by Carrie Brownstein

Thursday Treasure Hunt, Part 3

It's time for the third installment of Thursday Treasure Hunt. If you are so inclined, please respond if you fall into one or more of the following categories. If you do choose to respond, please provide a brief explanation, if necessary. Thanks.

You are engaged
You are recently heartbroken
You are a recent heartbreaker
You sold a car this past year
You purchased a car this past year
You ride public transportation to work
You used to be vegan
You used to be vegetarian
You used to eat meat
You own an iPhone
You own a Blackberry
You have a land line
You haven't been to a show or concert this summer
You have traveled out of state to see music this summer
You bought a band T-shirt at a concert this summer
You've cried at a show
You have a catchphrase
You have a nickname
You have a secret handshake with at least one friend
You sign most of your emails with a variation of "XO"
You sign most of your emails with "Best"
Your gut feeling tells you that John McCain will be the next president
Your gut feeling tells you that Barack Obama will be the next president
After watching both the RNC and the DNC, you're confused as to which party actually represents change
You were impressed by Sarah Palin's speech at the RNC
You sort of wish Obama had made a bolder choice for his VP
You think a Prius is as annoying a symbol as a Hummer
You went camping this summer
You played hackysack this summer
You made fun of people who played hackysack this summer
At one point in your life, you dressed like or styled your hair like your favorite rock star
You're going to school this fall
You live in a dorm
You sleep on a futon
You sleep on a California King
You have owned a waterbed in your lifetime
You wore a trenchcoat in high school
You are growing a beard or mustache
You have had to defend your love of The Doors
You have had to defend your love of Rush
You've never flown on a plane
You don't know how to drive a stick shift
You can't stand the sound of Joni Mitchell's voice
You can't stand the sound of Bob Dylan's voice
You have written poetry about a band or musician
You live next door to people who have different political beliefs than you do
You have made a mix CD for someone in the last year
You can't remember the last time you saw a movie in a movie theatre
You've had your entire CD or record collection stolen

Tags: EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING

2:43 AM ET | 09- 4-2008 | permalink | comments (107) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

Offense Is The Best Defense

I'll be the first to admit that it's hard to be a music blogger sometimes, particularly when the most fascinating tidbits aren't coming from the music world. For example, you spend the weekend talking with your friends about Sarah Palin and about how annoying it is that anyone would think that women are dumb enough to vote for her because of her gender. Then it turns out that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, and that she has to marry the father of the baby! Somehow, the release of a new Metallica single doesn't inspire the same sense of shock and awe. All you can think now is how the best reason to not vote for John McCain is to spare Bristol Palin and Levi Johnson (the baby's father) the pain of having to get married. If only Bristol Palin were also in a band, I would have so much more to add.

Alas, the only thing I have to tie together politics and music is that my post titled "Battle of the Bands" garnered me an invite from Mike Huckabee to see a performance by his band, Capitol Offense, at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul this week. Sadly, NPR would not cover the cost of that plane ticket -- and believe me, I inquired.

Here's an excerpt from the email I received:

Carrie, After reading your article "Battle Of The Bands," Governor Huckabee asked me to contact you. We would like to offer you an invitation to attend our party "a little straight rock" on Tuesday night, September 2nd, where you can hear Josh Turner, and then the Governor's band, Capitol Offense with a special performance by Jeff Cook. Please let me know if you are interested.

!!!

I can't deny it; I was very excited to get this note. It certainly beat out the invite I received a few months back to attend a benefit put on by Nicole Richie. (NPR wouldn't fork over money for that trip, either.) Plus, it's not every day that I can forward something to my father as proof that people are actually reading my blog. Note to Dad: Mike Huckabee, or someone close to him, is reading my blog; are you?

Aside from the novelty of the Huckabee invite, and my genuine interest in going so that I could write about the experience, the situation also presented me with a strange conundrum. What if I don't like Mike Huckabee's band? I know what you're thinking -- that I could never like Capitol Offense. But maybe I would. After all, there are times when I am in the mood for a Steppenwolf cover.

