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June 14, 2008

albums you should own: life without buildings - any other city

i was in asheville a couple of weekends ago for my brother in law's birthday (read: raging kegger) party and naturally you never have to twist my arm to get me to a keg party. so i packed up the company car and at my sister's request i brought along the old portable hard drive to donate some more music to their fledgling library. and to tell the truth if there is anything that i love more than listening to music it would be sharing the music i love with the people that i love. so of course i was more than happy to oblige. and that saturday morning i spent a couple hours transferring some albums over to their computer. i could list off all the bands and/or albums that i dragged and dropped. but that would just be intimidating for some. i will say though that one of those albums was life without buildings any other city and i crossed my fingers and hoped they wouldn't hate it.

jump ahead to last night - my sister called me to ask me some i-pod related questions because she was going to buy her husband an i-pod for father's day. and wow. i really need to get married so i too can get really rad gifts in the middle of june. anyway, she thanked me for all the new music and mentioned life without buidings specifically and how much they liked that record in particular. and wanted to know more about the band. tears of joy.

because the truth is over the past few months i have started having conversations with myself centering around the argument that this record should really be put into consideration for the indisputable greatest albums of my lifetime list. a list that i hope to compose on my deathbed to ensure that nothing is overlooked. and then when friends and family gather to celebrate the spectacular waste that was my life they will remember me fondly as these records play in the background. so yes. this is kind of a big deal. i already had a loosely defined list floating around in my head for the last couple of years and hadn't really planned on any other contenders dropping their hats into the ring. and then i heard this strange and wonderful little record and - admittedly the first couple of times through i wasn't sure exactly what i was hearing but by my third listen i was convinced that this record was special and as such i started insisting that others get their hands on it. by any means possible.

that's the great thing about music though isn't it? you never know what you will find around the next corner. most of the time it's just alot of heartache and disposable disappointment but then you hear something life altering - which makes the whole thing worthwhile. this particular record grabbed my attention because it sounded so great. especially for a first (and last) album. these four college kids got together in 2002 captured magic in a bottle the first time out and then called it quits shortly thereafter. which is for the best i suppose. because that is the stuff that legends are made of. and instead of having to suffer through a shaky sophomore effort you can sit around with friends lamenting what might have been. imagining how spectacular it would be if these kids pulled a portishead and dropped another stellar album out of nowhere just because they could.

i guess i should say the thing i love about this album is how seemless it is. the songs are so fully realized. the musical arrangements are very compact. it's just bass, drums, and one guitar and then the singer, sue tompkins scattershot vocals float in and out filling in all of the spaces - sounding something like sugarcubes era bjork sitting down over a long weekend and singing along with a stripped down broken social scene. the standout tracks for me are the leanover and sorrow a perfect little lost love song set to a sweet jane esque chord progression. a gleaming gem custom made to round out any wistfully rendered break-up mix. in case you were wondering those songs have always been right up my alley. so that track is definitely a shoe-in if i ever get around to cobbling together tickle me st. elmo vol. 4.

you might have some difficulty finding any other city in your local record shoppe. but it can be found on the internets if you know where to look. there is also an album - live at the annandale hotel - that was released in 2007. it is available through i-tunes. and it features all of the songs from the album as well as a couple of other songs. plus you get all the brogue-y banter. which is never a bad thing. even thouse self-serving elitist bastards over at pitchfork raved about life without buildings. which is saying something these days...somtimes i think those kids don't even like music. i love music.

Posted by young_christopher at 3:43 PM | Comments (9)

June 7, 2008

you were always a heartbeat away

what's that old addage - if you love something set it free and if it comes back it's yours and if not it never belonged to you in the first place. i think i'm probably paraphrasing that but it's okay because it's a pretty cheesy sentiment. in fact on a scale of cheesiness that particular turn of phrase is right up there with the footprints poem and josh groban records. but still i'm not beyond the allure of the sentimental and the premise behind the saying - can be comforting to a bridge burner like myself.

it's been nearly six months now since i severed my relationship with coca-cola. which was a very difficult decision because the two of us together...well the only other pairing in the history of humanity that could possibly compare would be the captain and tenille. which is to say we had a really good thing going. from day one the chemistry was electric. we got each other. we shared the same tastes. we both had an eye for aesthetically pleasing ad design and under the cap twist off games where everyone was a loveable loser. just like us. i guess all good things must come to an end - or at the verly least take an extended - possibly indefinite break. but still how do you tell the love of your life that you've talked it over and have come to the conclusion that it is time to send them packing. well i'm always a big fan of depriving myself of things that i would really rather not deprive myself. so i decided that it should be me that ultimately did the breaking up.

this penchant of mine for self depracation probably has something to do with all that protestant guilt you hear people talking about. and because of said guilt i have this unending need to feel as though i'm challenging myself to grow as a person and improve upon my character. which is a silly notion because i think most people that know me would agree that i'm a fairly solid citizen with few character deficiencies that cannot be chalked up to being a child of divorce. and none of that is really my fault anyway. is it?

i know i wrote something awhile back about cutting back on the me and coca-cola thing - but it didn't take. probably because cutting back (ahem!) never works and also i was reducing my intake of alcohol while simultaneously trying to pry myself from the loving embrace of coca-cola and something had to give. suddenly i'm terrified that i might have an undiagnosed addictive personality and as much as i might want to deprive myself of one particular thing in order to be successful i have to find a suitable replacement vice. which would exlpain the sudden influx of collectible porcelain livestock that occupy every available countertop/mantlepiece here at 4808. hey - at least it's not a cat.

but the good news is that i have not had a single encounter with coca-cola. not even in a mixed drink. i will confess that i had a sprite on my flight home from vegas because the burrito i ate for lunch didn't really agree with my stomach. a stomach that was already unduly panicky that what happened in vegas might not actually stay there. needless to say. i'm not counting the sprite because it was medicinal and i really didn't enjoy it anyway.

and really the thing that we are depriving ourselves of is coca cola specifically. and i must say - i've been pretty surprised by how little i have missed it. at least on a conscious level. not that i don't stare at it longingly from time to time - as i pass by the soft glow of a vending machine - late at night and see that coca cola's light is still on. and then i start thinking that maybe coca cola would be okay with it if i just dropped in to say hello. and of course there would just be talking and nothing else. i definitely wouldn't stay over because then we would be right back in the same fantastic mess all over again. and really who needs that kind of heartache. no to mention the calories.

because this is the tree of trust i will confess here and now that i have on occasion been afflicted by som pretty lurid coca cola related dreams. and there is much frollicking and rejoindering just like the good old days. and then i wake up in a cold sweat with that distinctive taste in my mouth and i feel guilty for breaking my fast. but of course it was all just a fantastic if slightly dirty dream. i assure you i remain as pure as the driven snow. and i plan on remaining so at least until the year 2009 sees fit to visit himself or herself upon us. and then we'll see. we can sit down and have a nice chat - maybe with some old friends jack daniels and/or captain morgan in tow just to help with what will certainly be some awkard tension. i know that i'm still pretty crazy about coca-cola. we'll just have to see how coca-cola feels about returning to me since i was the one who did the letting go.

and in a completely unrelated note. i don't know how you feel about the music of the band weezer. they've done a pretty good job of disappointing me over the years but the new album is actually okay and i will readily admit that when it comes to ingenius music videos no one does it better.

Posted by young_christopher at 12:57 PM | Comments (4)