Blogcritics Author: Particleman

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Concert Review: Ben Folds Live in Houston, 11/18/05

Particleman — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 13:32:28 EST

Ben Folds brought his three-man show to Numbers last month and put on a set over an hour and a half long, spanning material dating back to the mid-90s. He played old ones. He played new ones. He played new ones that were written in sound check two weeks prior. He even played Brick, which is one of those songs you figure an artist would never play again.Michael Benning's review of Folds' latest release, Songs For Silverman, is spot on, and should be used as a framework for this review. The songs on Silverman are not standard Folds fare - that is, they are not dripping with sarcasm, filled with high-school social observations, or laden with innocuous middle-class-white-male cursing. They're more mature (boring?) and translate accordingly in a live setting.He did try to spice them up, however. After playing Jesusland (track 3 on Silverman), Folds told us they should have "dumbed-down" the production of the new album and the recording should have gone something like this: and then he launched into a version of Jesusland you might hear on, oh, church TV. This new rendition poked fun at large-scale televised worship and the crowd ate it up. The sarcasm was in full effect.But of course most of the jump-up-and-down entertainment came from older tunes. Folds went solo with his piano in the middle of the set and played several songs, one of which was Army. In place of the trombones on the record, he split the audience in half and directed us in classic choir form to sing bah-bah-bah in unison. He also did something similar on Not The Same, teasing both halves of the audience by having them start and stop in the middle of their part.Other highlights included a Dr. Dre song called Bitches Aint Shit, a la sleazy Vegas lounge music. The kids in the audience got an earful. Narcolepsy showed up near the end of the set and nearly blew the sound-system. Much of the song calls for the repeated bashing of cymbals and the speakers had a hard time keeping up with Ben banging on his piano. The quiet/loud structure of the song lent itself well to the stage. The encore closer was, much to my surprise, One Angry Dwarf. If they didn't blow the sound-system on Narcolepsy, One Angry Dwarf certainly let us know Ben could still be loud. And that's really what we want to see, anyway. Mature Ben reflecting on life as an adult and parent may be suitable for relaxing at home, but when it comes to a live show, I want to see him hammer that piano like he was still a 20-something guy with something to prove.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

Mirah - C'mon Miracle

Particleman — Tue, 8 Feb 2005 00:00:21 EST

One of my new favorites is "C'mon Miracle" by Mirah. I was sitting around studying and finally got around to giving this album a try. So, with headphones and laptop at the ready, I dumped all the tracks into Windows Media Player and listened.During those thirty-five or so minutes, I did about three minutes of real, actual work. I was dumbfounded. Mirah is awesome. Her voice commands attention - it's like she's whispering thoughts into your ear that you're sure you've thought at least once in your life. The songwriting is solid; there is no verse-chorus-verse-bridge-whatever humdrum repetition. She really gets creative with the song structures. And then there is the instrumentation: she goes from classical guitar, to piano, to a harp-sounding thing, to grungy guitar, and back again. And there is some Latin influence as well. There's wasn't a dull moment on the album.If you're looking for a musical reference, think PJ Harvey, Fiona Apple, Juliana Hatfield, and Tori Amos. Of course this really doesn't do her justice, but it's a start.There's also an interview with Mirah on The Morning News.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

Prague by Arthur Phillips

Particleman — Mon, 26 Jul 2004 11:54:48 EDT

Finished Prague by Arthur Phillips last night. I burned through the first half, slogged through the third quarter, and regained some interest at the ending.The book lost steam after the halfway point because characters started abruptly disappearing [desertion, marriage, whatever] which, combined with a series of conflicts and goals apparently coming to resolution, made for a vacant second half of the story. The characters themselves were interesting enough to hold my attention, though. There were a few surprises but also a few gimmies.One thing that bugged me was Phillips' repeated use of the same observation. He mentions how a character, deep in thought at a cafe, swirls his beverage and stares at the film of liquid left on the mugs' interior. While this is kind of a cool observation to mention, it's only cool once.Oh yeah, and don't let the book's title fool you. The story is set in Budapest [just after the Wall came down]. The characters only have this nagging feeling that life in Prague is better [they're probably right].Overall, my favorite part of the book was the writing. The narrator and several of the characters have that wry and biting sense of humor that always puts a smile on my face. There were a lot of funny moments that had me laughing out loud. If you like Kundera, give this book a shot.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