Potentially disliking Capitol Offense is not really on the same level as not liking a friend's band. I've sure we've all experienced this on one level or another -- that awkward moment when you go to a friend's art show, concert or poetry reading, and you realize that you might have to outright lie. They ask, "Did you like it"? (First of all, why would anyone ask that?) And then you don't want to, but you hear yourself lying, "Yes." It feels awful.

Now, with Capitol Offense, I might never know.

Mike Huckabee, please let me know when your band comes to Portland, okay?

Tags: CAPITOL OFFENSE | MIKE HUCKABEE | SARAH PALIN

2:45 AM ET | 09- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (17) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

1980s Music Part 1 (It Wasn't All Bad)

Below is a video accompaniment to the post about 1980s music, which you can read here.

BAD BRAINS

X

MINOR THREAT

DEAD KENNEDYS

HUSKER DU (Interview)

MARINE GIRLS

FELT

DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS (Before their '80s hit, "Come On Eileen")

BEAT HAPPENING

Tags: 1980s MUSIC | AMERICAN HARDCORE | PUNK ROCK

5:50 PM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

1980s Music Part 2 (It Wasn't All Bad)

Here are some videos/music from some of the bands mentioned in the post about 80's music. The majority of these groups are from New Zealand. The others hail from Australia, Scotland, and England.

THE CHILLS

THE CHURCH

THE BATS

THE CLEAN

THE VERLAINES

DOLLY MIXTURE

LOOK BLUE GO PURPLE

FIRE ENGINES

JOSEF K

ORANGE JUICE

Tags: 1980S MUSIC | DUNEDIN SOUND | FLYING NUN RECORDS

5:38 PM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

Was It Really That Bad?

Yesterday, Monitor Mix teamed up with the NPR Music dream team (Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton and Stephen Thompson) to discuss the music of the 1980s. I wanted to fill you in on the discussion in the hopes you might have something to add.

The whole thing started when the All Songs Considered blog conducted a poll asking people to choose the best year for music. It turns out that hardly anyone chose a single year from the '80s. Sure, when compared to the musical juggernauts of 1969, 1977 or 1991, the '80s might not fare so well. But were they really that bad?

The first thing that comes to mind for me, when considering '80s music, is nostalgia. As Stephen pointed out yesterday, we were barely into the 1990s before people were ready to look back. From new-wave-themed dance nights to John Hughes retrospectives, the desire to recapture the look and sound of the '80s continues to this day. And despite a tacit agreement that the musical production values were cheesy -- a veritable act of sonic sterilization -- most of us can't help but want to dance when we hear Depeche Mode or Duran Duran, and Bon Jovi or Great White can be heard at any given karaoke bar seven nights a week. For those of a certain age, nostalgia for the '80s has overridden decency to such an extent that what might have started as an act of irony has shifted toward genuine affection. (For more on this, wait for Robin Hilton's contribution to next Tuesday's show.)

Yet, nostalgia aside, when asked to think back on '80s music, I found plenty to love -- maybe because what I appreciate about the '80s has very little to do with my own experiences. (Which, to be honest, consisted of ass-grabbing slow dances to Expose and El DeBarge songs in junior-high, and wanting to tear the shirt off Jordan Knight at a New Kids on the Block concert.)

Though I certainly credit the '80s with advancing my love of music via MTV and large doses of Casey Kasem, I don't think they did much to advance my taste in good music. After the decade ended, however, I discovered that those years were actually full of vital and incendiary underground music scenes. From The Replacements, Husker Du and Soul Asylum in Minneapolis to the hardcore scenes of Boston, DC and LA; from Olympia, Athens and Glasgow to the sparks of brilliance emanating from New Zealand via Flying Nun Records and from the UK on Cherry Red Records, many artists and communities waged tiny battles against the grandiosity and excesses taking up the radio waves. Even if the music wasn't meant as an intentional "f--- you" to the mainstream (though some of it was), these scenes managed to produce sounds -- unlike a lot of Top 40 music from the '80s -- that sonically and melodically stands the test of time.

