The Scoop

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11 responses to “The Scoop”

1. 

   Dreamweapon

   December 30, 2008

   On Carolina’s timeout, I just assumed it was called because it wasn’t a 4th down, so they would at least have a prayer at recovering the ball with a tick or two left in the event of a blown snap on the FA attempt (or as some Skins fans might call it, the “Dan Turk Special”), or a problem with the hold. Did they have another timeout left? It didn’t seem like a Favre-comically-lying-down-for-Strahan type thing when I saw it. Anyway, Brees is a god, having conspired with Schaub and a cast of lesser lights to help me demolish two clear heavyweights over the course of the past four weeks en route to a championship in my most important league. I am going after both of them hard next year, and will be all too happy to get Brees in the 2nd and Schaub in the 5th or 6th, banking on the latter’s depressed value, as you astutely note.

   And Pavement is easily one of my favorite bands (really, only Pixies are in the same league in my mind as far as the overall consistency of their output), though I’m surprised anyone would think them famous since the vast majority of plebes here have never heard of them, and of those who have, probably a full half only know them from the play “Cut Your Hair” got on MTV back in the day. Anyway, you could list dozens of songs there, but I always liked “Texas Never Whispers”, which few ppl heard until the Luxe & Reduxe re-release of ‘Slanted & Enchanted’ a few years back (Matador’s re-releases of Pavement’s catalog have been some of the most awesome love letters to a fan base ever written, in my mind, it’s astounding how much extra material they toss in for just a few scant bucks). Really, that entire ‘Watery, Domestic’ EP was a secret killer, all four of the songs were tight as hell and fun as fuck. I think I own every EP and single they ever produced, there are a ton of hidden treasures to be mined in that canon. “The Hexx” is great, of course, but I think I just gravitate towards some of the Gary Young-era insanity for personal reasons.

2. 

   RotoScoop

   December 31, 2008

   Dreamweapon – I definitely didn’t mean to insinuate/relate the Panthers timeout to Brett Favre letting Strahan set the record – Carolina had PLENTY at stake there. I was being sarcastic – that decision was stupid. I hear your explanation, but have you ever seen a botched snap recovered and then a made FG b/c a team called a T.O. with 4 more seconds left? I certainly haven’t. You know what I have seen tho? Returned kickoffs for touchdowns. Brees is the man no doubt – but I wouldn’t take a QB in the second round on a bet.

   Pixies and Pavement above Radiohead? I can’t join you there, but admittedly, I’m not FULLY familiar with Pavement. Also, I agree I exaggerated with my “famous” label of them – they are not, but I took that liberty in order to fit that song in. “The Hexx” is so damn good. I’ll go DL “Texas Never Whispers” right now (like I said, I’m not THAT into them and have never heard that song).

   What are your thoughts on Malkmus’ solo projects? I remember thinking “Baby Come On” was catchy, but again, not fully invested.

3. 

   Stevie Ya Yo

   December 31, 2008

   What the Weapon sez re: Pavement reissues. I would not have guessed how much excellent extraneous stuff they had on hand. I eagerly yet sadly await the special edition release of Terror Twilight sometime in the next year or two.

   I too rank Pixies and Pavement above Radiohead, but that’s all on Thom Yorke’s yelp, which I still find most unpleasant. Malkmus solo stuff is almost anti-Pavement in nature — jammy denim rock.

   Next season will likely be another one in which only Forte and Greg Olsen will be fantasy starters from the Bears. Amusing yesterday to hear the GM contradict Lovie Smith’s contention from the day before that Kyle Orton is a lock to start at QB in ’09. Of course, it could all be a contract ploy on the part of the Bears, with Prius McNeckBeard only signed through the end of next season and Angelo hopefully having learned from the Devin Hester holdout that ordaining players as anything can lead to significant salary demands….

4. 

   RotoScoop

   December 31, 2008

   So you don’t like Malkmus at all after Pavement?

   I would never defend Yorke’s voice – but I personally don’t see a band even close to them. Not even remotely.

5. 

   Dreamweapon

   December 31, 2008

   Yeah, I should have mentioned that in that particular league (a 14 teamer) you can run 2 QBs….I got Brees in the middle of the 3rd this year (~#35), and loved every week of it, he was a way better value than either of my first two picks. He had less than 13 pts in our fairly standard format exactly twice. I was 8-5 in the regular season and only made the playoffs b/c of a tiebreaker–with almost any other QB besides Brees (possibly Warner would have got the job done this year), I wouldn’t have made it in. Schaub I traded for immediately after his injury when it looked like he might be done for the year, he was just a throw-in on a massive 5-for-4 swap and my Hail Mary paid off big-time.

