November 2005

It’s raining heavily outside and my cable box is busted. A good night for lounging and listening to music. Some thoughts about my recent playlists (in pairs ‘coz nice things always comes in twos):

+ Albums I can’t seem to stop listening to
Funeral - Arcade Fire (I was late to the AF party…)
Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade

+ The jury is still out
Strange Geometry - The Clientele
Guero - Beck

+ I can’t understand a lick of what you are saying but it sure sounds good
Mwng - Super Furry Animals
Women of Latin America - a Putumayo compilation

+ Excellent recent purchases
Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall
ABC Music: BBC Radio 1 Sessions - Stereolab

+ After repeated intense listening, you have grown on me
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Ah Um - Charles Mingus

+ I was pleasantly surprised
You Could Have Had So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand
Twin Cinema - New Pornographers

I was cleaning off my bookshelf the other day when I found a CD that Jason Caddell made for me almost three years ago. I was talking to him after a show at Swarthmore College in April 2003 and mentioned that I would be spending a few months studying in China. He volunteered to make a mix to take with me (in return, I bought him a little Buddha sculpture from Xi’an.) The CD cover is a photograph of his (”little rob”), with a handwritten track list on the back.

Fun, no? Sounds as good as it looks. This boy sure knows how to shake his booty.

Finding the CD got me thinking of the days of the Dismemberment Plan. I followed them starting my senior year in high school all the way through to their breakup in the summer of 2003. Over the course of those 4 years, I went to so many of their shows - a dozen plus? - pretty much every single one in the NYC metro area. My first show was on a freezing cold January night at the Knitting Factory, right when they released Emergency & I (Pitchfork loved it too.) They played atleast half a dozen times at the Bowery Ballroom alone, including two shows during their Death and Dismemberment tour (with Death Cab for Cutie) and the two farewell shows in July of 2003. There were treks to shows at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, North Six in Brooklyn, Swarthmore College, and Princeton University…

Their live shows were always performed with gusto and passion, packed with infectious energy; it was devastating to see them call it quits. The ride was great while it lasted.