They happened to be in Sydney this weekend playing at the Metro and they didn’t disappoint.  Their sound is precise and the concert was more like an opera than a rock concert.  It is definitely not for everyone but take a listen and let me know what you think.  Here they are… enjoy.

That is really the beauty of the Internet, a person can positively impact someone’s life that they never met, and not even know about it.  Everyone is constantly beaming things into the ether that 10′s, or 100′s or 1,000,000′s of eyes can see.  Everyone takes it for granted but it is truly amazing.  Now, due to these people I never met and never will meet, when I hear this song I think of Tokyo, Sushi and Japanese women in french maid outfits trying to get me to play arcade games.  That’s fucking powerful.

Unfortunately, we left and went to the other party.  I knew we were making a bad decision, but I took off with the rest of the crew hoping for the best.  On the way to the party it was revealed that we were going to a 70′s party… GAME OVER.  At that point I knew we were on a death mission.  We stayed at the 70′s party for 15 minutes before we bailed and went to the bar down the road all still wondering why we left the shindig at the warehouse.  Moral of the story: Stay where the free booze, good music and lovely ladies are… no exceptions.

Anyways, in honor of good party music and staying with an “8″ I present to you “Girl Talk” which will get even the shittiest party started… enjoy.

This week’s entry is “Municipality” from Real Estate’s new album Days.  It has been rising in the “Number of plays” rank on my Itunes playlist since I downloaded it last month.  The entire album is amazing but in particular I have loved this song.  Take a listen for yourself, and let me know what you think.

Real Estate – “Municipality”

That’s right, this was the week of the dreaded “executive visit”.  My boss’s, boss’s, boss decided to grace us with his presence at the small office here in Australia.  It has been a constant agitation for the month running up to his visit and has made the office into a virtual hell-scape.  Everyone had been wringing their hands in anticipation of his visit making sure that everything goes right.  This is how it must be for women married to men in the army.  Their husbands come home for a few weeks and they better make those few weeks fantastic otherwise they man may be fucking some 19 year old Philipino chick on his next tour of duty.  Basically, this one visit will shape the executives view of our office until the next time he decides to come down here so if we fuck up there will be bad blood for 6-10 months.  Everyone is acting differently trying to look “productive” instead of actually doing their job.  The local management is getting up in everyone’s shit to make it look like they are in active control of all of the salespeople.  It has led to a halt in actual productivity, left morale at an all time low and increased my weekday drinking 5-fold.

I have taken our esteemed guests to a couple of meetings and needed to frantically come up with some customer contacts with lofty sounding titles for them to meet.  Were this meetings necessary? – NO.  Did we get anything of value accomplished? – NO.  We go into these meetings (usually at an overpriced, high-end restaurant) chat about this or that then the VP I brought will say something that I have already said to the customer a few hundred times before, promise a bunch of things that may or may not be able to happen to leave me with a laundry list of actions to complete for the customer which may or may not have any use whatsoever.

It is really a microcosm of corporate life and I have talked about it before but for some reason it has really aggravated me these past few days.  I think it is because when I worked at headquarters I had these types of corporate shenanigans looming above my head like a 300 lb seagull waiting to shit on me every day. Since I have been removed from it for these past few months it seems 100x’s worse, even in a small dose.  It is like getting in touch with an old friend and seeing they have ballooned into a massive fatass.  After not seeing them in such a long time I view them as obese but they just view it as their same old body since they have not seen a drastic change.  Thankfully this will all end tomorrow and I can get back to the work of actually doing my job and trying to make some money.

It has been a rough few days and I was ready to fling myself off of our balcony at the office when I received a life saving email from a friend.  It only contained this attachment:

Wow -  10/10 execution on that -  absolutely glorious.

Any good comments on corporate bullshit stories so we can wallow in our corporate crapulence together?

After the bus ride we arrived at the BART station.  We got on the train and I was admiring the view out the window and then I suddenly realized that we had been on the train for a while.  I looked back at TK and she was frantically looking at a transit map while trying to look like she was NOT frantically looking at the transit map.  For anyone who has traveled in a city they are new to it is understood that every transit system is a little different and it is easy to get confused with some of the routes.  She was confused… and stoned.  Bad combo.  Real bad combo when you are on the wrong line and you are sheepishly asking your fellow passengers “Do you know where this train is going”.  Fellow passengers are so condescending when they answer.  They give you the “scolding -a-twelve-year-old-for-losing-his-baseball-mitt” look… I guess it is the only superiority you can feel when you ride on the train (I have definitely done this before while riding in Chicago – I get a perverse pleasure when telling someone they are on the wrong train and just wasted about 40 minutes out of their day because they could not read a color coded chart).  Bottom line: we arrived at the Oakland Coliseum stop and had to get back on a train going the other way.  *sidenote* The Oakland Coliseum looks like a prison.  Absolutely brutal place from the outside.  Apparently they had the same architect who created Shawshank.  The inmates… er fans walk through a maze of chain link and concrete to get to the stadium.  How depressing – no wonder why there are so many more Giants fans.