Katie Melua's Missing One Thing

Particleman — Fri, 2 Jul 2004 17:17:55 EDT

Listening to Call Off the Search once was borderline dull. Listening to it a second time was a chore. It won't get a third spin. I cannot fault this album for anything: the arrangements are good, the instrumentation works, the production is smooth, and the vocals are on key. What it doesn't have is bite. There is nothing on this album that screams: "You need to listen to me again and again. I will continue to impress and inspire." Once listen is sufficient.Katie obviously has vocal talent, but it doesn't sound like she really cares about what she's singing. Maybe it's because she only wrote two of the album's 12 tracks. Maybe it's because she was nervous in the studio. Maybe she puts forth more emotion in a live setting. As a musician, I can attest to this phenomenon. When you're wearing a set of headphones and are directed to stop and start for hours on end, the feeling can get sucked out of you. It's hard to get emotional on key. Perhaps it's something musicians get used to after repeated visits to a studio. Or maybe I'm just proving the fact that I don't listen to jazz very often and don't know what to listen for.Either way, this album demonstrates that even a lukewarm album can showcase a musician with potential. Katie has the vocal chords - there's no doubt about that. But if she wants to do more than come off as an adult-contemporary-blah musician, she'll have to show us some of the emotion that got her into music to begin with.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

The RIAA is rilly, rilly stupid

Particleman — Fri, 28 May 2004 14:34:50 EDT

Single mom overwhelmed by recording industry suit, via cleverhack.--------------------------------------"The record companies follow the songs when they're downloaded onto computers, and they also note how many copyrighted songs are stored on that computer's hard drive memory, because those songs are often "uploaded" or shared with others through the file-sharing service...."[Stanley Pierre-Louis, senior vice president for legal affairs for the RIAA] said the RIAA isn't afraid of a consumer backlash. "We're facing a daunting challenge and we have to face it head-on," he said.--------------------------------------Where to begin.1. I don't have a law degree, but I'd think that evidence found by sneaking onto someone's hard drive would be inadmissible in court. And isn't there that thing called a search warrant or is that just in the movies? 2. How is this any different from the historical method of file sharing: mix tapes? Buy an LP/tape/cd, copy it to tape, and share it with your friends. As many friends as you want. I don't recall reading about massive legal efforts back when mix tapes were all the rage. (I still use them, RIAA be damned). 3. Suing your consumer base is no way to win its confidence. That's just bad business. 4. Suing a subset of your consumer base that falls into the "single mom with a kid and $12/hr job" category is an even worse way to build that subset's confidence. 5. There are many ways to face daunting challenges head-on. Let's take fire fighting, for example. Putting out fires requires water and those special chemicals that only fire fighters and chemistry majors know about. Leveling the structure is another way to put out the fire. But that way sucks.First posted on particleman.org.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

Muse - Absolution

Particleman — Sun, 18 Apr 2004 14:13:37 EDT

Much has been said about how this album (band?) is a Radiohead ripoff. There's no denying the Radiohead influence, but to dismiss Muse as a band with nothing new to offer is extreme. Every band is, in one way or another, a ripoff of one or more other bands. The idea is to meld those other sounds into something unique and to give the band its own voice. Muse does that well on Absolution.I hear Dave Grohl-esque drumming on the heavier tracks and Tool-like intricacy and precision on every track. "Hysteria" starts with a dizzying and distorted bass intro backed by an effective drum track. To counteract the complex bass and guitar riff during the intro, the drummer limits himself to kick drum and snare hits interspersed with hi-hat in between. But when it's time to let loose, they belt it out with everything they have and the song takes flight while they hold on with their fingernails. On "Butterflies and Hurricanes," we hear the singer demonstrate his compositional skill with a piano interlude. Thoughts of Gershwin come to mind as chords sweep across the keyboard in waves punctuated by a stepwise descent and then ascent back into the Fender Rhodes staccato intro. "Stockholm Syndrome" is five-minute opus of brutal drumming, vocal flexibility, and melodic creativity. My favorite part of this song is probably the 10-second bridge that leads very nicely from the verse into the piano-accented chorus.These three tracks are only a sampling of what Absolution offers. I am a fan of Radiohead (to some extent) but it seems to me that the only bit of Radiohead I hear in Muse is in the vocals. They rock more and use less electronic sampling. And the overall sound of the record sounds little like Radiohead, even back when they were more of a 'rock' band.That said, fans of Tool, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails, possibly Tori Amos, and of course, Radiohead, ought to give this record a try.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

Frankenbook of Lying Liars

Particleman — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 23:08:09 EDT

I finished Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken and I have a few brief comments:1. Liberals will probably like it most, but all it takes is a minimal of sense of humor to laugh either way. 2. It has a lot of statistics. Franken admits to being a statistic freak. 3. I wanted to see where each of these stats came from; alas, there were a few un-cited stats. He busts the balls of various Conservative writers and commentators for dishonestly using bullshit stats but fails to cite some things himself. That's not so funny. 4. He quotes a particularly graphic, awkward, and poorly written excerpt from Bill O'Reilly's little known novel, "Those Who Trespass." I won't even give it the honor of an Amazon link. He then compares the excerpt (and entire novel) to a Ludacris album. That was really funny. 5. He and an assistant researcher mock Bob Jones University, an unaccredited religious institution. Though he does feel bad about it, it's pretty mean and puts him on a level tantamount to his right-wing counterparts...but it was also really, really funny. 6. He hassled Alan Colmes at a benefit dinner about why Colmes doesn't stand up for himself and other Democrats on the Fox New Channel's "Hannity and Colmes" show. That wasn't funny. Leave the poor sap alone. Yes, he's a tool, but I feel bad for the guy. 7. A fellow FNCer took notice of the conversation and got in Franken's face. Franken responded with equal zeal. As the tension came to a peak, a drunk FNCer waddled up and asked for a picture. Franken spun the angry FNCer around, put an arm around his shoulders, and said, "Smile." That was funny - and classic.Regardless of your political affiliation, give this book a shot. It's entertaining, witty, and well written. And it's always good fun watching people make asses of themselves.Modified based on user feedback from original location.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