   Oh yeah, Pavement and Pixies over Radiohead, big time. Not even close. I don’t care for Yorke’s voice either, but beyond that, I think Radiohead is one of the more overrated bands in my lifetime (The Strokes would be stiff competition for that title). They’re kind of derivative, aping, well, Pavement and Pixies, The Smiths, Pink Floyd, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not slamming them, I own a few of their discs, but it’s worth noting that each of them was purchased under duress, when I was bored with the music I had on hand and wanted something fresh. I bought ‘OK Computer’ when I was on a study abroad in Johannesburg, and I had listened to the spindle of discs I had brought with in the pre-ipod days about a hundred times already, and just got the disc at some store in Cresta one day together with some local stuff, just for a change of pace (this was in ’02, so obviously I wasn’t that enthusiastic considering it had been out for like five years by that point). Then I bought ‘Amnesiac’ at a Target in Hudson, Wisconsin the summer it came out because I was drafting some huge-ass motion in a homicide case which was dragging deep into the night, and I was sick of whatever I had brought that day and couldn’t make it back to my place in Minneapolis until I was finished, and the store’s selection was so lame that it seemed like the only alternative to an aisle full of Brooks & Dunn. I’ve just never been excited to get a new Radiohead album or go to a show or anything. They were solid when I saw them at Alpine Valley a few years back, but objective, the experience paled in comparison to a typical GBV or Flaming Lips show, IMO. It’s just that people talk about Radiohead like they’re a latter-day Beatles, and I don’t see it. If I drafted a list of my 100 favorite records, I wouldn’t be surprised to pass on their catalog in its entirety.

   Malkmus’ solo stuff is ok, but it’s not on par with Pavement’s work (hardly anything is), so he suffers from the comparison. I like it, I listen to his albums, but I think he needs a strong counterpoint around to sand off the rough edges of some of his eccentricities and tendencies towards self-indulgence. Spiral Stairs was a formidable song writer in his own right and helped to balance Malkmus out, and without him he’s a little unmoored. Not unlike Frank Black without Kim Deal, similarly.

6. 

   Dreamweapon

   December 31, 2008

   While we’re on the topic of fairly esoteric music, I highly recommend checking out Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’. I was thinking about my favorite albums and happened to look at the dates of release on all of them, and I’m pretty sure ‘Aeroplane’ is the best record of the past decade.

7. 

   RotoScoop

   December 31, 2008

   Dreamweapon – A 2 QB league makes all the difference. Then I completely understand taking one early.

8. 

   RotoScoop

   December 31, 2008

   Dreamweapon – I won’t bash Pavement or the Pixies – in fact, I haven’t heard nearly enough of them and surely need to. Any suggestions of albums/songs of where to specifically start with either?

   But going on RotoScoop and speaking ill of Radiohead is akin to criticizing Tim Lincecum, or praising Brian Sabean – it’s simply unacceptable. If there’s a better song than “Paranoid Android,” I haven’t heard it.

   I can see someone getting turned off by “Kid A” and/or “Amnesiac” and surprisingly, it’s the stripped down and simplified “The Bends” that is my favorite album. Have you given this a true try? If not, I suggest you do. It might take boredom in a third world country – but you should purchase it nevertheless.

   And how dare you insult Radiohead by mentioning them in the same sentence as the Beatles.

9. 

   RotoScoop

   December 31, 2008

   I have a friend who really likes Neutral Milk Hotel. Maybe I can get him to burn me that CD.

10. 

    Dreamweapon

    December 31, 2008

    Well, if you like “Paranoid Android” that much, you should definitely check out Grandaddy’s ‘The Sophtware Slump’, as you’re all but guaranteed to love it (too bad the rest of their work was awful, because ‘Sophtware’ was pretty damn amazing–one of my friends who’s musical opinions I actually respect lists it as his favorite record ever). It’s a good song; it was definitely my favorite of the ‘OKC’ album and probably their best overall, but best ever? By anyone? Ever? Indulge me in a refutation of that claim, good sir, if you will:

    At least half of Bob Dylan’s first twenty years’ of production blows it out of the water both musically and lyrically –“Like a Rolling Stone”, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, “Positively 4th Street”, “Just Like a Woman”, “Tangled Up In Blue”–for starters. If you’ve not gotten into Dylan yet, I totally understand–I ignored him most of my life up until the past couple of years, but I have to sheepishly admit I was completely wrong to do so. He was a genius, in every sense of the word. The melodies are clean, classic and lovely, and the stream-of-conscious lyrics are just so insightful and biting as to put almost the whole of the modern industry to shame. He did his best work 30-40 years ago, but it’s so much more vital and alive than anything currently being put out that it sounds like you’re right there, the temporal gulf is largely meaningless. Current rock and roll desperately needs an infusion of Dylan-style earnestness and depth of emotion, which is why it is such a damn shame when a spiritual successor like Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel) suffers a breakdown and withdraws from society and his craft.

    Similarly, what about Lennon and McCartney? “Imagine”? “Let It Be”? Much like yourself, I don’t even really like The Beatles, but hearing those songs even as sung by street performers on $40 amps while waiting for the train is enough to bring a tear to my eye. For just a few short minutes, I stop feeling hopeless about the state of the world and its future prospects.