After getting on the correct train we finally arrived at the venue, which was amazing.  If you are in Oakland you need to check out the Fox Theater.  It is a completely remodeled old-school building with 100 foot ceilings that looks and sounds great.  We caught the end of the DJ set and then Atoms for Peace (Thom Yorke’s solo project) came on and absolutely killed it.  They were amazing and the crowd was very appreciative and did something that I have never seen.  The band left the stage after the second encore and the crowd did not leave.  A couple thousand people stood there screaming for minutes.  The music came on which usually means “The band is done… GET THE FUCK OUT”.  No one cared.  The entire crowd stood around screaming… then they came back out!  The crowd erupted and they played “Love will Tear us Apart” by the Joy Division.  It was a was a perfect cap to the night.

It kind of sounds like shit on that video but to be there faded in the crowd was one of my top 10 concert experiences ever.

We stumbled out of the Fox and wanted to get a drink before we got back on the train.  We ended up at the darkest bar ever.  I could barely see my hand in front of me.  It would be an absolute paradise for an ugly chick.  Set up shop there at around 12:30AM and put out the vibe – game, set, match -  fugly chick.  We were definitely the most fucked up people in the place (did I mention that I drank my weight in Red Bull and Vodka’s and had not eaten since lunch?)  After a few minutes in the bar we made the executive decision to get food before our livers exploded.  We went to some random diner and this was my meal:

1. Bowl of Chicken Soup
2. Egg Sandwich
3. Curly Fries
4. Chocolate Milkshake

WTF?  That is one of the most bizarre combination’s of food that I have ever eaten.  From what I recollect the meal was pretty amazing.  The bus ride back consisted TK passing out from time to time and baby-necking (baby-neck (v.): the process of half passing out while sitting down causing your head to roll around like a newborn baby with no neck support) the entire way home.  After we got off at our stop (the end of the line) the guy who was passed out next to TK finally awoke started swearing.  He missed his stop miles back… at least he didn’t end up at the Oakland Jail-iseum!

I went to a show this weekend and this is my story (actual names withheld to protect the innocent):

I was picked up from my house around 6 and we headed to pick up one more person before we went over to pregame at someone else’s house.  The friend that we picked up had to stop off at the weed store to pick up some drugs first (whhaaaa?)  Yes, in California there are stores that sell weed – I have always heard about this but I have never actually been to a dispensary and seen how easy it was.  People go in – look at the selection, take a few sniffs and with a doctors note it is all “legal”.  The same thing that people all over the US and even in California are in jail for is something that you can walk into a herbal store in San Diego and no one will hassle you.  This is incredibly cool and incredibly stupid all at the same time – can we just not legalize this shit already – what is the big deal?

Anyways, after that we met up with friends to hang out and pre-drink before the concert.  They lived in one of those apartment complexes that has the layout of a Guantanamo prison.  There was about 15 different buildings in no discernible order and even people who lived there did not seem to have a clear idea of how to navigate the maze of walkways and parking lots.  I half expected David Bowie to pop out “Labyrinth-style” and start making me solve some riddles.  He didn’t though and we finally got to the house and started getting wasted.  *sidenote* While we were drinking and hanging out I heard snippets from an episode of “Friends” that was on in the background.  What an abortion of a show – cliche joke after cliche joke and all the characters are such whiny losers.  I never liked “Friends” but it was excruciating watching it now.  It has aged horribly and I can’t believe those actors are multimillionaires based on that bullshit – it infuriates me.  Worst popular sitcom ever – I would rather watch “Dharma and Greg” while someone was kicking me in the nuts than a minute of “Friends” *end sidenote*

We hung out there for about an hour then we hopped in this chick’s car and hit the road for a ride that should have lasted no more than a few minutes.  If I was forced to choose a adjective for my ride to the concert it would be: “TERRIFYING”.  The concert was at RIMAC arena which is on the campus of UCSD and is fairly difficult to navigate even when you are clear-eyed.  In this case we were all wasted and in the car we had what my friend had picked up from the “drug store” and a few flasks we were going to sneak in – it was an open and shut case for any cop that wanted to pull us over.  We got lost and drove around campus as haphazardly as Tiger Woods after a few Ambien – at one point we passed a parked cop THREE times at the same intersection.  In any normal situation I think we would have gotten pulled over but later on it dawned on me why we were not.  UCSD’s student population is 90% Asian – I am sure that these cops are numb to seeing bone-headed drivers and people that should have no business being on the road.  Next time I want to curse someone who is DWA I am going to think back to this and bite my tongue.

We finally parked and headed into the concert.  Spoon, Phoenix and Vampire Weekend were playing.  We expected Vampire Weekend, then Spoon, then Phoenix as the headliner but we walked in and Phoenix was on… I was so bummed.  This was definitely the case of a concert schedule being set before people realized that Phoenix blew up.  Luckily we only missed a song or 2 and they were amazing, and blew the other bands away. We stayed until Spoon wrapped up and then we took off – this time our driver was sober.

