Author: Mike Katzif

hello.shuffle (part five of five)

Here is the last part of our shuffle…

Mike’s Songs

5) ‘Alice Childress’ by Ben Folds Five (Ben Folds Five)

This was one of my favourite songs in high school back when Ben Folds was fresh and full of energy. I think over the years he has forgotten how to rock. Great songwriter, but needs his band back to light a fire under his ass a bit.
Greg’s Songs

i have this same midi controller!5) ‘No Love’ by Dinky (Carpark records sampler)

Decent electronic dancy song. Not really in the mood for this right now. I think I will go back to Takk…

Aryn’s Songs

5) ‘Jazz Crimes’ by Joshua Redman (Elastic)

Great band. I haven’t listened to this one is quite awhile. Very tight rhythm section, awesome syncopations and a fantastic flow to the music. These guys have played together quite a bit and you can really hear it in the music. I like the “gimmick” that is the octavizer pedal with the saxes… very effective. I enjoy the solo work of the keyboardist Sam Yahel on this record, but on the next one it has that same sound, which when returned to doesn’t quite hold up. But this one… fantastic.

Hope you enjoyed this feature… I find it pretty cool to see what comes up; good or bad. Let us know what you think here on the blog or athelloshuffle@hellocomein.com.

hello.shuffle (part four of five)

The penultimate chapter in our ongoing hello.shuffle saga…

Mike’s Songs

4) ‘Loving Cup’ by The Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street)

I grew up always listening to the 1960s Rolling Stones stuff from my dad’s record collection and I think I liked them because they sounded like the Beatles. I dont even think I realized at that time that the old geezers in leather on tv were the same band. It wasnt until later that I got into the amazing 1970s albums like Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers when my uncle bought them for me. I think asked for Exile first because it had THIS song on it which was a constant staple of Phish in concert. I figured if Phish played it, it must be a great song. Its amazing actually.

Greg’s Songs

4) ‘Give It Away’ by Zero 7 (Simple Things)

Hah! How ironic, after just mentioning them above. I like Zero 7 for the most part, and there are moments when Zero 7 is perfect (like when you are Zach Braff trying to figure out your life). But, they seem to be lacking something. Few of their songs are that distinctive… so they often sound better in mixes with contrasting songs than within the album they come from. Perhaps over reliance on Fender Rhodes, string chords, soul beats, etc. I remember first seeing Zero 7 on the late late show in high school and was blown away. it was before Google, and I knew the band was zero-something. It took me roughly a year before I figure out who it was.

Aryn’s Songs

4) ‘What Is The Light?’ by The Flaming Lips (The Soft Bulletin)

I just finished their biography. Good book, its nice to read about a band that works their asses off and eventually have it pay off. Uplifting tune– you can hear hints of what is to come in this one, kind of a more radio sounding song, might be neat to hear live though.

Back tomorrow for the last installment. If you have any comments or suggestions of your own shuffled music, feel free to drop them here or at helloshuffle@hellocomein.com.

A dog, a panic in a pagoda…

I have never been the hugest fan of Weird Al Yancovic…but always respected his ear for music, humour and parody and such. But it wasn’t until now that I came across his pure genius.

But first, check this out… this is a video Bob Dylan did in the documentary Dont Look Back for the song ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues.’ This is one of the most iconic scenes for Dylan in an era when no one had any notion of what a music video was. The concept is so simple and really plays up the notion of Dylan’s lyrics as the star of his songs.

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While watching this video again on YouTube, I found a link to this Weird Al parody called ‘Bob’…

[youtube]XqlGWPeXqj8[/youtube]
The video itself is a spot on recreation and homage to the Dylan video. But Yancovic also treads his parody nicely into the surreal, yet oft-difficult to decipher literary allusions that made Dylan famous. Yancovic truly understands Dylan’s music, lyrics and imagery. Then it hits me… Weird Al’s strange and non-sequitar phrases in this song are palindromes! What’s a palindrome, you ask? Lets consult the dictionary.

pal·in·drome (pln-drm) n.