Perhaps it's no coincidence that the best music from the '80s, despite a few exceptions, was not the popular music. In a decade that predates the Internet -- that wonderfully democratizing technology that conflates underground and mainstream by making both obsolete -- there were plenty of unknowns, or barely knowns. If you weren't in a big city or a major media center, your access to new music came in the form of fanzines, word of mouth or, if you were lucky, a college radio station. But a lot of the aforementioned scenes remained insular, an isolation that likely helped them avoid the pitfalls and influence of that horrendously plastic '80s sound.

So when I think of the '80s now, I think of the mainstream music as a giant neon sign that's alluring, obnoxious and certainly hard to ignore; it never seems to fade out completely. And those underground or punk bands -- Felt, Orange Juice, The Chills, The Clean, The Verlaines, Tall Dwarfs, The Bats, Delta 5, Bush Tetras, Beat Happening, The Church, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Black Flag, X, Social Distortion, The Misfits, JFA and countless others -- were small fires set in countless cities around the globe. Maybe they weren't big enough to join forces and overtake the status quo -- the way bands did in '69, '77 and '91 -- but they were certainly bright enough to keep a spark alive until some other artist came along who knew how to set the place on fire.

What do you think of when it comes to '80s music? Would you include a year or moment from the '80s as one of your all time musical favorites? Or, despite the presence of U2, REM, Prince, and the Talking Heads among others, have cheesy hair-metal and over-produced pop songs ruined music's reputation from that decade?

And make sure to check back to the NPR Music site to hear our discussion on All Songs Considered. It goes online Tuesday.

Tags: 1980s Music

5:25 PM ET | 08-27-2008 | permalink | comments (63) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

Juvenilia

Last week, I received an interesting suggestion for a post. I was asked to ponder whether one's relationship to music -- either strictly as a fan or as both a fan and a musician -- keeps one in a delayed or perennial state of adolescence.

So, does music keep us young? And is that a good thing?

My initial reaction is that there's an inherent immaturity to the notion of fandom. Being a fan, sometimes an obsessive one, entails anticipation. And hardly anything is more apt to make you feel like a kid than awaiting the arrival of something -- a show, an album release, the ability to start sharing new songs and your opinion of them with your friends. Anticipation is for the youthful; it's the antithesis of cynicism and apathy, because it implies a world sprawled out ahead of you. As music fans, we harness that anticipation, that eagerness; we drink it down like an elixir, which sates us until the next moment of discovery.

From anticipation comes enthusiasm, also an infectious characteristic associated with the young. Enthusiasm wears down the curmudgeons. Even if your own opinion of an artist has become coupled with a large dose of skepticism, it's difficult not to be lifted and renewed in the face of blind adoration.

Yet the aforementioned are abstract reasons why music keeps us young. There's more tangible evidence, as well. Not everyone in your age group or in your office is currently constructing a mix based on the words "north," "east," "south" and "west" and laboring over the space in between songs. Nor does everyone think that a mix CD is pro forma on a third date, that pulling the car over to talk about a drummer's snare sound constitutes a safe driving maneuver, and that arguing about Beatles vs. Stones only to compromise with The Kinks sounds like a fun evening. And other people might not agree that working as a barista or waiter so that you can go on tour whenever you want represents a stable or mature existence. Let's face it: To the outside world, fandom might look like it's keeping us locked in, or even stuck, as opposed to being the one thing that keeps us feeling sane, free, inspired and alive.

For most of us, our love of music isn't getting in the way of work, family and relationships. At least I hope not. I'm not a therapist. I don't know what to tell you if you keep breaking up with people because they've never heard of Os Mutantes or Scott Walker. Nor do I have advice for you if your marriage is on the rocks because you'd rather see The Hold Steady than have dinner with the in-laws.

