January 31, 2010, 10:46 pm : 2009 Mostly Musical Year in Review! Only one month late!

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As 2008 was the year that made me lose most of my faith in new music, 2009 was the year that brought it back! Seriously, 2008 sucked but this past year had its fair share of very solid releases. Unfortunately the music industry is still trying to figure out how to make money on these artists and as a very small part of that industry I’m really clinging to dear life and hoping someone figures something out soon! Last year was the 10th anniversary of my independent record label, Missing Words Records, and as such I thought that 2009 was the year that we really had to sort of go for it. We were more active as a label than ever before. We released four albums that I’m incredibly proud of, had a booth on all but one (car troubles) of the California dates of the Vans Warped Tour where we gave out thousands of free sampler CDs (which you can download here for free) and we even had a pretty big anniversary show/party in August! I really can’t express how proud I am of everything Missing Words and its artists accomplished last year but honestly the end results of our hard work is a little bit disheartening. Since pirating music is such a rampant part of the internet now it’s really hard to get anyone to actually purchase a CD (or legal downloads) and that makes it hard for us to be able to continuing doing what we love… and that sucks. So I really hope at least that if people are downloading MWR records illegally on any of the bazillion places that they’re available those people are listening to them, enjoying them and might at least consider going to see our artists when they come through their area.

Enough of that though. For those who are unaware, the four records we released this year were “Monsters and Bird Monsters” by You Just Don’t and The Ashtray Life, “Songs From the Gold Coast” by The Calamity, “Devour” by End Transmission and the four-way split “Peacecreature” by Panzer, Dormia, Generation of Vipers and Ocoai (click the hyperlinks to listen to each album in its entirety). Okay, I’ll stop plugging my own work now, below are my top 20 non-MWR albums of 2009!

Top 20 Albums of 2009

20. Chasing Hamburg by Polar Bear Club

A solid post-hardcore offering in the vein of Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike. “Chasing Hamburg” continues the sound that PBC perfected on their last record “Sometimes Things Just Disapear”, albiet in a slightly less memorable way.

19. Upper Air by Bowerbirds

This is the first record that I’ve heard by Raleigh’s Bowerbirds and I instantly fell in love with their indie-folk sound. It’s not the most original sounding record, a lot of other bands have been popping up with this same sound but the Bowerbirds songwriting and unique instrumentation put them well on top of their contemporaries.

18. Wavering Radiantby Isis

Still one of the most popular and innovative acts in the post-metal genre, “Wavering Radiant” is more of the classic Isis sound but continues 2006s “In the Absence of Truth” evolution away from their sludge metal roots and into something a little more clean and straightforward.

17. Declaration of Dependence - Kings Of Convenience

A completely percussion-free offering with soft breezy acoustic melodies and Simon and Garfunkel-esque vocal harmonies, Norway’s Kings of Convenience put another folk record on my list. My father would be proud (but I don’t think he reads these). This is the first record of theirs that I’ve heard since their 2001 debut “Quiet Is the New Loud” and there hasn’t been too much of a musical evolution… but why mess with success?

16. Mean Everything To Nothing by Manchester Orchestra

I must have seen Manchester Orchestra at least six times by now as they opened for another band and I was simply never impressed. They were never bad exactly but they we always such a boring and bland band live that I never really gave their records a fair shot. When “Mean Everything To Nothing” was released I ignored it until a friend reccomended it and I fell in love with it. It’s a very solid indie rock record that’s a lot of fun to sing along to. Unfortunately after seeing them live again after the record was released I still think they sort of suck live.

15. The World I Want to Leave Behind - Moneen

Three years since the amazing “The Red Tree”, Canada’s best indie band are back! “The World I Want to Leave Behind” is less mathy and more poppy than their previous records and, while it’s still excellent, they have lost some of their charm. However, they’re still one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen so don’t pass up any opportunity to see them!

14. Mama, I’m Swollen - Cursive

Back before “emo” was a dirty word, Cursive released “Ugly Organ” and established themselves as a seminal band of the genre.  With “Mama, I’m Swollen”, Cursive are one of very few successful bands continuing the post-hardcore sound of the late 90s/early 00s. Those “emo kids” nowadays don’t know what they’re missing.

13. What We All Come to Need - Pelican

An even more ambitious offering than 2007s “City Of Echoes”, “What We All Come to Need” continues Pelican’s instrumental post-metal sound with more grace and grandeur than ever. More melodic and almost uplifting this time around, Pelican are like the soundtrack to the best movie never made.

12. Songs About Time - The Rentals

A self-released album in three parts, “Songs About Time” was created as a multimedia project featuring short films, photo collections and more. While that concept is really cool I haven’t explored anything apart from the music. More synth-heavy alternative pop-rock with male and female vocals, The Rentals haven’t been this good since 1995.

11. Two Tongues - Two Tongues

A side-project featuring two of my favorite musicians, Max Bemis of Say Anything and Chris Conley of Saves the Day, how could this album not make my list? Written as a love letter to each other, almost every song features dueling vocals and elements of each of their signature styles. However, given the creative team involved (also including Coby Linder of Say Anything and Dave Soloway of Saves the Day), I don’t feel it reached its full potential. Maybe they were saving their best songs for their own bands? Or maybe they just needed a producer?

10. It’s Blitz! - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I’ve never been a huge Yeah Yeah Yeah’s fan. Their past records have all been fine but never anything I could fully get behind. “It’s Blitz” takes the band in a decidedly 80s direction featuring dancy beats and a keyboad/synth heavy sound that further showcases Karen O’s perfect vocals.

9. Gold Country - Chuck Ragan

A bit of a personal hero of mine, it feels like Chuck Ragan has been part of my musical life for the last 15 years at least but “Gold Country” is his first post-Hot Water Music record that really reaches his full potential. It’s a much more full and robust offering then his last studio record, featuring a much more diverse folk sound incorporating elements of traditional Celtic music and instrumentation. I really hope that Chuck continues his solo career in the wake of the Hot Water reunion.