  1. A word, phrase, verse, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. For example: A man, a plan, a canal, Panama

Ah yes, Yancovic is thinking on a third stream level of parody and wit here. I wanted to share this with someone, anyone who might equally appreciate it…or at least give a crap. Amazing.

hello.shuffle (part three of five)

We continue on with part three of our hello.shuffle…

Mike’s Songs

3) ‘We Wont Just Be Deflated’ by The Go! Team (Thunder, Lightning, Strike)

I imagine this is what would happen if you went to a music buffet, ate a bunch of old hip hop, blaxploitation soul and funk, 70s action theme songs, surfer rock and kids playground rock records and pooped out the most perfect golden nugget. This record is great fun party music.

Greg’s Songs

3) ‘Se Lest’ by Sigur Ros (Takk…)

Ahhhhhhhh….. I love this album so much. I think it is their best. The songs are really listenable in comparison to the previous albums (which I also love so much). This song is perfect for the setting right now- late night, in bed, roomate out of town, really quiet and dark. I think Sigur Ros is really inspiring- with the sweeping crescendos, huge endings. [Im about halfway through this song now… oh yes!! i love this change. this vibraphone melody is going to be ringing in my head as i fall asleep. i wish it would have come up last because i would have finished the email right now, turned off my bed lamp and fallen asleep to it. brass band, synth tremelos. bass drum- cymbals.] And the repetetive, building nature of the music seems to me to be very much inspired by film score music. Im suprised you dont hear more of their stuff in movies or commercials.

Aryn’s Songs

3) ‘Blown A Wish’ by My Bloody Valentine (Loveless)

Another band that I don’t frequent, I feel like their sound gets tiresome after a few tracks, Its a nice sonic scape they create, but maybe not quite diverse enough to fill albums worth of material. Worthy for some of those key cinematic moments though. you know.. the ones in movies.

comeback again tomorrow for part four…If you have any comments or suggestions of your own shuffled music, feel free to drop them here or at helloshuffle@hellocomein.com.

hello.shuffle (part two of five)

Welcome back for part two…

Mike’s Songs

2) ‘Black Cadillacs’ by Modest Mouse (Good News For People Who Love Bad News)

Wow…havent listened to this band for awhile. Issac Brock is an amazing lyricist and pop song writer and I think this song is a perfect mix of his skills in melody and his noise freak rock-out tendencies. I listened to this record a lot when I was walking the streets in Berlin. I especially loved the song ‘The Good Times Are Killing Me.’

Greg’s Songs

2) ‘Nr. 9’ by Hooverphonic (A New Sterophonic Sound Spectacular)

This band is pretty decent- I know nothing about them to be honest. A couple of tracks on this album sound straight off of a Portishead album. This one is great- another track I havent really noticed before. Some of their stuff is a little too chill-ala-zero-7-ish. But this track is driving, open high hat rock. I like. Good whispy female voice.

Aryn’s Songs

2) ‘Youth Worshipper’ by The Church (Heyday)

This is one of the Ross tracks that I acquired. Typical 80’s sound, heroic vocals, nice synth pads, orchestrated hits. This one seems a little over produced to keep that edge that they may or may not have been going for. Amusing to say the least.

Come back tomorrow for part three… Feel free to email us at helloshuffle@hellocomein.com or leave comments here if you like. We would like to hear what you think or provide your own playlist.

hello.shuffle (part one of five)

Welcome to the first part in our hello.shuffle.

Mike’s Songs

1) ‘I Bellieve in Symmetry’ by Bright Eyes (Digital Ash in a Digital Urn)

I read over and over that this guy (Conor Oberst) is the next Bob Dylan of our generation. But then, isn’t EVERYONE dubbed that at somepoint? I want to like him and I have a few of his records, and I generally do like him. But his voice, after awhile seems to grow on my nerves. I normally cannot listen to a full record by him, but this is a pretty good pop song though; he certainly knows what he is doing.

Greg’s Songs

1) ‘Anticipation’ by Blonde Redhead (Misery is a Butterfly)

I really like Blonde Redhead- although this song seems to have slipped by me before. There’s a select few songs I listen to on this album usually (Magic Mountain in my favorite)…usually I cue them up when I feel like listening to Interpol but dont want to listen to Interpol. Whenever I listen to Blonde Redhead, I am reminded of how frustrating it is to discover a band a week after they come to town. sigh.

