Miss Piggy Lunchbox

Wait a minute, this is KMFDM? This is what the mopey kids with half-shaved heads wearing safety-pinned and duct-taped jackets in 95 degree heat are so into? This is your tough, alienated music? Good lord, this is revolutionary music for five-year-olds…or at least five-year-olds who don’t mind interminable, repetitive songs.

Now I understand the KMFDM haters, though. I always assumed it was because these purveyors of faux-industrial glam metal were too dissonant. Far from it…this stuff is just too easy. You know that scene in movies where the kids who are straying from the line, or the parents trying to rescue them, enter some smoky, dark, cement-filled nightclub with a bunch of scary people in it and you’re all confused because there’s a mismatch of about seven different youth countercultures in one club and the music that’s playing is obviously intended to scare parents but it wouldn’t be played in any kind of nightclub of this size? Yeah, that’s exactly what KMFDM sounds like, with the occasional addition of relentless, super fast drumming á la early Metallica.

Okay, but the KMFDM haters are missing something, and that’s that this kind of silliness can be enjoyable if you don’t take it too seriously. Just sit back, get blisteringly drunk, crank up the rockin’, and enjoy the ride. That still doesn’t explain the August jacket-wearers, who I think may be missing the whole point.

Is this one big ironic joke? Probably not, but since I’m feeling benevolent today I’ll give the band the benefit of the doubt. After all, there’s more than one way to read these lyrics from “Beast”: “I exploit and abuse/I am total chaos/Strange and abstruse/I don’t make sense/I got my pride/Don’t need no meaning/I feel no shame.”

Like I said, this has its moments, particularly if you’re looking to drink heavily and let off some steam. The highlight is “Disobedience,” which clocks in at a refreshingly short 3:27 and, after its dull opening, features a strut-worthy cowboy cock rock guitar riff and some really cool horn licks.

All of which still doesn’t explain the mopey youth fan base. Since I’m not feeling benevolent today I’ll simply ascribe to them a desire to scare, alienate, and/or remain alienated from their parents without listening to music that makes them try anything new.

Rating:

Keepers: “Flesh,” “Search & Destroy,” “Disobedience”
Filed Between: Kiss (Double Platinum) and KMTT New Music Sampler 2005

I got this two-disc set for Mahler’s eighth symphony, more often referred to as the Symphony of a Thousand since it premieried with 171 instrumentalists and a chorus of about 850. It’s a monster-sized symphony and widely regarded as one of the canonical pieces that would influence, directly and indirectly, most other 20th century classical pieces. The eighth’s reputation is well deserved, as I’ve never heard anything quite like it, however I came away from this recording more enamored with Mahler’s fourth symphony.

The fourth premiered in 1901 and is simultaneously gorgeous, unpredictable, and immediately accessible. Its four movements hold tight to traditional symphonic form. The main themes are comfortably tonic, but Mahler’s development of them introduces touches of dissonance here and there that bring an air of excitedness to modern ears. The list of symphonies I’m familiar with is very short, but this is almost certainly my favorite of that small bunch.

The lengthy eighth symphony is accompanied by a chorus nearly thoughout its entire 80 minutes. It is divided into two parts and, by its extensive use of vocal soloists, is reminiscent of cantatas from centuries earlier. The eighth is a difficult, challenging listen. I’m talking straight from Algebra to Calculus hard. This symphony will make you feel stupid…honestly, I think it’s very similar brain patterns to that lost-in-math-class feeling.

Like all challenging music, it sounds better if you’re paying attention to it rather than focusing on some other task while it’s playing in the background. The first part is bold proclamations layered upon bold proclamations topped with even bolder proclamations. It places a strong emphasis on choral harmonies and themes, especially prior to the wacky, Debussy-esque orchestral interlude midway through. The last nine minutes are fabulously majestic.

The second part uses the text from the final scene of Goethe’s Faust, complete with choruses of angels, blessed boys, younger angels, penitents, “more perfect angels.” The first 14 minutes are quite enjoyable. It contrasts with the first part by starting slowly and quietly, with a lone, trembling violin and continues in dramatic, suspenseful fashion. The final 10 minutes, with their glorious climax, are brilliant. I defy you to listen to that many choral members sing the praises of pagan gods and not come away spiritually moved. The 36 minutes or so in the middle, though, are quite ponderous and dense. I’m talking four-dimensional geometry from a translated Soviet-era textbook hard. You’ll walk away from this part not quite sure what you just heard, whether you understood it, or whether there was really anything to understand, but convinced that there was definitely a lot of something there.

