THIS is a CLOSE-UP?

It all looked so good at the start. I would leave my conference in Oakland just in time to hit the Pitchfork Music Festival on the 18th and 19th by flying into Chicago at 6:30am Saturday morning. Well, that part went off without a hitch, but I didn't anticipate how ass-draggin' I would feel, which threatened to derail the whole fest. But after a nap and a Dunkin' Donuts infusion, I was ready to tackle my third P4K (which was a "just me" fest this time). And the weather was perfect: overcast and 70 degrees both days. [Clouded and cool can also summarize my overall attitude, too.] I arrived Saturday in time to watch Fucked Up roar their way through a set of high-energy hardcore with a few rock flourishes, and while they were engaging, I was awash in the old-guy sensation of watching history repeat itself with a few wiggles left and right. This feeling only grew in intensity during the next set ( The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart ), which was a mash of Ride, Th...

Over the weekend, I was watching an episode of VH-1 Storytellers from ten years ago featuring David Bowie, running through some songs from his then-new album 'hours...' as well as some classics. His hair was luxurious, his banter was superb, his band was aces, the songs were gems (well, most of them, at least), and it all made me wonder... ...where the fuck is David Bowie? His last album, the actually-quite-decent '03 release Reality , was over a half-decade ago, by far his longest stretch between albums. And he's popped up here and there during that time, but mostly with other artists -- a few songs with Arcade Fire, some background vocals for TV On The Radio and Scarlett Johansson, and that's it. No new albums, no one-off track for a soundtrack, no touring, not a peep. When artists like Dylan and McCartney are touring their asses off, taking victory laps in their sixties yet still managing to release interesting new material, we get nothing from Bowie. Of cours...

The new record from Moby is called Wait For Me , and it's almost like a greatest hits -- you get to hear some synthesized soul/gospel a la Play , there's a nice Moby guitar & vocal track a la Animal Rights , and there's even a few moody and atmospheric instrumentals that recall a more ethereal M83. "Shot In The Back Of The Head" is a good example, and it's hard to beat a video directed by David Lynch: Wait For Me is in stores now, waiting for you.

Some of my favorite albums from the first half of '09, in embarrassing grade-school poetics: Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [Kinetic French pop / Ooh, rock me Amadeus! / and go buy me now] Placebo - Battle For The Sun [Love or hate or punt / but the feelings they evoke / never set to stun] Matt & Kim - Grand [Two kids, one great vibe / smiles for miles and killer beats / make a grand old time] Metric - Fantasies [True reality / these tunes need no conversion / flourishes of fab] Morrissey - Years Of Refusal [So why the long face? / Your refusal never trumps / my unending love] Tortoise - Beacons Of Ancestorship [Post-rock? Not a chance / Muscular instrumentals / captivate post-haste] Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers [Corruscating rock / with lost lyrics from Richy / a late-career peak] Royksopp - Junior [Sly electronics / sweet spunky Swedish sounds with / no senior moments] Zombi - Spirit Animal [Re-animated / epic aural black velvet / that pro...

I.O.U.S.A. is one of the more frightening documentaries of recent memory, and what’s most chilling is that its essential messages of national fiscal responsibility derived from more sensible economic policies (at federal, state, local, and personal levels) are as unsexy as possible, like 5am crop reports or Kathy Griffin. But if America is to have any more Independence Days that mean anything, it’s the debt that matters, and debt is the biggest threat to the continued workings of the country, a point which I.O.U.S.A. makes in a straightforward and nonpartisan manner. Those still clinging to the unfettered belief in American exceptionalism believe that the crushing debt we’re currently experiencing is part of the natural ebb and flow of commerce and capital, and that America will soon rebound back to some level of solvency, given the power of free markets and our unique status as a nation. But even a glance through finger-covered eyes at actual numbers and projections will shrivel...