Apparently she was not sober enough to get not get wrapped up in the Siren’s song of Denny’s and we convinced her to stop there before we came back to my place.  Denny’s and other restaurants of its ilk are a curious mix of meth-heads, stoners, drunks and degenerates.  Add that to the vaguely filthy decor and a wait staff that is precipitously close to a suicide, murder suicide or mass-murder suicide and you have a fantastic family drunk eatery!  The table next to us was so blown out that I don’t think they said one word to each other their entire meal.  I destroyed my Lumberjack Slam and we headed back to my house for some Green Tea Ginger Ale and Jameson (my new favorite drink – lets call it a “Ginger Ninja”).  After hanging out for a bit the Charlie Brown Christmas CD happened to come up on my Itunes play-list and we listened to the entire disc and even kind of jammed out to it at one point.  I have changed my sobriety calibration to drunk – then wasted – then shitfaced – and the final level of “Charlie Brown Christmas Wasted”.  Please adhere to these levels from now on.  I passed out after my friends left at about 3AM thus putting a bookend on the night and another fantastic concert trip.

Do you have any good concert stories?

Top Nine Albums of the 00′s (In no particular order)

Arcade Fire – Funeral

I downloaded this when it first came out and hated it. After liking their follow-up album “Neon Bible” I decided to give it another try – and realized that Arcade Fire was the best Canadian import since I smuggled those bottles of Absolute out of Ontario when I was 19.

My Morning Jacket – Okonokos

I listened to “Z” and thought these guys were pretty good… then I got this album and was blown away. It was taped in San Francisco at the Fillmore and they blew the doors of the fucking place. They are one of the best live bands I have ever seen – they are a ROCK band in a time when there are very few. I have the attention span of a termite and I actually watched their entire performance onscreen at a movie theater in San Diego – any band that can entertain me without even being there for that amount of time ROCKS.

Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye

I stumbled onto this band online randomly and listened the shit out of this album for about a year. Now it has become my go-to chill-out music. Jeremy Greenspan whispers his lyrics over the synthesized beats that don’t know if they want you to get up and dance or relax and smoke a J. Just to be safe throw this CD on and do both.

Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Probably the most unique of all of the bands on the list, Animal Collective seems to be able to take some of the most bizarre sounds and put them together to make very compelling music. It is definitely an acquired taste but give it a shot – hey, I didn’t like beer the first time I tried it either but now I put it on Cheerios. Trust me – give this one a listen.

Justice – Cross

I had no clue who Justice was until Street Scene 2008. They were one of the headlining bands and I had no idea why. Their name sounds like they are a “creed-esque” christian rock band and I was ready to skip the show altogether and check out someone else. My friend convinced me to stay and I thought I would regret it when I saw a big white cross onstage. They dropped the first beat of Genesis, whipped the crowd into a frenzy and I have been a fan ever since – for two creepy chain smoking French guys they can throw down!

Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights

This album still reminds me of dreary Chicago winter afternoons. Their monotone lyrics and great guitar riffs were the soundtrack to my swan song in Chicago. “Turn on the Bright Lights” is a great album to curl up under the covers and listen to wondering why the fuck anyone lives in a cold weather climate.

Radiohead – Kid A

The best band of my generation. Period. There is no question about it. They have changed their music style and been successful every time. Their live shows are AMAZING. Every time I get off of a plane I listen to “Everything in its Right Place” – I don’t know why but I feel it is a great bookend from leaving your destination – and it just so happens that the rest of the album is a great soundtrack to wait for your bags to come. Don’t knock it until you try it… trust me.

TV on the Radio – Dear Science,

TV on the Radio followed up “Return to Cookie Mountain” with the best album of 2008. “Love Dog” is definitely one of my favorite songs of all time. I am looking forward to what these guys come up with next.

Pheonix - Wolfgang Amadaeus Pheonix

I may look back that this pick and regret it just because it is new to me but I have been listening to it non-stop since I bought it. It is fantastic – it feels to me like a more fully baked version of MGMT’s “Oracular Spectacular” without the annoying filler songs. Every beat seems to land at the right time – the way they have put together the album gives you everything you want just when you want it. I am going to check them out in a few weeks and can’t wait to see if they can deliver live what they have produced on this CD.

Honorable Mentions – The National – Boxer, Mew – And the Glass Handed Kites, We Are Scientists – With Love and Squalor, Philip Glass – Metamorphosis, Outkast – Stankonia, Anything that I missed?

Maybe that is the key.  Music, more than any other medium associates itself in our minds as a strong identifier to a certain social group.  When one thinks about liking Rap, Country, Indie, or Rave music a certain picture of each person is conjured in their head.  This is much more, than say, if one were to say that their favorite book was “Catcher in the Rye” or they liked to watch “Lost” or that their favorite movie was “The Godfather”.  Are people aware of these stereotypes regarding their musical tastes and unless they are deeply entrenched in the social group associated with that specific type of music they tend to shy away from identifying themselves as a fan of a specific genre?

It would be an interesting study to ask people that question and compare thier answers to what they had in thier musical library and how much thier identification with that music affected thier lives and interactions with thier various peer groups.