The sound on these recordings from the 1980’s is amazing. The performances are note perfect and every participant can be heard clearly. If I close my eyes I can see all 1000 performers crammed into my office.

Rating:

Keepers: Symphony 4, Movements 1, 2, and 4, Symphony 8, Part 1: “Veni, Creator Spiritus,” “Imple superna gratia,” “Veni, Creator Spiritus” (again), “Gloria Patria Domino,” Part 2: “Waldung sie schwankt heran,” “Uns bleibt ein Erdenrest,” “Blicket auf zum Retterblick,” “Alles Vergängliche”
Filed Between: Made In MN—Everything From A To Z (a two-disc Minnesota music sampler put out by Best Buy) and Main Stage Live—Falcon Ridge Folk Festival

In Rainbows will be forever known as the album for whose mp3 files Radiohead let you pay what you wanted, but it’s a shame because they really outdid themselves this time. This is one for the ages. Given their exceptional past, I didn’t think they would be able to push things even further, but somehow they pulled it off. Just take a look at that cover art…that is almost certainly the ugliest CD of all time.

Musically I could probably put my review of Hail To The Thief here. Aside from the peaks of the end of “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” and all of ““All I Need,” this album is pretty much start-to-finish mood setters, with little actually in the way of songs that end in a different place than where they started.

It’s like the band used up all their emotional bandwidth shortly after the turn of the century but still had some songwriting chops left, so decided to keep working on that output. Who knows…maybe everything sounds more novel when you don’t try to inhale a band’s 15-year discography in only a few months.

This is about as good as Hail To The Thief, and probably even breaks less new ground that that one did. There isn’t a second on here you’d be surprised to hear from Radiohead. I can’t really explain, then, why this gets four lunchboxes to Hail’s three-and-a-half beyond just entertaining the possibility that I was simply too hard on that one, which is probably the case.

Rating:

Mixer: “All I Need”
Non-keeper: “Bodysnatchers”
Filed Between: Hail To The Thief and Ramones (Ramones)

Instructions:
1) Stop whatever you are doing.
2) Buy, borrow, or steal Jump, Little Children’s 1998 album, Magazine.
3) Listen to it.
4) Experience elation.

I’ve listened to some fantastic albums this year, but it’s hard to think of one that has a leg up on Magazine for MPL’s Album of the Year. There is not one note out of place on this entire, perfect disc. It’s accessible (I liked every song the first time I heard it), but also has depth (I’ve listened to it probably over 10 times now and it just keeps getting better.) It has just the right combination of ballads and rockers and every perfectly assembled song could easily be the next one stuck in your head. Emphatic vocals soar over driving guitars and some of the tightest drumming you’ve ever heard while strings round out the emotional palette that isn’t filled by the brilliant lyrics. And just when you think the song’s topped out, in comes a bridge carefully crafted to fit in seamlessly but also give the tune a welcome bit of spice. It’s a little bit pop, a little bit punk, and all rawk

I want to make out with this band. Magazine is my new favorite album, and “Say Goodnight” is the best song ever. You know it’s a good album when I hardly have anything to say about it.

Meanwhile, I have my own set of instructions to follow now:
1) Find friends who don’t let a decade go by before introducing me to music this good.

If I were king, withholding information like this would be a felony.

Rating:

Mixers: “Violent Dreams,” “Come Out Clean,” “Cathedrals,” “My Guitar,” “B-13,” ““Say Goodnight”
Keepers: everything else
Filed Between: Judgment Night Soundtrack and Kaada (Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time)

You haven’t lived until you’ve had hot dog bun French toast.

It tastes even worse than you’d think.

That package of buns is three dollars I just can’t give up on.

Today’s post is brought to you by the last week of the quarter.  I’m sure you understand.

If you want an explanation of our annual renewing of our vows on our anniversary, you can follow the meme back through the years, starting with last year’s.