8. Manners - Passion Pit

It felt like this band came out of nowhere to gain some mainstream success and even be featured in a Palm commercial, Passion Pit’s debut record “Manners” is a unique blend of electronic dance music with pop sensibilities and signature falsetto vocals.

7. March of the Zapotec/Holland EP by Beirut and Realpeople

Two EPs by two different bands featuring the same songwriter, Zach Condon. The Beirut half is more of their Eastern European influenced pop that Zach wrote while he spent time in Oaxaca. Realpeople is Zach’s solo project, that has actually been around longer than Beirut, and features a completely electronic sound but similar songwriting style to Beirut. This is the first official release by Realpeople and I sincerly hope he continues with this along with Beirut. I just can’t get enough of what he does.

6. Rearrange Beds by An Horse

An Horse is an Australian indie-pop duo featuring female vocals and catchy hooks. “Rearrange Beds” contains all the songs from 2008s “Not Really Scared” EP and five additional songs, without a bad song in the mix. I’m sure they’ll be blowing up in the US soon as they’re currently on tour with Tegan and Sara.

5. New Leaves by Owen

Another one of those musicians that has been a part of my life for many years, Mike Kinsella was the frontman of American Football and member of other brilliant indie bands Cap’n Jazz, Owls and Joan of Arc. Owen has been his solo project since 2001 and he hasn’t released a bad record yet. “New Leaves” features a more polished and well-rounded sound that fully showcases his uniquely quirky lyrics and soft-spoken vocals. The lyrics on this album seem to really focus on the concept of getting older and settleing down, a concept that I can relate to pretty well, no matter how hard I try to fight it.

4. Animals by This Town Needs Guns

Math rock in it’s purest form, I was in love with this record from the very first note. They play some of the most complex music I’ve ever heard and somehow manage to keep it catchy and even a bit relaxing. I must have listened to this record over 50 times by now and there are still new things that I’m noticing every time. These boys needs to cross the Atlantic and play here now!

3. Sainthood by Tegan and Sara

Both 2004s “So Jealous” and 2007s “The Con” were great records but not flawless records, “Sainthood” seems to take the best eliments of each of those albums and blend them perfectly (it probably helps that it was co-produced by the producers of each of theose past records). This is Tegan and Sara at their best, really it’s indie-pop at its best. T&S deserve all of the attention they’re finally getting.

2. Daisy - Brand New

A band that is always reinventing themselves can be a scary prospect so I’ve spent the last 3 years both eagerly awaiting and dreading the release of this record. I should have known better than to ever doubt Brand New. This album clearly shows that they really don’t care what their fans or critics think of them. They do what they want to do and that’s what makes them so brilliant. Daisy is both the hardest and softest of all of their past releases and, while I can see the evolution from “Devil and God” in hindsight, I don’t think I could have ever expected “Daisy” to be what it is. Keep doing whatever the hell you guys want, I’ll follow you.

1. Say Anything by Say Anything

Ironically this is the hardest description for me to write. I just love so much about this record and Say Anything as a band that I don’t know where to begin. “In Defense of the Genre” is one of my favorite records of all time, if not my absolute favorite, and I’m not sure if the self titled record can take that spot away but it’s very close. Everything Max does on this album is nearly perfect. Sometimes I feel like he writes songs just for me since it’s so keyed into exactly what I want to hear. Witty, clever, funny, profound and completely honest, Say Anything define everything I love about music.

Most Disappointing Album Mandala by Rx Bandits

I’ve loved RxB for a long time so it hurts me to say this, but I just can’t get into “Mandala”. Their previous record “…And the Battle Begun” is possibly my favorite record in their catalog but since then they’ve droped down to a four-piece and they just don’t seem to have the spark they once had. “Mandala” continues in the direction established by “…And the Battle Begun” but just feels uninspired and boring. I’ll never give up on RxB but my confidence is shaken.

Guilty Pleasure Album Animal by Ke$ha

Wow, I’m really embarrassed about this one but what can I say, the music is really fun. Somewhere between Lady Gaga and indie rock lies Ke$ha. Unfortunately the lyrics are so ridiculously bad that I can only listen to this record when I’m properly distracted.

That’s it for the music of 2009 but I’d like to make a quick list of my favorite movies of the year. I’m not going to go into the big description about any of these, I’m sure you’ve seen most of them anyway. I’ll be the first to admit that my tastes in movies is not as broad as my musical tastes and in a lot of cases my favorite movies are heavily influenced because I have a more invested interest in the property (i.e. Harry Potter and Watchmen). Also, I don’t have the opportunity to go to the movies as much as I’d like so there are some that may have made my list but I’ve yet to see them (i.e. Fantastic Mr. Fox and Coraline). So anyway, here’s the list…

Top 10 Movies of 2009

1. Watchmen
2. Paranormal Activity
3. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
4. Zombieland
5. The Hangover
6. District 9
7. Avatar
8. Jennifer’s Body
9. Up
10. Inglorious Bastards

Comics

I also want to go on record saying that Beasts of Burden is by far my favorite new comic series of 2009!

Did I miss any good records or movies? PLEASE leave me some recommendations in the comments! I’m always looking for new new music!

Sorry I don’t do more blog posts but I rarely have time to spend on this sort of thing. You can keep up with me on Twitter if you need your Matt-fix. Also, my lovely girlfriend, AJ, recently started a blog, you should check it regularly as she’ll be posting lots of fun crafts and stuff: Sillouette Saloon. It’ll probably be much more interesting than my blog. Okay, that’s it. I’m going to go try the “new” Dominos pizza. Wish me luck.

P.S. no, I didn’t proof read this. I’m hungry.

November 10, 2009, 12:57 am : The Problem with Séances in the age of Google (Complete with Audio!)

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It’s been quite a while since I’ve had anything interesting to write but that time has come!