Aryn’s Songs

1) ‘Fidelity’ by Regina Spektor (Begin to Hope)

I have just recently heard of her, maybe in the last few months or so. But a great voice, and very precise vocal punches in this track. Definitely a great way to kick off an album… and maybe the best track on it.

Stay tuned…part two tomorrow. Feel free to email us at helloshuffle@hellocomein.com or leave comments here if you like. We would like to hear what you think or provide your own playlist.

hello.shuffle (prologue)

If you are an avid reader of the Onion AV Club, then you probably have read the feature called ‘Random Rules.’ If you have no idea what I am talking about then let me explain. Its quite simple: a celebrity is interviewed by hitting random on their iPod (or other mp3 player) and talking about the songs that come up. I like it because it shows not only the good songs someone might have, but also the guilty pleasure songs we are embarrased to have ever bought, but still listen to late at night, alone in our bedrooms, under the covers with shades drawn and the lights off.

We at hellocomein are by no means celebrities (especially because I think we are the only ones reading this blog besides our grandmothers who wonder how the ghost of mice are able to write inside our screens from the afterlife). But I thought it would be fun to imitate the same thing.

A few weeks ago, the three of us hit shuffle on our iPods and wrote about the first 5 songs that came up. Starting tomorrow and for five days straight we will each reveal one song that popped up. If anyone has done similar things let us know. We are curious about your music. So stay tuned…

delicious cuts of pork…

porkchop2

Last night, while talking with my cousin, I somehow fixated on the topic of meats. I was saying how I don’t really eat beef, when I can help it, but I love pork. She was saying she did like ham and we agreed we sorta liked bacon, though I dislike it more than most. I then began explaining my love for pork chops and she said she did like pork tenderloin but did NOT eat porkchops.

Wait a second… I thought. Pork tenderloin IS porkchops. Just in different form. You see, the meat that is found in the pork chop is a round cylindrical loin that runs the length of the animal. When at the butcher you will typically see the animal before the cuts are made and notice that there are many a chop with bone that surround this loin.

porkchop1

When you buy a pork chop in a store, you are getting a small cross section of that loin plus the bone its a attached to. Other times you can get a thicker center cut of the chop often without this bone called a medallion. And then there is the glorious pork
tenderloin. This is the same exact loin section of the animal but but uncut and without the bones that encase it. I found this helpful page to further explain. I dont know why this is fascinating, but to me I guess I’d like to know what I am eating.

And to see a helpful diagram of what I am talking about look below.
diagram 1

This somehow reminds me of a great quote from the Simpsons:

Homer: Are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Ham?
Lisa: No.
Homer: Pork chops?
Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.
Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.

things Mike likes pt1…

In the constant barrage of things I like, I thought I’d clue you chaps into this.

Its an interesting behind the scenes look of this artist Tony Harris, who pencils the graphic novel Ex Machina. The series is scribed by my current favourie high concept comic writer, Brian K Vaughan. (he also writes the amazing Y: The Last Man as well..)

Ex Machina vol. 1

Anyway, Ex Machina is currently my favourite book in the genre of comics. Its very little of the cliche superheroics and much more a political thriller. Think West Wing meets Iron Man. This guy has an accident and gains the super ability to talk to machines. He tries to fight the good fight, but realizes he is unnecessarily risking his life to simply maintain the status quo. So he runs for mayor of NYC. And due to a great plot twist, wins. This is the first collected book. I think there are 2 others so far.

The plot reveals both everyday political governing, conspiracies and mystery of his origins. Plus the visuals are incredibly realistic but still w\in the genre of art deco comic book. Harris’ new technique of ink washing provides shadowy grey tones on his penciling. It looks pretty great.

I know you guys arent huge comic bookers, and really, I am not much either in the geeky obsessive Comic Book Guy sense, but every once in awhile a few books catch my eye… Sin City, Y: the Last Man, or Watchmen. Check it out.

–Mike