What a great anniversary this year, as My Baby surprised me with a dinner at Ray’s Boathouse.  Proving that she really understands me, she made the surprise brilliant by setting my expectations that we were going to go work out.  Going from a workout to a delicious dinner is about the widest swing from low expectations to high enjoyment that you could get.

Anyway, on to the vows, with this year’s addition bolded.

Baby,
I promise you that I will always be the things that made you fall in love with me: honest and transparent, funny and witty, open-minded and creative, adoring.
I promise you i will never stop pampering and courting you.
I promise you will always be my muse, and I will draw daily inspiration from you.  I promise to return the favor by trying to inspire you daily.
I promise to work on being a better husband: to talk to you, to tell you what I’m feeling, and to engage in continual self-evaluation.
I promise to prioritize us, without sacrificing you or me.  I promise to always make room for us in my life, and to make sure you know when I think we need to adjust to get to the right level of us in both of our lives.
I promise to try to love the things about you that are just in your nature, such as the telltale hair monster left behind everywhere you’ve been.
I promise to make a fuss over you when you’re sick, to love you and support you and take your side when you’ve had a bad day.  I promise to listen to you tell me about your bad day and to refrain from giving you unsolicited solutions.
I promise that I will do my best to learn how we are as one, and to take into account how my mood and actions affect you.
I promise to try to recover quickly from disagreements.  I promise to do my best to stay on the high road.  And I promise to forgive and forget mistakes said and done in the heat of the moment.
I promise to be stubbornly filled with determined, creative solutions to the most gridlocked, vexing situations.
I promise you that I will help you and support you to achieve your dreams.  And I promise that, with your support, I will pursue my mine as well.  I promise never to stop taking new risks and adventures with you.
I promise you physical, emotional, and mental fidelity.  I promise that you will always be my baby that i adore completely with my mind, body, and soul, and i promise to trust that you adore me as well.
And above all, baby, I promise to be always on your team.  And I will do my best to make our team the envy of every other team at the party of life.

Honestly, I don’t want to talk about the Pacific Northwest’s climate this much, but events keep popping up that I am forced to address. Today’s post just wrote itself, and I’ll kind of be surprised if there’s power in the house when I want to post it.

First, there’s this headline in the Seattle PI: “Downpour tonight, summer scheduled for next week.”  Actually, the headline, and much of the article, now reads differently, as Seattle’s shadow government decided Seattle couldn’t handle the truth and executed this reporter.  However, here are some excerpts from that article as it read originally.

The National Weather Service calls the heavy rain, colder air and gusty winds dousing Western Washington and the Seattle area “a powerful storm more typical of autumn.”

[several paragraphs about how bad it will be]

Given the seeming space-time shift from hot August to wet November in the past few days, some wonder, Will we still have a summer left?

Remembering that the local summer and growing season was shortened by the coldest and gloomiest start to June since records have been kept, when snowplows were called out to open the mountain passes, the short answer to the question:

Yeah.

“We still have hopefully another month of summer with a little interruption for the next couple of days — it will get people ready for fall earlier,” said Art Gaebel, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Seattle’s Sand Point neighborhood.

…

“It is unusual,” Gaebel said of the autumn preview. “Summer will be back, hopefully by next week.”

[lots of disaster-preparedness stuff.]

That just speaks for itself.

Oh, and here’s the forecast for next week, you know, when summer will be back after only two or three days of unseasonably chilly rain:

And in case that’s not enough, here’s a picture from campus yesterday.

That’s right, on August 19th Canadian Geese on on the autumnal flight south.  Argue with that, Seattlusionals.  It’s undeniable: This is Year Without A Summer Part Two.  It’s actually probably part Seventy-Five, but I’ve only been around to document one personally and another from press reports from what is probably another dead reporter.

Aida is one of opera’s three or four most popular works, and is easily Verdi’s most well known effort. I can’t quite figure out why.

Maybe it’s the through-composed nature of it. Verdi is almost Wagnerian here in his integration of melodic elements with narrative-driving recitative. Set pieces, be they arias or duets, are present, though they aren’t set apart as much as they usually are, even in Verdi, who did it less than his bel canto counterparts like Donizetti and Bellini. That still doesn’t quite explain this opera’s popularity, though, since I think audiences typically like the set-apart pieces that can be fit onto a “highlights” disc.