Ever since I can remember I’ve been a fan of all things paranormal, especially ghosts. I think it started with my Ghostbusters obsession as a child and grew from there. In spite of this I’ve never had what I would consider to be a true, unquestionable paranormal experience. I’ve gone out of my way to put myself into situations where I might have the experience I wanted so badly, from armature ghost investigations with friends to staying in haunted hotel rooms to night tours in famous haunted locations to ghost walking tours both locally and internationally and, while the occasional odd occurance has happened, there was never anything that I couldn’t at least partially explain away. I believe in ghosts because I want to believe in them, pure and simple, but I’m still incredibly skeptical about them. I want my first ghost experience to be something that I absolutely can’t think of another explanation for and until I have that experience, I’ll continue to seek it out.

This Halloween I thought I may have found the key. Professional ghost hunter, author and historian, Richard Senate would be hosting a séance at the City Hall in Ventura, CA, with his psychic wife Debbie acting as the medium. Richard is (or maybe was) an employee of the city, acting as a historian and tour guide for various historical tours. I’ve been on many ghost-themed tours with Richard and he’s always seemed like a trustworthy individual so I decided to put my natural uncertainty of psychics to the side and give the Senates a chance.

It’s not that I don’t believe in the possibility of psychic abilities it’s just that there are so many obviously fake psychics ::cough:: John Edward ::cough:: Derek Acorah ::cough:: that it’s made me question all psychics. But Richard is cool so I assumed Debbie is equally cool so this whole séance thing seemed worth a shot.

The séance was held in Ventura’s City Hall, which is a really pretty, marble building built at the start of the 1900s. It was originally the Ventura County Courthouse and had its share of famous cases pass through. A former prison makes up the second half of City Hall.

After a brief tour around the building we came to the location of the séance, a currently unused space that was formally the women’s prison. There was about 20-30 people in our group so the room was arranged with a circle of chairs to house us all. In the center of the chairs was a small desk with a lone candle. That would provide the only real light in the room, aside from the slight glow from full moon outside the windows.

I had such high hopes of having a real paranormal experience that I decided to take an audio recording of the proceedings on my fancy shmansy iPhone, so I put my phone down on the desk. Also on the desk someone placed a K2 meter, which measures electromagnetic fields (which are supposed to be higher when spirits manifest themselves), the K2 didn’t do anything at all during the séance as far as I could tell.

For those of you who care, here’s is the full audio recording of the séance. The whole recording is about an hour and a half long but the séance itself is only about the first half of that. The rest is members of the circle and the medium discussing it afterwards.

The primary voices you’ll hear on the recording are Richard Senate, who talks in the beginning and end but very little during the actual séance, Megan Senate, Richard and Debbie’s daughter, who asks the majority of the questions and Debbie Senate, in many different voices acting as the medium. Everyone in the circle was encouraged to interact so the other various voices you hear are just people who were there participating like myself.

My initial reaction to the séance was that it felt a little bit staged but not so much that I was convinced that it was fake, although nothing happened that would definitely prove to me that it was real either. I decided to take a listen to the recording and do a bit of sleuthing to see if I could uncover any interesting evidence to prove whether it was real of fake. Honestly, I was REALLY hoping I’d find something to prove it real, or at least not find any red flags that make me doubt it. Unfortunately I did find a couple red flags, along with some other very interesting information. The following is a summary of the events, along with any additional information I uncovered in the week following the event.

After discussing the rules of the séance; everyone hold hands and don’t let go, feet on the floor, concentrate, etc; we got on with it. It only took a few minutes for the medium to conjure up her first entity. This spirit called herself “Lulu” which was later revealed to be short for Lucy. At the time of our meeting with her she said that it was 1943 and that she was being held in the prison for being “too patriotic”… which we can only assume meant prostitution. She was originally from Seattle and was currently living at the El Nino near Main St. and California St. I looked a bit online for her but couldn’t find anything with the small bit of information I had, although I’m fairly certain that if you had access to the records of the prison you would be able to find her.

Lulu was followed by “Ronald”, who didn’t stick around very long. Apparently he was looking for someone named Martha who had been “whoring around”. There wasn’t anyone named Martha in our group so he left and was conveniently followed by (you guessed it) “Martha”.

Martha was apparently a prison matron in 1951. She knew good ol’ Ronald and didn’t have anything nice to say about him. Other than that she seemed like a pretty tough broad who wasn’t particularly happy about us being there. There wasn’t much info given on either Martha or Ronald so I didn’t attempt to look them up.

Next came “Clara” and with Clara, my first red flag. Clara was a 43 year old woman who was allegedly put in the prison in 1939 for writing bad checks (or, “hanging paper” as one of the more colorful members of the circle called it). She mentioned that she enjoyed singing and one of the people there asked what she liked to sing, and that leads to the red flag. She mentioned singing “oldies but goodies” which seemed like an odd phrase to use in 1939, but then she mentioned a specific song, “Put on a Happy Face”. Unless my research is wrong (which is possible, if you know better please let me know!) “Put on a Happy Face” was originally written for the musical “Bye Bye Birdie” in 1958, almost 20 years after Clara was allegedly singing it. Sketchy.

The next entity to come through was, in my opinion, the most important one. Finally, a spirit who wanted to interact with a specific person in the group! Initially he was saying “George” over and over again and we didn’t know what that meant. Then it asked for Tim and guess what, there was a Tim here with us! Awesome, that means that Tim could ask the entity personal questions that the medium couldn’t possibly know the answers to and completely validify the whole séance… but no. Tim couldn’t seem to muster anything more than a “huh?!” and “hello”. How disappointing! The entity started spouting “dad says hi” repeatedly then eventually went away. After the séance someone asked Tim if his dad had indeed passed away and he said that his father died 6 or 7 years ago and that he had an uncle named George who died a bit before that. Very interesting information but since Tim dropped the ball when it mattered I’m not sold on it.

“Peppy” came through next and helped to prove that all those hours I spent watching Veronica Mars have paid off. Based on the clues that Peppy was on her way to a party at “The Ranch” in San Simeon in 1941 to meet her aunt Marion I was able to figure out exactly who we were supposedly talking to! Pepi Lederer was an actress and writer in the 1920s who committed suicide while in rehab when she was only 25. Pepi was the niece of Marion Davies, the silent movie star and mistress to William Randolph Hearst, the owner of Hearst Castle in San Simeon, better known as “the Ranch” to his circle of friends. And this is where red flag number two comes in. Apparently we were talking to Pepi in 1941 but Pepi actually died in 1935.