Alicia Keys live in San Antonio

Particleman — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 00:46:49 EST

I saw Missy Elliot and Alicia Keys with a friend last Wednesday. Beyonce closed the show but Alicia wore us out and we'd had enough, so we split after Alicia finished her set. Missy was a total let down. We couldn't hear a word she said, the bass was insanely loud, and the stage was overrun by dancers to such a degree that we lost track of where Missy was. And she changed outfits after every song, which made it even harder to figure out who was who.Alicia, on the other hand, was phenomenal. I'm now an Alicia convert (and just ordered two of her cd's). I knew she was talented but I didn't know she was that talented. She danced, she played piano, and she sang like next month's rent depended on it. Her voice has that thick and soulful tone that commands your attention and screams, "shuttup and listen 'cause I've got something to say - and it sounds good." She belted out her style of vocals for about an hour, which was a lot considering she wasn't even the headliner. I really enjoyed her set and it appeared that she felt comfortable and very much in her element when on stage.Oh, and one more thing (warning, this is of the TMI variety)... she also happens to be a gorgeous knockout and I want to have her children. Or something.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

Primus Sucks, in Austin

Particleman — Mon, 1 Mar 2004 22:44:49 EST

This was my first Primus show and I only own one Primus album, so I only knew about half of the songs. Regardless, I'm a big fan and I couldn't miss this opportunity to see Les and Co. in action.I didn't expect them to go into Wynona's Big Brown Beaver because it's 'the hit,' but I was hoping they'd play my personal favorite, Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers. Primus did an amazing version of the song at Woodstock '94 and it came out great. The studio version doesn't do it justice. I knew I was in luck when I heard Ler strike those two chords, each panned to a different side of the stage. After a few rounds of guitar, Les chimed in with his two-note march and the crowd broke when the band let the beat out at full throttle. Watching Les prance around the stage in that goofy knee-raising hop is quite a sight.But the song to get the crowd the most active was, or course, Jerry Was a Race Car Driver. As soon as Les hit the first few notes and the lights came on, everyone pogo'd in unison and it didn't stop for four minutes (or whatever it is). Les and Ler are obviously talented and creative musicians but I had never given their various drummers much attention (despite their obvious talent). Well, they gave Brain, their new drummer, the stage for twenty minutes and he rocked, giving us a good dose of classic Primus beats and other innovative rhythms. The dude also had an unbelievably crowded drum set - two kick drums and umpteen toms. I'm sure every drummer in the audience was in awe.Musically, the band was tight and the set went smoothly. The Austin Music Hall isn't exactly the best sounding venue in town but all the levels sounded ok to me.And how could I forget all the antics... some guy got on stage in a suit and Dubya mask and played an air-powered miniature keyboard, saying he'd gladly give up "this politics bullshit" if we (audience) liked his music. Also, Les wore a Planet of the Apes-type mask for a while and hobbled around the stage with a homemade one-string bass - basically a metal rod with a string and a pickup. The only semblance of stage effects was two giant white balloons ("how ya like the balls?") hanging from the ceiling that functioned as screens for two projectors. We got to watch all kinds of wacky film clips and animations, one of which was people wearing monkey masks doing various and sundry activities such as riding a bike and jogging. Primates seemed be a theme in the show... The jogging clip was played specifically for Here Come The Bastards. How fitting.The show was a tad pricey but worth every dollar. They played for well over two hours and looked as excited to up there as if it were their first show. If they end up in your town, give them a try even if you don't consider yourself a hard-core fan. They are all creative musicians whose music is anything but formulaic - it truly is art. But do be prepared for the unexpected. Les' goofy sense of humor comes through loud and clear.Chris Olsen also had good things to say about his Primus experience.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.

Muse, Where Have You Been All My Life?

Particleman — Sun, 22 Feb 2004 21:54:53 EST

Have you heard of a band called Muse?A friend at work introduced me to them the other day and I'm hooked. They're from Manchester, England, and they're awesome. He had a copy of their album Absolution on his computer at work, so he stealthily stored it on the LAN while I went to my computer, copied it to my drive, and erased all trace of its existence (the LAN is more or less off limits to non-work-related buffoonery).Think of Radiohead's The Bends with extra shots of rock, dynamics, and instrumentation. They roll piano, strings, some electronic, and a standard rock band into a tight, cohesive package. The arrangements are there and there is no wasted space. Give 'em a try.

Particleman listens to a lot of music and occasionally writes about it. He maintains a blog at Particleman.