressed in red
And I'm wondering who could be writing this song.

I don't care if the sun don't shine
And I don't care if nothing is mine
And I don't care if I'm nervous with you
I'll do my loving in the winter.

And the sea isn't green
And I love the Queen
And what exactly is a dream
And what exactly is a joke.]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/05/09/2pmsah_appels_%252B_oranjes Sat, 9 May 2009 18:53:32 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/05/09/2pmsah_appels_%252B_oranjes what if the sun refused to shine?
what if the clouds refused to rain?
what if the wind refused to blow?
what if the seas refused to wave?
what if the world refused its turn?
what if the stars would hesitate?

what if what is isn't true?
what are you going to do?
what if what is isn't you?
does that mean you've got to lose?
digging for the feel of something new
what if the silence let you dream?
what if the air could let you breathe?
what if the words would bring you here?
what if this sound could bring you peace?

what if what is isn't true?
what are you gonna do?
digging for the feel of something new
what if what is isn't you?
what are you gonna do?

it came from your thoughts
your dreams and visions
ripped up from your weeks
and indecisions

what if the sun refused to shine?
what if the clouds refused to rain?
what if the world refused its turn?
what if the clocks would hesitate?

what if what is isn't true?
what are you gonna do?
what if what is isn't you?
does that mean you've got to lose?
digging for the feel of something new
does that mean you've got to choose?
the feel of something new
does that mean you've got to lose?
the thoughts you cannot use
what are you gonna do?

The Smashing Pumpkins
Appels + Oranjes]]> http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/05/08/2pi9hk_quite_fit_for_fighting Fri, 8 May 2009 06:10:22 +0000 http://www.last.fm/user/infinite_zero/journal/2009/05/08/2pi9hk_quite_fit_for_fighting It's damn near preposterous to think that when you are feeling your worst, the antidote would be to listen to something just as bad or even more worse. I'm not talking about quality or style of music...I'm talking about the emotional factor sort to speak. Whether we realize it or not, music contains a certain level of happiness or sadness in everything it's consisted of; lyrics, instrumentals, foreign sounds. Back to the emotions. So when you are feeling at your worst, or maybe even just a little bit down, in my sonic searching I have found the cure to be nothing more than The Cure.

I don't know why or how it came to be, but I guess it could be another fatalistic story about the band finding me. I remember being in journalism class in high school one afternoon, and absolutely down on my luck. When what should I hear all of a sudden; gloomy, dark, heavy clouds and just a chunk of sunlight = The Cure! I didn't know who I was listening to at the time, but as I listened, I became more and more drawn in. It was as if my feelings were parading right around the room (in sound form of course).

I couldn't really concentrate anymore and just kept listening to the music. It was coming from some girl across the room on the computer and the rest of the room was rather quiet (involved in their writing), so I was able to hear most everything, lyrics and all. After quite some time, I decided to go and try and take a look at what she was playing. I had no idea who it was. I think I had no idea who The Cure really even were. Luckily the girl had a little box in the corner showing who/what was playing. From my vantage point, without being blatantly obvious, I was able to see the words, Disintegrat and a picture. I had no idea if that was the band or the album name (a fragment at that).

So later on at home I searched for many things. Disintegrat, disintegrat band, disintegrating, disintegrate. Luckily it wasn't too hard to find. The name of the album was Disintegration and the band I found to be The Cure. I knew from the moment I saw the album cover, that it was indeed what I had been listening to earlier. After I listened to all the album tracks, I decided it was fantastic and that I was going to buy Disintegration, to commiserate my pathetic, sinking emotional state.

I had no real knowledge of The Cure still and what they were about. As I listened to Disintegration for the first time I was immediately met with that somber, dark, heavy layered sound (save for a few songs) and realized that despite being from the 80s, it didn't sound like anything I had ever heard. The emotional level it bought and the amount of distress you got from it was surely not something that I imagined many people would like...especially me or the girl from my journalism class. I remember thinking, "Why do I like this? What's it doing for me?" and of course I was brought to all that I was feeling and all that was going on at the time and it just all seemed to make sense. This gloomy, sad music had a purpose in making me realize that not everything is great and happy and that there was an outlet to release all of it inside you instead of having it be all pent up. All of the bands that I knew at the time may have had a few sad songs here or there, but it was nothing when compared to this level of The Cure's sound.

Disintegration would be the first album I owned. And as changes of events would happen, my next Cure discovery would be their 2004 self-titled album. Immediately when I listened to the first track, Lost, it was like all the gloominess had evolved into something a lot more brash and abrasive and fit my chaotic mind/emotional state to a T. Still the theme of sadness in a lot of it, but it wasn't all just despair. There seemed to be a invisible message of something positive, as contradictory and crazy as it sounds.

The Cure self-titled, as I read, was a transitional moment for the band. And I found it to be a transitional album for me as well, being the first album I bought while just getting settled in a new strange city. So a lot of the harsh sounds really resonated with me and further solidified The Cure as a band that was there for me in almost everything. I began to notice an almost identical likeness in The Cure that I had seen in The Smashing Pumpkins; that emotional level, the power in the craft of their songs, the messages they brought out and the flexibility they had with their content. Of course I discovered that The Cure weren't just a sad, gloomy, hopeless message promoting band and that they had a lot of upbeat, positive music as well. As I also was to learn, The Cure were always changing and going in and out of these emotional levels of their albums. But as I was still only a few albums in to The Cure's extensive career, I would find a lot of the best stuff was still to come.

Either way, I consider The Cure to be my second favorite band for drawing almost a comparable parallel to the liking of The Smashing Pumpkins in emotional depth, broad range of styles and innovativeness and always being a band to suit me in any state I feel. And from experience with them, I can say that listening to some thing as catastrophically low as The Cure when you are feeling rather down on your luck, is a perfect way to get all that mess out of you and actually be happier in the end. So strange as it may sound, the gloomy cure songs make me feel better. And surely there are some songs that I can only imagine what it must have felt like to compose... and for that, it makes me realize that maybe things aren't as bad as they could be and that they could be a lot worse. But at least I know I would have music to go with such extreme levels of feelings. And that's what The Cure is about. It's almost like they had their name planned right from the start.]]>