In the women’s prison there was supposedly one suicide by hanging and we may have met the victim of said hanging next. She said her name was “Catharine” and kept complaining that her throat hurt. When we were unable to help her she left. Again, this is the sort of information that I’m sure could be researched at City Hall itself but I couldn’t find anything online about it.

Then for the first time we met an entity who gave us his full name, “Walter McNally”. He was an attorney and was complaining quite a bit about his college Erle, which we presumed to be Ventura local hero Erle Stanley Gardner, who is most famous for authoring the series of Perry Mason books. Again I was unable to find any information about this person.

A few days before our séance the Senates did another séance at a local adobe where they allegedly brought forth the spirit of a young girl from Newbury Park named “Madison” who died on Halloween. This same spirit came through again during our séance, and apparently recognized Megan and asked if Megan had found her mother.

After a brief conversation Debbie, the medium, completely slumped over and appeared to almost lose consciousness. Richard and Megan claimed that Debbie had “gone too deep” and they needed everyone to try to call her back. But what we called back was not Debbie.

A malicious sounding voice came from Debbie and kept saying “no” to all requests to allow Debbie to come back. At one point the medium was giving a very scary looking scowl to either my nephew or myself, he was terrified because he thought it was mad at him, I was smiling from ear to ear at the concept of an evil sprit being conjured with me there to witness it. Seriously, how awesome would that have been? It eventually left, Debbie came back and the séance was over.

Immediately following the séance I really wasn’t sure what to think. Only a few possibly paranormal things happened away from the medium. First, the temperature in the room got dramatically colder. It was reasonably warm when we initially went in but 45 minutes later at the end of the séance I was literally shivering. It’s possible that the air conditioning turned on, but I find it unlikely, since this is an old, unused room and it was late night on Saturday so the city probably wouldn’t want to waste money on AC.

In addition to that, my girlfriend, AJ, felt that her jacket was tugged on about halfway through the séance. We were just sitting in chairs and surrounded by people we knew on both sides so it’s unlikely that anyone intentionally did anything to her jacket. So maybe that was paranormal?

The séance was laced with a lot of historical facts that I wouldn’t expect any laymen to know, however, given that Debbie’s husband is a professional historian it’s not much of a stretch to think that she may have had all this information in her head before going into the séance. Either consciously or subconsciously.

In the end I’m still not sure what to think. I guess that I lean toward the whole thing being fake, or at least embellished, but it was still a ton of fun. I would really like the opportunity to go to more séances so I can get a better feel of what’s going on and have a better grip on how real they are… and maybe finally get my chance at experiencing a real paranormal event.

I would REALLY love to hear your opinion on this whole thing (especially if you listened to the audio file) so please post comments!

- Matt

P.S. if you ever want to go ghost hunting hit me up!!!

P.P.S. Photos stolen without remorse from the internet.

August 28, 2009, 1:08 am : A really short story… of sorts.

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I just came upon this weird thing I wrote/illustrated a while back. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who will find it amusing but whatever. Clearly I didn’t spend a lot of time on this, don’t judge.

“Jeff and Larry Enact Swift Vengeance Upon the World that Wronged Them”
(or “Fun Times with Carrot and Toast”)

“Let’s eat people.”

“What?”

“Let’s eat people. They spend their whole lives eating us. Let’s get them back”, Jeff said, staring down into his third tiny cup of coffee.

Larry looked at him with an expression of exhaustion, “I think that Starbucks is going to your head, man. You can’t eat people; you’re a piece of toast. You don’t have teeth, or even a mouth for that matter. You can’t even drink that gross coffee, you just keep dunking yourself in it and soaking it up.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I’m not a high and mighty carrot like you. You’re a just a stupid root, you lived most of your life hiding in the ground. Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”

“Okay, okay! No reason to get personal.” Larry takes a deep, calming breath and looks upon his friend with as much patience as he can muster. “Okay then man, let’s eat people. What’s you’re plan?”

“I was just waiting for you to ask…”

The End.

August 16, 2009, 12:58 am : Missing Words 10th Anniversary Recap

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Wow, this summer is proving to be even more busier than I had originally thought! My to-do list is huge but I thought I’d take this free second to give a very brief recap of the Missing Words Records 10th Anniversary Show that occurred last Saturday.

I was really worried that no one was going to show up but I was pleasantly surprised. I guess I should have more faith in the bands I work with! The show was honestly one of the best moments of my life and definitely one of the best shows I’ve ever been too… although I suppose it should be since it was literally a show tailor made to fit my tastes. It was amazing to see so many of my friends and family at the show, and not only were they there to support me but it seemed like everyone was genuinely enjoying the bands, even my parents!

Thanks to everyone who made the show possible, to the bands who rocked so hard and to everyone who came out and had their faces melted off. Seriously, when the show was over the floor was just covered in melted faces.

To promote the show there were a couple really nice stories in the local papers, if you’re interested you can check them out here:

Ventura County Star

Ventura County Reporter

Also, enjoy some photos that I’m posting without consent…

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Amanda Jean)

(photo by Amanda Jean)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Amanda Jean)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Rachel Clare)

(photo by Amanda Jean)

Thanks to everyone who has supported Missing Words over the last 10 years. It may not make me piles of money but the experiences I’ve had and friendships I’ve made because of it make all the work worthwhile. I’ll keep trying to bring the best indie music to the people if you keep listening! I love you all. For reals.

