revelations of a music snob

regarding:

* new STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS record - i couldn't say it much better than Tiny Mixtape's Ed Comentale:

"Ultimately, Mirror Traffic doesn’t quite recapture the shaggy
grandeur of Wowee Zowee, and, perhaps to its detriment, it abandons the proggy
jam-band bliss of Real Emotional Trash."

it's still a pretty great freaking record, though. you just need to skip tracks 1 and 3.

* bass guitar - SPECTOR2112 is my new favourite youtube guy. if you look at the selection of stuff he plays, it's like he grew up with me...or at least down the street from me...except, he has the Rush, Frente and BN Ladies songs (so i guess that means he actually was up the street from JaHe! ahahahahahaaahahaha ). :(



* taylor swift - made the following observations in no particular order:
- LA crowds kinda suk, even at arena shows: the entire audience sang along to every song, loudly. but, hardly anyone applauded or hooted in between songs. in fact, some pauses in the show were downright silent. AlSto sez it's cos everyone was busy texting or otherwise doing something else to occupy their attention-deficited minds.
- fathers seated next to a person other than his daughter on one side are oblivious when their ample backsides begin to slide over to occupy part of the other person's seat for more than one song.
- i can recognise a justin bieber song in less than four notes.
- justin bieber can dance pretty well even when he's half-a$$ing it.
- t. swift's backup dancers dance better than justin bieber.
- her guitar players are the type of guys i don't like, meaning too much hairspray and too many Les Paul guitars for their age. and they can play so-so.

(click for more photos, but not of the guitar players!)

- t.s. puts on a decent show, she really does! and i'm talking about the entire production, not just her. the sets are beautiful, and she does the quick-change thing that would put most people, including Chinese opera singers, to shame.
- it's funny cos a bunch of people asked if she really couldn't sing or uses autotune live. i was watching her closely. there was a slight lag between the stage and video screen. i think there might be a little backing track action happening, but what do i know?
- even if one doesn't think one knows t.s.' repertoire, one does. it may also be because a lot of her songs sound the same...but still, they're tolerable and written well.
- t.s. prefers audio technica handheld mics and she holds it in her right hand. always. i think she plays Taylor guitars, too, but that is a little on the nose.

who knew one could score points with the kids (my friend ScoTe's daughter, EmTe) and some coworkers (who are parents) simultaneously?!!!??