Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before

The first few seconds of "Spanish Bombs" by the Clash sound very very similar to the first few seconds of Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again." Whether or not this was done on purpose, I have no idea.

Compare. Contrast.




I'd never noticed before. Now the two songs are inseparable in my head. Christmas in July.

Also, the first few seconds of "Sowing Seeds" by The Jesus and Mary Chain sound just like the first few seconds of one of their other songs, "Just Like Honey." Both are from the same album, so maybe this shouldn't be as surprising.

But you will notice that both songs sound similar to the beginning of "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. This was probably done intentionally as the J&MC were going for that dense atmospheric Spector-esque wall of sound.

Boom. Ba-boom. BAP.





I've got a ton of 'em. I'm sure you do too.

Whether done purposefully as inspiration (as above with these Psychocandy songs), purposefully as an I-hope-nobody-notices rip-off (as with Oasis' "Cigarettes and Alcohol," stolen from T-Rex's "Get It On"), or unintentionally (as with George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," unconsciously zapped from the Chiffons' "He's So Fine"), there are only so many notes and chords and rhythms and noises. Somebody somewhere is going to double up, and it's going to temporarily cause me to wonder what a Tom Petty Christmas song is doing in the middle of a Clash album.

My iPodding Habits

I am very particular with my iPod.


I don't mind repeating tracks, but I can't stand the idea of there being tracks I never get around to hearing. As a result I almost never do a random play. Sometimes I'll run a Genius playlist for consistency's sake, but for the most part everything is organized for optimal listening efficiency.

I pull my tracks from my computer's library. It's a robust library, and I'm always adding to it. Obviously it's not all going to fit on my 4 gig iPod. So I organize my library chronologically and, starting from the earliest year, fit as many whole years onto the iPod as possible.

On the iPod I then play the tracks alphabetically by song title. This prevents the monotony of hearing the same artist fifteen times in a row while also providing a little bit of musical diversity. It's like a controlled randomness. And if I stop the iPod it's easy enough to remember what song I left off on.

I only ever listen to my iPod in the car, and only on drives that are 15+ minutes long. It's just what I do. As a result it takes several months to go from one end of my iPod to the other. Often times if I hop in the car, push play, and find I'm midway through a song already, I'll back it up and play it from the beginning. I'll rarely outright skip a song. Each tune gets the attention it does (or does not) deserve.

Sometimes I'll get on a radio kick and not listen to the iPod for weeks. That always sets things back a bit.

I get from the mid-50's to the late-70's in one 4 gig clump of files because there wasn't a whole lot of music during that era. Also, the music that did exist tended to be very short in length.

Clear iPod, reload.

I'm currently listening to songs spanning from the late-70's to the early-90's. Despite my love for 80's music there's not actually a whole lot of 80's music represented in my library. I suppose I relegate my 80's listening to the radio.

Clear iPod, reload.

As I progress to the current year the spans will shorten. More music made. Longer songs. By the time I get to the 2000's I'll be filling up the iPod one year at a time.

It takes over a year to go through my entire library, and by that point I've already added a truckload of new songs. And we begin again.

-------------------------------------------------------

Hey, Niels Nielsen just added a ton of new tracks. They're actually old tracks, and I haven't actually taken the time to listen to them yet, but they're probably good by virtue of the fact that they're Niels Nielsen tunes.

http://nielsnielsen.net/site/2011/06/29/sounds-from-the-past/

Moneyball: The Theatrical Trailer

Further proof that an actual Moneyball movie is being made, here is the official trailer.

Once again, for those who don't know, Moneyball: The Movie is based upon Moneyball, a book written by Michael Lewis about the Oakland Athletics' statistics-minded approach to baseball in the 1990s. You wouldn't think something like that would translate well to feature-length film, but lo!

And look! It stars Brad Pitt (who is all the reason you need to see a movie anyway), that fat guy who cusses a lot, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as an old baseball guy who apparently has no lines.

So make sure you line up early for the midnight screening! And wear your Moneyball-related costumes. I'm going as Miguel Tejada.

Here, Eat Some Free Music

Noisetrade, in their continuing efforts to exude awesomeness, have these two noteworthy things up for download:

Josh Rouse - Summertime
A 25-song sampler covering bits from several albums as well as live material and unreleased stuff.

The Civil Wars - Live at Eddy's Attic
It's the Civil Wars! Live! At Eddy's Attic!

Both are good for mellow late night listens, which is precisely what I'm doing now. Ignore the timestamp, it's 4:30 in the morning here.

There's scads of great material scattered throughout Noisetrade, and one day you should spend some time to do some musical perusing.

Your Favorite Forgotten Team

To help out a friend I've started a series about the Seattle Mariners. I completely understand if this is the most uninteresting topic in the world, but it's there if, you know, you need to read about the Mariners for some reason.

The team is as irrelevant to me as it is to you, so I'll try to keep the posts somewhat interesting.

I'll gloss over the history of the M's (mostly with regard to my growing-up years), cover some key players and key moments, and armchair analyze this season's team.

http://reallyquitemanic.blogspot.com/search/label/Mariners

Check it periodically as I intend to update it with semi-regularity (i.e. whenever the Spirit moves me).

Unwed Sailor - Oaxaca

Unwed Sailor has posted a new song. It is called "Oaxaca" and, like every Unwed Sailor song ever made, it is good and nice.



The band is also currently touring (with Owl City, of all things). I've seen them perform a couple times. Tremendous show every time.
http://www.last.fm/music/Unwed+Sailor/+events

They also added a Columbia, Missouri, date, so be sure to catch them at Mojo's on July 2nd.

If Only Dover Was A Bend

Sometimes, either because she loves me or she's trying to kill me, my wife comes home with a bag of Blair's Death Rain chips. They're kettle cooked habanero chips, and they are delicious. They will also mess you up. I've been hacking and sputtering and sneezing my way through this bag, but I can't stop eating them. Clearly they are good for me because A) zero trans fats, and B) apparently habaneros help reduce high blood pressure. Seeing as there's steam shooting out of my ears right now I would have thought blood pressure would have increased instead.

Just so you know, if you find you've accidentally put something extremely spicy in your mouth, a slice of bread works wonders. A glass of fruit punch does nothing.

---------------------------------------------

Friday the wife, baby, and I will visit Port Dover for a bit. According to Wikipedia, Port Dover was the site of an American raid. This was during the War of 1812. The raid occurred in 1814. I'm inclined to believe this war was somewhat misnamed.

Port Dover is also the site of massive motorcycle gatherings every Friday the 13th. These things attract, like, a hundred thousand people. That is not an exaggeration. Thankfully this Friday is not the 13th, so hopefully we will enjoy a nice peaceful day at the beach. I don't want to be a part of any ritualistic hippy-stompings or anything.

---------------------------------------------

Sometimes I write terrible reviews for movies that may or may not be themselves terrible. Read, if you're inclined to, May's reviews, which are The New World, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and, uh, Beauty and the Beast. I'd like to say a review of Road to Perdition is forthcoming, but I haven't even started it yet. Maybe this weekend. Probably not.

And read the other reviews by the other contributors. We're an unmotivated bunch, and maybe some site hits will get us going again.

----------------------------------------------

Chris Staples just released a five-song EP on bandcamp.
It's free to download, free to listen, and free to enjoy.
http://chrisstaples.bandcamp.com/album/faces