May 9, 2009, 9:54 pm : For now, just follow my Twitter…

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Around this time every year I get super duper ultra mega busy. Apart from the stressy-fun times at my day job I also have new releases with Missing Words Records to worry about. Because of all of this I probably won’t have time to make a proper blog entry any time soon but I do update my Twitter fairly regularly so to keep up with my goings on follow me over there. Just in case you’re wondering what is going to be keeping me super busy this summer, here’s a breakdown…

• May 26 - Monsters and Bird Monsters by You Just Don’t and The Ashtray Life released on MWR
• June 26-28 - Manning the MWR booth at the Vans Warped Tour
• June 30 - Peacecreature by Ocoai, Generation of Vipers, Panzer and Dormia released on MWR
• July 18-19 - Azkatraz Harry Potter Symposium in San Francisco, CA
• July 22-26 - Manning the StarWarsShop booth at Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA
• August 8 - MWR’s super huge 10th Anniversary show in Camarillo, CA
• August 18 - Devour by End Transmission released on MWR
• August 19-23 - Manning the MWR booth for more Vans Warped Tour

I’ll do my best to blog, or at least post of pics, from the events but who knows. So yeah, Twitter it up, Oprah style.

Just to make it easier, I added a little widget to the sidebar on here that shows my latest Tweet. –>>

February 10, 2009, 12:51 am : 2008 Musical Year in Review… only a little more than a month late .

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I suppose this should be an annual thing for my blog, as it’s a really easy thing for me to write and I tend to get some interesting comments soooo here’s Matt’s 2008 musical year in review!

This year is the year the music made me feel old. I’ve always been able to listen to upcoming bands and find at least a few new, somewhat popular, bands that I can really get into… not this year. It made me come to the conclusion that I’m officially too old to appreciate new music. A month or two ago I had this conversation with my bestest buddy and ironically he’s come to the same conclusion about himself. I really hope we’re wrong and it’s not us getting old but rather that the emerging artists of 2008 were sub-par. Fingers crossed.

Speaking of getting old, the teeny tiny indie record label I started is having its 10 year anniversary later this year! Wow! I can’t believe I’m still doing this. I also can’t believe it’s really not any bigger than it was a year or two after I started. That’s never been what this is about though. Missing Words a way for my-musically-inept-self to be a part in the creation of great music and in 2008 I like to think I accomplished this. We had three releases last year, in May we put out “Breatherman”, the full-length debut by instrumental metal/post-rock act Ocoai. Then for the first time in the history of the label we released two albums in one month, an EP by power-pop band End Transmission and a split CD by the two bands I went on tour with in 2007, Gamenight and Mouth Movements, entitled “Blue Green”. After almost 10 years of releasing music, “Blue Green” is my favorite release and probably my favorite album of all of 2008… but since I feel weird about putting my own releases in a list, here are my top 10 other favorite albums of 2008 (last year I did top 20 but I couldn’t even find 20 releases I really loved in 2008).

Top 10 Albums

10. The Hawk Is Howling by Mogwai

I have to say, it felt really weird buying a Mogwai record at Target. Good for them, but still, weird. I’ve been a fan of these Scottish post-rockers since before I even knew what post-rock was. They’re one of the first instrumental rock bands I got into. “The Hawk is Howling” is really just more of the same, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. Mogwai sound like Mogwai and that’s cool. In a year full of sub-par releases this one was par… and that’s good enough to hit #10 on my list.

9. Razia’s Shadow: A Musical by Forgive Durden

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m a sucker for concept albums. “Razia’s Shadow” is the very definition of concept album. After the rest of his band quit (ego issues?), Thomas Dutton continued under the Forgive Durden name, enlisting his brother to help him complete a musical, and that’s exactly what this is, complete with narration. The story is in two parts, the first half tells of the creation of the world and how it’s divided into light and dark. The second half is about how the dark and light are brought back together. Each character in the story is voiced by a guest vocalist including Max Bemis of Say Anything, Chris Conley of Saves the Day, Casey Crescenzo of The Dear Hunter/Receiving End of Sirens and Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco. This record probably could have been brilliant with a higher production budget and a real orchestra but it’s still pretty impressive. If you like rock music and Disney musicals give this a try.

8. Meanderthal by Torche

It feels almost weird to put a metal record on my list. I listen to my fair share of metal but typically it’s something I have to be in the mood for, not something I really get into, but “Meanderthal” is something different. This band isn’t held back by the lack of creativity that is a major problem with most metal and hard rock acts nowadays. Their influences range from punk to southern rock and it shows in their songwriting. Wrap that up in a positive, almost uplifting, sound and you’ve got a really solid record.

7. The Ocean and the Sun by The Sound of Animals Fighting

I almost completely wrote this band off after 2006’s “Lover, the Lord has Left Us…”. They hit a such a level of pretentiousness that the record was unlistenable. It took several friends to convince me to give “The Ocean and the Sun” a try but I’d glad I did. They scaled their sound back to something closer to their first release, relying more on their original progressive rock sounds and less on random obnoxious noises and falsetto wailing. There are even a few songs on this record that you could almost picture hearing on college radio. Not bad for a band who chose to use animal names for all of their members (even though everyone knows who’s in the band).

6. Take Me to the Sea by Jaguar Love

Made up of two parts The Blood Brothers and one part Pretty Girls Make Graves I had very high hopes for this record and I’m happy to say it doesn’t disappoint. Johnny Whitney’s unique vocal styling (a.k.a. the sound of a child’s temper tantrum coming out of the mouth of a little blonde guy) will take some getting used to for the uninitiated but it’s worth it. The minimalistic approach to indie pop rock is something this band does better than anyone else.

5. Stay Down by The Smoking Popes

That’s right, The Smoking Popes! They’re back and they’ve picked up right where they left off. When they broke up back in 1999 a little poppy part of my heart died. They sort of came back as Duvall but it just wasn’t the same and when it was announced the Popes would be reforming a few years ago I really didn’t have high hopes. I expected another bland release similar to Duvall but what I got with “Stay Down” is an album nearly as good as 1997s “Destination Failure”, which is one of my favorite records of all time. Quite possibly the first really good straight-up pop-rock record of this millennium.

4. Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles

The first electronic act to enter my list, Crystal Castles have a unique sound that combines sampled and distorted female vocals over dance beats that sound like they’re coming from out of a broken NES. This self-titled album is 16 songs and almost 75 minutes of music and I’ve yet to get bored with it. This has become my new “keep me from falling asleep at the wheel” record.

3. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust by Sigur Rós

On this record Sigur Rós move further away from their older ethereal style and into a more poppy and uplifting direction; though still very Sigur Rós. “Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust” isn’t my favorite record by the band but it’s a solid addition and still has that certain something that makes me deep down happy in a way only Sigur Rós can.

2. Sometimes Things Just Disappear by Polar Bear Club

Sometimes Things Just Disappear is the first really great punk record I’ve heard in a long time. And at its core that’s really what it is, punk, although their hardcore and indie roots shine through in each song while their choruses have pop sensibilities that would put Blink to shame. Finally something I can let loose and rock out to. And look, I made it through that review without a Hot Water Music reference… wait… oops.

1. Captain Love by Mock Orange

I feel like I’ve been waiting for this record forever, and I guess I sort of have. Mock Orange have been one of my favorite bands since they released “Nines and Sixes” back in 1998, although looking back that feels like a completely different band. Actually, to this point every record has felt like a completely different (and, remarkably, always awesome) band. “Captian Love” is the follow up to 2004s “Mind is Not Brain” and this is the first full length that actually sounds similar to the previous. Mock Orange have further defined their unique blend of mathy-indie-rock meets the Flaming Lips into something truly remarkable. The fact that this band isn’t better known is still a mystery to me, but don’t worry Mock Orange, I still love you.

Most Disappointing Album
Agony & Irony by Alkaline Trio

It’s not horrible really, but come on, you guys are better than this. Matt, quit hanging out with Jeffree Star and write some good Alkaline Trio songs.

Guilty Pleasure Album
Bring Me Your Love by City and Colour

I only consider this one a guilty pleasure because City and Colour are a solo project by Dallas Green of Alexisonfire, who I really dislike. But hey, when he’s not making unoriginal and tripe screamo songs he’s actually a really talented singer/songwriter. I’m happy he stepped out of his box and put out an excellent album (for the record, if I would have done more than a top 10, this probably would have been #11).

Happiest Un-break-ups

Last year I had a saddest break-ups section but this year I’m VERY happy to say that one of my favorite bands ever announced that they’re getting back together in 2008 – The Get Up Kids. I’ve loved TGUK since high school and I’m beyond excited that they’re back! Come to California, boys.

That’s it for music. I was going to do a whole separate movie blog but then I realized that, since I don’t have many friends up here, I missed a lot of (potentially) good movies in 2008. At least I’m fortunate to work in a place that shows a lot of free movies. So anyway, just in case you were wondering, here is a list of my favorite movies (that I saw) of 2008, without longwinded commentary…

1. Wall-E
2. Iron Man
3. The Dark Knight
4. Let the Right One In
5. The Clone Wars
6. Indy 4
7. Cloverfield
8. Nick and Norah
9. Repo! The Genetic Opera
10. Prince Caspian

Did I miss any good records or movies? PLEASE leave me some recommendations in the comments! I’m desperate for new music!

That’s all folks. I know I don’t blog very often anymore. If you want a bit more of a Matt-fix, follow me on Twitter, where I actually make regular updates!

Oh, and scroll down for some random photos I took today.

February 9, 2009, 5:42 pm : So I got a shiny new Deadpool action figure in the mail…

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… and he proceeded to beat up my poor clones.

November 21, 2008, 3:26 pm : A straight guys review of “Twilight”

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Wow. I’ve been so disappointed in a movie that it’s inspired me to blog for the first time in months. It’s biased and inarticulate but I need to get this out of my system…

I’m sure by now you’ve all been bombarded with enough marking for the movie Twilight that you probably have a vague idea of what it’s about… or at least you’re aware that it exists. The very general, top-level synopsis is that it’s a love story involving a human girl and a vampire. Nothing too original but it had potential. It’s based on the first book in the hugely popular Twilight series. As a fan of vampires and hugely popular book series I really wanted to like this movie but from most everything I was hearing the odds seemed stacked against me. But honestly, I wanted to like it. I wanted to blog in defence of the movie.

My first real hint at the enormity of the Twilight phenomenon was at this years Comic-Con, when the Twilight panel was completely swamped by screaming teenage girls. For some reason I thought “if teenage girls like this, maybe I will too”… since I’m not exactly the manliest dude in the world and some of my favorite entertainment properties are big with the teen girl market (Harry Potter, Buffy, Angel…). I did my best to investigate the upcoming film without delving too far into the spoilers so when I eventually had the chance to the see the film I would be prepared but surprised.

It seemed like the fandom of the series was really part of what made Twilight cool. The communities built around these stories were huge (twilightteens.com, twilight20somethings.com, twilightmoms.com… seriously) and I felt that to get the full effect I needed to see the movie with these people rather than the average theater-goer so I bought tickets to the opening day midnight showing at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco. I figured of all the midnight showings around the US this one should be one of the craziest, it’s San Francisco, everything is crazy here. I was sadly mistaken.

I arrived at the theater around 9 thinking that would probably be early enough to get a seat that isn’t complete garbage and arrive at a time when the fans (read: tweeny girls) would be getting ramped up and crazy. My only basis for comparison for midnight showings of this magnitude are Star Wars and Harry Potter so my hopes were set high. I was expecting to see costumes, tents, lawn chairs… maybe even a parking lot BBQ like we had in Ventura (represent!) for Episode I. What did I see when I approached the line? Fifty or so girls sitting around talking quietly or reading. Occasionally I’d see the standard-issue Hot Topic Twilight t-shirt but nothing costume related (I know it’s not really a costume-type story but I thought maybe some girls would be wearing prom dresses or something like at other Twilight events that I read about). These people weren’t trying to make the most out of the absurdity of waiting hours for a movie, they weren’t trying to have fun… they were just sitting around waiting quietly and patiently. How boring!

They let us into the theater about an hour and fifteen minutes before the film started, I was hoping for a screaming girl stamped but all I got was an orderly single file line straight to my seat. As I waited around somewhat awkwardly watching teenage girls take boring MySpace pictures on their cell phones the theater gradually filled and by the time the movie was ready to start the theater was only about two thirds full. Yup, good thing I showed up early.

