Pixies were undoubtedly one of the most influential bands of the late eighties, and in fact arrived just slightly ahead of their time: just as they were breaking apart, Nirvana was breaking alternative music into the mainstream. All in all they left behind four studio albums and one EP, and since their demise a CD of B-sides and one of live performances in the BBC studios have been released, as well as a handful of collections, rarities, and some limited-edition recordings of their 2004 reunion tour. What was missing was … well, this DVD.
Pixies is an exemplary DVD retrospective, one by which future music DVDs can be judged. On a single disc it collects all of the band’s videos, one complete concert, and two documentaries—one follows them on an early tour of Europe, and the other is a retrospective featuring live footage, interviews with the band, and an assortment of musicians and critics discussing the band’s impact and importance. The videos range from early demo reels to more polished MTV-style stuff, and the documentaries couldn’t be more different, either: one’s just tosses you on the bus to tour with the band, while the other is all talking heads and inset album covers. My favorite bit was the concert footage—I often find myself cringing at my favorite bands’ live work, especially the frequently hopeless attempts to duplicate on stage the tight harmonies and intricate soundscapes made possible by high-priced producers and computer software, but the Pixies sound almost exactly the same live as they do on disc—a little more stripped down, maybe, a little more raw, but basically the same. And unlike a lot of self consciously pensive musicians these days, they all look like they enjoy what they’re doing—Kim in particular is clearly having a blast throughout.
If you’re a Pixies fan, this disc is essential—it’s not just another shameless cash-in, it’s a great up-close look at a band at the peak of its powers. There’s a lot of material here, every bit of it worthwhile. Don’t miss it.
Several of my favorite musicians have released good albums this year—like Ben Folds, Foo Fighters, Sleater-Kinney, Aimee Mann, and The White Stripes, to name a few—not to mention a shockingly good unofficial online release by Fiona Apple and a compilation of EPs by Belle & Sebastian. But a new (to me) musical discovery may turn out to be my favorite album of the year: Andrew Bird’s majestic and strange The Mysterious Production of Eggs. I’m now happily and confidently recommending this album to every single person I know—it’s that good.
It’s hard to describe Eggs in terms of influences and similar artists, because there just isn’t anyone similar to this. Vocally, Bird comes in somewhere between Rufus Wainwright and Thom Yorke, but with none of the tendency to over-emote (or, on the other end of the spectrum, mumble). Musically, Bird seamlessly mixes the country and swing of his past projects with rock, folk, and classical influences. At times the instrumentation reminds me a bit of late-period Tom Waits (which is good), but mostly he stays a little closer to the pop end of the spectrum while mixing things up enough to keep the listener on his toes.
Bird’s lyrics shine, too—every song could be read as a poem. But along with the music—gorgeous melodies, shimmering harmonies, and Bird’s stellar violin, guitar, and occasional whistling—it’s irresistible. I can’t recommend this album highly enough.
There are advantages to working at a school. Although my position as Assistant to the Director of Technology does not allow for three months of summer vacation, my work schedule opens up nicely from June through August—I work four days a week, from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. There are no kids around, and few other staff members, so I have plenty of time and space in which to get things done. And there’s no one around to complain about my music, so I’m finally catching up on all those albums I’d been meaning to listen to. Between the iTunes Music Store, eMusic, and AllofMP3, I’d managed to accumulate literally hundreds of unheard tracks in my iTunes library—a Smart Playlist revealed that the total length of these tracks was well over two days of continuous music. In the past week I’ve winnowed that down considerably; the unheard tracks now total around one day and twenty-one hours … not including a little over a day’s worth of podcasts … or nearly ten solid days of unheard This American Life MP3s.
I found out earlier this month that next year, in addition to being the middle school computer teacher, I’ll be taking over sixth through eighth grade Latin. I have three months to brush up. Wish me luck.
Also, I bought a car.
Sacramento music fans: my favorite local band, Nice Monster, will be playing at Luna’s Café, 1414 16th Street, tomorrow at 9PM. Also performing: Mark Herrod of POPGUN, Richard March, and Amee Chapman and the Big Finish. This will also be Josh Schramm’s last performance as bassist for Nice Monster. I will probably be there, unless I don’t get paid tomorrow. You should be there, too.
The BBC reports that Russian prosecutors have decided not to take action against AllofMP3.com, so if you took my advice and used up your balance a while back, it should be safe to refill now.
Also, the best Metafilter comment in weeks comes from MillMan, who reasons, “Corporations can shop around the world for the lowest labor costs, and now I can shop my dollars around for the most favorable IP laws.”
TiVo has a very cool feature called TiVo Desktop that pulls music from your computer and plays it over whatever stereo you have hooked up for your TV, while displaying the song, artist, and album names on the TV. Unfortunately for iTunes users, the TiVo Desktop download page warns that the feature “does not support AAC audio files (including music purchased at the iTunes Music Store).” As it turns out—for Mac users, at least—half of that statement is a dirty, rotten lie.
As posted on PVRblog this morning, playing AAC files over TiVo Desktop is as simple as installing a command-line MP3 encoder called LAME. You don’t even have to use the command line to make it work—a handy package file on Vas the Man’s Downloads page will install the program for you, and then the feature just works without further ado. I don’t know if there’s a way to make it work for iTunes-using Windows users, and since I’m not a Windows user myself, I have no motivation for finding out.
But the other half of that warning on TiVo’s page remains problematic: TiVo Desktop won’t play DRM-encoded files, like the ones you get from the iTunes Music Store. So you’ll just have to strip the DRM nonsense from your AAC files if you want to play them on your TiVo.
For those who use AllofMP3 for their music downloads, now might be a good time to burn through your download credits. The Moscow Prosecutor’s Office has thirty days to decide whether or not to bring charges against the service for copyright infringement. And I just added $25 to my balance yesterday, damn it. No mention in the article of similar services, like MP3Search.ru.