    And can you so easily dismiss the crushing assault of Zeppelin’s adaptation of “When the Levee Breaks”, which is essentially the sonic equivalent of Zeus hurling down a cascade of thunderbolts from atop Olympus? I think I could probably fight a grizzly bear to the death provided this song (either the Zep version or the Killdozer cover) was playing in the background. Epic in a way only a couple of other bands have ever managed to equal.

    How about Cash’s brooding masterpieces, like “I Walk the Line” and “Ring of Fire”? Simple, guileless perfection, distilled into a 3-minute song.

    And all of those classy, gorgeous Motown classics, beginning with Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks of My Tears” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”, though obviously you could fill an ipod with those guys and likes of Gaye, Redding, Green, et al.?

    What of Eno’s pioneering incandescence, such “Here Come the Warm Jets”, “The Big Ship”, “Burning Airlines”, “Ending (Ascent)”? Is there a more overlooked member of music’s pantheon of gods than Brian Eno?

    Honestly, I think it’s just that the state of modern popular music has been in such a protracted and precipitous decline. For people who like rock and roll but who didn’t happen to end up neck deep in indie rock in their formative years, it may well seem like Radiohead is a godsend. But personally, I think they stand out like a shining star only because the perceived constellation about them is so dim and weak. So much of the greatest stuff is produced on small labels with limited marketing reach that they just never manage to penetrate our collective conscience. I could honestly go on for hours, listing stuff I would be shocked if anyone reading this had ever even heard of (Popul Vuh’s “Einsjäger & Siebenjäger”? Flying Saucer Attack’s “Always”?), all of which I’m convinced blew away anything Radiohead did, but the problem is that it is all old or deep underground (or sometimes both). The popular bands in the 60s and 70s were often actually great, and produced genuinely wondrous music, rather than just “looking” (or worse yet, “dancing”) like rockstars and playing a bunch of painfully simplistic but slickly-produced crap. Even into the 80s, at least some of the most popular artists (e.g. Prince, Neil Young, possibly Guns N’ Roses) were actually ARTISTS. But now, that’s over, virtually everything on the top-40 is abysmal, repetitive, high-gloss, low-brow dreck. You can practically see the A&R tools pulling the marionette strings on most of these dull-eyed puppets.

    So, I guess I’m just saying there is definitely better stuff, but one must delve a little deeper to find it. That said, most of what’s above is definitely known to most listeners, and I would assert each of these songs have qualities which elevate them well above Radiohead’s work. But hey, what do I know? People’s tastes are inherently idiosyncratic, and we’re all better off for it. I could even be wrong. To tell you the truth, no, I haven’t really listened to ‘The Bends’, apart from the “Fake Plastic Trees” song, so I’ll tell you what: I’ll go ahead and grab it and give it a couple of spins if you grab ‘Aeroplane’ and do the same.

    As far as Pavement and Pixies, lord, everything either has done is pretty much essential. But I guess if I had to give a starting point, I would say that Pavement has three surefire indispensible albums, which I would rank in the following order: ‘Slanted & Enchanted’ > ‘Wowee Zowee’ > ‘Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain’, though there isn’t much separation between them. Classic songs include “Summer Babe”, “In the Mouth a Desert”, “Loretta’s Scars” and “Here” from ‘Slanted’, “Rattled By the Rush”, “Grounded”, “Father to a Sister of Thought” and “Fight This Generation” from ‘Wowee’, and “Elevate Me Later”, “Gold Sounds” and “Range Life” from ‘Crooked Rain’. Really, you can’t go wrong with any of their five proper albums, but the first three especially are all unqualified classics. As discussed earlier, their EP/singles/comps are pretty uniformly excellent as well (Malkmus crooing a cover of “Killing Moon”? C’mon.). As far as Pixies, again, you can’t really go wrong with any of their four proper albums, but the twin towers (both of which would probably place in my own Top-5) of the lot are ‘Doolittle’ and ‘Surfer Rosa’. It’s almost silly recapping which songs on these albums are classics because it’s probably at least 4/5 of the content across both. I especially love “Debaser”, “Tame”, “Wave of Mutilation”, “Here Comes Your Man”, “No. 13 Baby” and “Gouge Away” on ‘Doolittle’, and “Bone Machine”, “Gigantic”, “River Euphrates” and “Where Is My Mind?” on ‘Surfer’. That said, few Pixies fans can go more than a couple months without hearing “Alec Eiffel”, “U-Mass”, “Letter to Memphis” or the scorching cover of “Head On” from ‘Trompe le Monde’, or “Velouria”, “Is She Weird” or “Dig for Fire” from ‘Bossanova’.

11. 

    RotoScoop

    January 1, 2009

    Good stuff Dreamweapon. I’m going to try to DL a bunch of those Pavement/Pixie songs. Oh, and I’ll also give “Aeroplane” a solid listen. You do the same with “The Bends.”