Then the moment came, the lights were dimmed and I sat on the edge of my seat waiting to see… the trailer for the next instalment of the Harry Potter series! I’ll admit it, I was more excited to see the trailer on the big screen than I was for Twilight and they didn’t even show it! I read it was supposed to be attached to Twilight but I guess not. My disappointment only continued as the movie began.

This is where my review of the film itself starts but not without a few disclaimers. First off, this review will be sparkling (unfortunately this will not be the only use of that word in this review) with spoilers. If you don’t want to hear the occasional plot point you probably shouldn’t continue. Next, I’m not by any means a professional reviewer and can only give you my personal and unsophisticated opinion. Some slight vulgarities may be used (such as “this movie sucks balls”) so if you’re easily offended turn back now. And finally, I have NOT read the books and have no real knowledge of the plot and characters aside from what’s given in the film and as such I may have taken things in the wrong context or missed something important in the plot because I lack any prior knowledge. I’m going into this with the assumption that the book is far better than the movie and I hope that’s the case or the legions of Twilight fans are just retarded.

The film begins, as so many films do, with a young girl, Bella, moving to a new city. In this case from Phoenix, Arizona to the rural and perpetually foggy town of Forks, Washington to live with her dad while her mom goes traveling with her new husband. It has a bland voiceover where Bella explains all of this. The whole time I couldn’t help but think “who’s she talking to?”. I guess I don’t like voiceovers without some sort of plot devise to make them work (something like writing in a journal or talking to another character or whatever). I don’t like being personally addressed by a character, as if she knows she’s in a movie. But anyway, that’s the least of this movies problems.

On Bella’s first day in school she is remarkably well adjusted and content for a teenaged girl. There’s no angst at all, no real social awkwardness or anything that you would expect for the first day in a new school, especially considering that she’s starting halfway through the second semester of her junior year. By the end of the day she has a completely new group of friends, complete with high school stereotypes such as the jock, the editor of the school paper, the artsy photographer girl, the wallflower girl and… the black kid! All of these characters are likeable enough, I suppose, but then in walks the Cullen family and the focus turns to sexy vampire heartthrob Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson and from here on forth referred to as Cedric Diggory). There’s an instant attraction between Bella and Cedric which is signified by creepy staring and bad music. Over the course of… I don’t know, a week? These two characters are suddenly in love. And not in a realistic high school way, or in an elegant painful Notebook kind of way or even a slightly cheesy Sleepless in Seatle way but more like the kind of “love” you would see on a show like The OC, Dawsons Creek or, heaven forbid, The Hills. I didn’t understand what exactly was going on between these characters aside from a deep down animalistic attraction. This is made all the more annoying by the fact that dear Bella all but ignores Jacob, a guy who clearly has a thing for her and who also happens to be one of the few likeable characters in the whole film. But enough about that, I’m just trying to say the plot is a two hour love story between two people who don’t understand what love is and the movie is clearly geared at girls who also have no clue how real love works so they’re happy with this substance-free version. Just to be clear, I knew this was a love story going into it, I’m not saying it sucks because of its lack of action or the fact that it’s a bit of a “chick flick”. It sucks because it’s an unexplainable romance between two characters that are hard to care about at all. Oh, and one final note on the “love” between these two. Before their first (and only) kiss, Cedric says something to the effect of “I’ve always wanted to try this”… am I to believe this guy has lived for over 100 years has never kissed a girl? Come on! What has he been doing this whole time to have never met a girl he liked within 100 years. Especially considering the fact that he’s been repeating high school in different cities for most of his life.

Moving on to the “vampires”. I know vampires are not the point of this film but if you’re going to do a genre movie do it right. In this movie they seem to keep the more positive parts of vampire lore such as their strength and speed while doing away with the more inconvenient things like the fact that they can’t go out in the sun. These vampires are more like bloodsucking X-Men than bella Lugosi-esque creatures of the night. I was willing to accept the fact that it’s really super foggy all the time in Forks and that’s why these vampires can wonder around during the day. It’s a cop-out, sure, but I’ll let it go. And then one of the defining scenes in the movie happened. A scene I will remember vividly for the rest of my life due to its complete and utter absurdity. Cedrid decides that his new love needs to see him how he really is, in the monstrous form that all vampires take in the sun. In the forest as he walks slowly into a beam of sunlight that’s shining through the trees I’m expecting to see something hideous. I assume that since the sun doesn’t kill these vampires it must at least make them appear deformed in some way. Cedric starts to unbutton his shirt with his back toward the camera and slowly turns around to reveal that in the sun his skin… SPARKLES!!!! It sparkles!!! That’s the big hideous disfigurement that all vampires are forced to live with if they go out into the sun! They have glittery skin! No joke, it looks like they just sprayed him with silver glitter paint. And he stands there, perfectly serious and calls himself a monster. This might be one of the most idiotic moments in the history of cinema. Sparkle? Gah. Needless to say, at this point I had pretty much lost all faith that this movie would turn around and redeem itself.

Dude. Seriously. He sparkles.

Just when I thought we’d hit an all time low Cedric invites Bella to umpire a friendly game of baseball between his vampire family. Yup, that’s right, a superpower sports scene. It’s exactly what you’d expect so I’m not going to go into it… but really? Fortunately though, at the tail end of these scene the “bad guys” show up to spoil the family’s game and the movie gets… I don’t want to say “good” but it gets tolerable for about 10 minutes as the family is working together trying to help Cedric save Bella from the vampire tracker guy (who, by the way, looks like Axl Rose on the current GnR tour). This ten minutes of tolerance isn’t brought on by the fact that it’s the most action packed part of the movie, although that helped. It’s more because it takes the focus away from the boring lust between two flat, boring characters and puts the spotlight on the entirety of the Cullen family, who are all slightly more likeable that Cedric. This ends in a slightly predicable superpower fight sequence between Cedric and Axl Rose.

And, like so many other high school movies (including the vampire themed Buffy) this movie ends at prom. Where, of course, Cedric and Bella attend together, slow dance and… that’s it. She spends some time trying to convince him to turn her into a vampire, which sounds like a solid life decision based on a love that built over the span of four months at the most.