It's a delicate balance, for sure, between puerility and youthfulness. But music fandom is not so much a roadblock to adulthood as it is a bridge between our young selves and our current selves. It's a steadiness to counter instability. Music keeps fluidity in our lives as we try to buck up against rigidity. Does this make us immature? Sometimes. But maybe that's not such a bad thing.

Tags: DOES MUSIC KEEP US YOUNG?

2:35 PM ET | 08-25-2008 | permalink | comments (26) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

MM Meets D2D

Just a heads up that I'll be reading a version of the "Battle of the Bands" blog post tomorrow, Friday, on NPR's Day to Day.

Tags: BATTLE OF THE BANDS | DAY TO DAY

6:39 PM ET | 08-21-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

Battle Of The Bands

If I mentioned that I was about to see the recently reunited band Rage Against the Machine play a show that featured the legendary Wayne Kramer (MC5) on guitar, you'd likely wonder what music festival I would soon be attending. We've gotten used to expecting stellar and surprising line-ups at any number of summer music events, who up the ante each year by bringing back My Bloody Valentine or Slint, or who get Sonic Youth to play Daydream Nation in its entirety.

But those fans lucky enough to see Kramer shred, Motor City-style, along with the agitprop rock of Tom Morello and Zack de la Rocha's Rage won't be at a music festival. No, they'll be playing during the week of the upcoming political conventions. With Cold War Kids, Silversun Pickups, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Moby and Death Cab for Cutie, the conventions sound as if they could be Coachella or Lollapalooza.

It might have something to do with Barack Obama. It's no secret that Obama has great taste in music, liking everyone from Kanye West to Wilco, and artists have made playing his rallies and benefits comparable in importance to, say, performing on Letterman -- or, in this day and age, getting a lot of hits on YouTube. So it's no surprise that the Democratic National Convention is chock full of eager and earnest acts, each there to lend support not just musically, but also politically, because they actually believe in the candidate.

So, you're probably wondering, who's playing the Republican National Convention? Well, brace yourself: It's The Beach Boys and The Charlie Daniels Band. Okay, there are some younger acts, too: Leann Rimes and Smash Mouth. Remember their song "All Star"? And, if you're lucky, you might catch Mike Huckabee's band, Capitol Offense, also playing that week.

Alas, I guess I wasn't expecting the Republican convention or John McCain, ABBA enthusiast that he is, to magically wrangle the indie bands Arcade Fire or Fleet Foxes. But still, he could have tried to get ABBA to reunite; that would have generated some excitement and garnered McCain some respect among drag queens, my parents and other ABBA fans.

But then I remembered that ABBA themselves are actually upset at McCain for using their songs at his rallies. If the RNC and DNC were a talent show, the DNC would be kicking proverbial butt. The problem is that a lot of hip young artists just aren't lining up behind McCain, unless you count American Idol alumnus Kim Caldwell. Who? Something tells me that her loyalty to McCain may not be the driving force behind her decision to play. Hey, you take exposure where you can get it.

I want this battle of the bands to be more evenly matched, so I'm going to dole out some advice: There is a golden opportunity here for a new, up-and-coming band composed of young Republicans. Form today, call the McCain campaign tomorrow and use the Republican National Convention as your launch pad to success. Your main competition, as it stands right now, is the song "Kokomo" and the former Arkansas governor on bass. No contest. You'll have a record deal by the end of the week.

Right now, the difference between the acts at the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention are as different as, well, the candidates themselves. And maybe that's the intention.

So I think I have to root for the underdog on this one. The RNC is the sparsely attended local festival -- the band at the farmers market -- while the DNC is Bonnaroo or Central Park Summer Stage. Unstoppable. I might have to go to St. Paul to help The Beach Boys out. So go ahead and have fun at that other, cooler music festival in Denver. I'll be Surfin USA at the RNC in St. Paul.