This Wagnerian situation is exacerbated on this recording, which exhibits bad track segmentation. There are several parts of the opera I wanted to keep on my DMP, but eventually didn’t because the pretty melody parts weren’t often separated from their relatively dull set-ups. This isn’t consciously reflected in my evaluation of this recording, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it subtly affected my judgment. This recording does sound magnificent, though, as it pushes my stereo to its limits. Stereo manufacturers should send out this CD free of charge, as it’s nearly got me headed to the nearest high-end audio store for a serious upgrade.

I’m also surprised by the opera’s popularity due to the non-prettiness of the set pieces that are there. They’re good, but they just don’t seem to embody pretty in the way audiences seem to prefer. Again, we see more harmonic experimentation, sublime melodies, and either repressed or downright distraught emotion á la Wagner. Wagner’s popular, but not in the same circles as Aida is, hence my surprise.

Maybe it’s the jingoism. There is no shortage of calls to war, displays of regal power, or triumphant war marches throughout these four acts, especially the first two. (If Verdi isn’t the composer of Italy’s national anthem, it’s a shame.) Nobody wrote for chorus as well as Verdi did, and he resorts to his favorite device often here. Normally bombastic fanfares of this sort, while initially grabbing, don’t hold up to repeated listens. Those of Aida are beyond tolerable, however, just sliding into the realm of enjoyable. In fact, the highlight of the entire opera is the war prepration that closes act one. Again, though, these pieces are not pretty, per se, and I never hear opera critics praising bold, orchestral proclamations of this sort, so Aida’s popularity is still a curiosity for me.

Maybe it’s the story, which is fairly unique, especially given that it is an opera. The dilemma of Aida, an Ethiopian slave of an Egyptian princess (Amneris), is that she and her mistress both love the commander of the Egyptian army (Radamés), who is at war with the king of Ethiopia (Amosasro), who is, of course, Aida’s fathe. Yes, it is contrived, but at least it’s unusual. Radamés loves Aida in return, but he also loves his country, of course, and the contradictoy nature of the characters’ motives provides endless material for extrapolation. It culminates in a wonderfully compelling final act where even the audience is left in the dark until the very end about what happens to our heroine, resolved in yet another original twist. The story is probably the best explanation for this opera’s popularity.

That and its consistency. The triumphal march and ballet are both surprisingly quite good, and even fairly well integrated into the story. Even while there’s not much to gush over, there’s also not much to harshly criticize. Aida is Verdi clearly influenced by his contemporary Wagner, and I think he makes the case for Wagner going full out in what he did. If you’re going to move to that style, you’d better be prepared to go all the way, even if you end up offending the delicate sensitivies of opera goers who want pretty. Otherwise it ends up as a bit of a mediocre effort. But then, I’m clearly in the minority on this one, so what do I know?

Rating:

Keepers: “Celeste Aida,” “Su! Del Nilo al sacro lido,” “Possente, possente Fthá,” “Nume, custode e vindice,” “Pietá ti prenda del mio dolor,” “Su! Del Nilo al sacro lido” (again), “Ballet,” “Vieni, o guerriero vindice,” “Il dolor che in quell volta favella,” “O patria mia,” “Rivedrai le foreste imbalsamate,” “Nel fiero anelito di nuova guerra,” “Fuggiam gli ardori inospiti…Lá, tra foreste vergini,” “A lui vivo, la tomba!,” “La fatal pietra sovra me si chiuse,” “O terra, addio”
Filed Between: Verdi’s Don Carlo (cond. Guilini, perf. Domingo, Caballé, Verrett, Milnes, Ambrosian Opera Chorus) and Otello (cond. Serafin, perf. Vickers, Rysanek, Gobbi, Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus)

In July Dairy Queen offered the world a glimpse of nirvana: the Thin Mint Blizzard. And not in Girl Scout cookie season, no less.

My question: Why was the country not abuzz about this phenomenon non-stop? Honestly, after SP20, what was there left in life to waste breath talking about? Why was I not able to walk out onto the street and insert myself into a conversation about this delicacy?

We managed to find a DQ (one of the ways in which Seattle is inferior to the Twin Cities is the dearth of DQs here) in Redmond and here are some pictures from our glorious, ecstatic time in heaven. It tastes as good as you think it would.