My apologies to teen girls everywhere but… this movie sucks balls.

Vampires do not sparkle.

P.S. PLEASE feel free to disagree with me and point out the errors of my ways in the comments section. Maybe I really am just missing something. If someone (or several someones) can give me some good reasons I’ll give this movie another chance. With all the hype around this movie I have to feel that maybe I really am missing something.

October 7, 2008, 11:10 pm : Since I went through the trouble of writing it anyway…

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First off, I started a Twitter and I update it far more often than this so follow me on there!

In leu of a proper blog post, which I should do soon, I thought I would post this. After the premier of The Clone Wars a friend of mine sent me a message on Facebook asking for some clarification. Honestly, I LOVE answering Star Wars questions, it allows me to sound all educated (about something fictional) and feel like all of that time I spent watching and reading Star Wars things had a bit more of a point. So feel free to ask me questions anytime, BUT for the really hard and/or interesting questions I recommend you submit your questions to Leland, who writes the Ask Lobot section of the Star Wars insider… not to mention works for Lucasfilm as the “Keeper of the Holocron”. But this was an easy one sooooo…

Why does Anakin have an apprentice? I thought he was still an apprentice at the start of Revenge of the Sith?

I’ll nerd out on you for a second. Actually, Anakin is a knight at the beginning of Ep3. He gets knighted in the first episode of the second season of the original Clone Wars micro-series (it also happens in the novel “Jedi Trial”… maybe even somewhere else too!). The problem in Ep3 was that Anakin, as a knight, shouldn’t be on the council since that’s a privilege reserved typically for masters.

Still though, the new series does have it’s share of continuity issues but most of them are very minor and would probably only bother people who read all the comics and books that were released between 2002 and 2005 (such as myself).

I’m interested to see how they explain Ahsoka when the series ends. She’s not mentioned in Ep3, obviously, so they probably have to make it a gradual transition. Maybe she gets knighted and fades out of Anakin’s life, maybe her and he have a falling-out and he doesn’t mention her out of spite or maybe something else. Either way, odds are she doesn’t survive Order 66!

And that’s that. I probably left out some extra specific details but I wasn’t using some sort of giant Star Wars database, just my brain. Hope that helped any of you… and seriously, I love The Clone Wars. I won’t lie. I love droid banter, I love Jedi awesomeness, I love seeing how human the clones really are and I love the art. So all you nay-sayers can suck it.

August 24, 2008, 10:50 pm : How is a raven like a writing desk?

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My poor estranged blog! You didn’t think I was ever going to write again did you? You know the standard excuse, “I’ve been busy”… well, I’ve been busy. You haven’t been far from my heart though. In fact, I’ve had ideas for some great posts that I never got around to writing. Here’s a quick summary of what you, the viewing public (A.K.A. Mom) have missed out on…

• Why I liked Indiana Jones IV and my theories on why the rest of the world didn’t.
• A summary of my time in Tennessee back in May.
• My top 10 most influential/favorite albums of all time (I’m sure I’ll do this at some point).
• An in-depth post about my time in Japan and Comic-Con.
• A history of Missing Words Records and some info on my biggest influences for that (I’ll probably do this next year).
• A detailed post about my few dates manning the MWR booth on the Warped Tour and how I feel about it.
• Why I liked The Clone Wars and my theories on why the rest of the world didn’t.

Anyway, I don’t have the time or energy to write all of those now but I did want to come back and assure the world that I am, in fact, still alive and that things have been going pretty well. So here’s a quick little catch-up on what’s been going on since my last post.

In April my work launched IndianaJonesShop.com. That was a ton of work on my end, as I had to get something like 100 products up on the site by the time we launched… but I did it and the rest is history. Also in April, Missing Words released its twelfth release, Breatherman by Ocoai. It’s awesome, check it out if you’re bored (or if you need background music while you read the rest of this).

I had a chance to visit some of my bestest buddies in Tennessee at the end of May. I was the ring bearer-bearer in my friend Jenn’s wedding and I spent the rest of the time hanging out with my friends there. It’s still really weird to feel like I have more friends in Knoxville than I do anywhere else. Well, maybe not Ventura, but definitely more than I have here in San Francisco. I love Tennessee. I could really go for some Cracker Barrel right about now. Also in May, I saw Indy 4, it was cool. Shut up.

The first few dates of the Vans Warped Tour were in June and Missing Words had a booth at two of them (should have been three but Jordan and Zeke needed their beauty sleep). I was only able to attend the Ventura show. It was fun I suppose. I think I’m officially too old to really enjoy Warped… or maybe it’s because I only like a couple bands on the tour this year.

July was a hectic month. I spent 12 days away from home, the first 6 were spent in Japan and the rest in San Diego. In Japan I spent a day at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, both of which were cool but DisneySea really took the cake. It’s the best Disney park I’ve been to so far. It’s really killer. Check out the pictures here. The primary reason I was in Japan was for Star Wars Celebration Japan, which was fun, although not as epic as the American Celebrations have been. Those photos are available here. And of course, I did get to wonder Japan a bit outside of the convention and Disneyland, check it out. I could write so much more on the subject but I just don’t have time. Sorry, for not doing you justice, Japan. It was amazing though.

Two new Missing Words releases came out in July. End Transmission’s Head Over Heels and a split by two Tennessee bands, Gamenight and Mouth Movements, called Blue and Green. I’m really happy with how they both turned out. Yay!

And here we are in August. Last weekend was the end of the Vans Warped Tour, which was… about the same as the beginning. We also saw the release of a new Star Wars movie, the computer animated feature The Clone Wars. I’d actually seen an unfinished version several months ago but seeing the completed film on the big screen was a nice experience. It felt really odd not being home waiting in line for the midnight showing, I missed out. It’s a cool movie though and I’m really excited for the TV show.

Okay, that’s it, a very brief synopsis of my last few months. I know, it was boring, even for me, but how witty can one be when one’s summing up whole months into a paragraph each? But now that I’m caught up maybe I’ll start posting more interesting things again… maybe.