Tags: DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION | DNC | MUSIC AT POLITICAL CONVENTIONS | REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION | RNC

3:10 PM ET | 08-20-2008 | permalink | comments (38) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

And Your Word Can Sing

Today, I'd like to introduce a new feature on Monitor Mix.

It combines two of my favorite things: music and vocabulary. I can't guarantee consistency or regularity with this feature; as with anything on this blog, it's dependent on my vicissitudes.

Basically, I'll pick a word -- one I like, one I can't stand people using incorrectly, or one we just don't see enough of in musical contexts -- and you can help by picking artists or bands who best embody this word. If nothing else, we might find new ways of describing the music we love or hate. Plus, the only thing worse than a music snob is a music snob who's also supercilious; who uses grandiloquent terms when in fact a pedestrian word would have done the trick. So we'll keep that in mind as we proceed.

Today's word is: "Nonplussed."

I love this word, but nearly everyone I know misuses it. I often hold my tongue when friends use it as a synonym for "ambivalent" or "unenthusiastic." I suppose it's an easy mistake; the word certainly sounds like it should mean "not excited." Well, it doesn't. Nonplussed means confused. Here's "nonplus," according to Merriam-Webster:

Function: noun
Etymology: Latin non plus no more
Date: 1582
Definition: a state of bafflement or perplexity

Function: transitive verb
Inflected form(s): nonplussed, nonplused, nonplussing, nonplusing
Definition: cause to be at a loss as to what to say, think, or do

There are plenty of baffling and perplexing bands out there, wouldn't you agree? But who is the most nonplussing of them all?

Tags: MUSIC DESCRIPTIONS | MUSIC SNOBS | VOCABULARY

2:54 PM ET | 08-18-2008 | permalink | comments (69) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)

 

Shadowplay

Recently, I watched Control, the Anton Corbijn film about Joy Division's Ian Curtis. The film is shot in black-and-white, which does everything to preserve the images one has about the group: colorless and of another time; as if the band, even while it existed, had never truly been accessible, barely existing beyond filmic lore. It's always hard to watch a film whose sadness permeates before the opening shot is revealed. There's a sense of heaviness to committing oneself to watch a movie that can only have one inevitable ending.

Yet despite that, and likely due to Control's magnificent performances, I couldn't help but be dragged into the life and into the living, breathing man who was Ian Curtis, making his onscreen death actually seem unbelievable. I pointlessly and pitifully hoped for a Hollywood ending -- some Spielberg rendition wherein Ian Curtis is alive, working on soundtracks, writing poetry and prepping a reunion tour.

What I loved most about the movie was that it reminded me what a punk band Joy Division was. In the days following my viewing of Control, I kept the group's records on my turntable, the songs strange and strained. When I think about Joy Division's music, I think mostly of their legacy, their successors and their sphere of influence. And that makes me think of them as more fully formed than they really were. But hearing their music again, it has the unpolished and unsure footing of early outings. It isn't immature so much as splendidly unhindered.

Watch Joy Division in color:

What is it about those bands that break up after one album, or whose output is cut short by tragedy? They capture our imaginations in a way much different than the living, than the still-existing, than the stories whose chapters continue to unfold. What constitutes fleeting: one album? Two? None at all? Those early and untimely leavers disappoint us much less often --beyond, of course, the ultimate betrayal of being gone in the first place. It's nearly impossible not to wonder what the evolution would have been; how the music would have progressed. Maybe, sadly, nowhere, or at least nowhere more beautiful. But we'll never know. I suppose films like Control partially exist to both remind us what was and what could have been, and to remember to appreciate what, thankfully, still is.

Tags: ANTON CORBIJN | IAN CURTIS | JOY DIVISION

1:28 PM ET | 08-13-2008 | permalink | comments (30) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0)