and R.E.M. (back when they were good)

Anxiety said:

Snob

yea, Indie Snobs are the worst.....

well said!

look, i love my xanadu soundtrack. lord knows i do. i also love sonic youth. i also love sade. i also love the residents. i also love prince. what ties all this music together? who cares? it's stuff that i've heard and it made a connection with me.

when i was in grade school, i remember my classmates thought i was "weird" because i listened to a lot of my mom's records and it was my favorite music - beatles, hendrix, janis, sly stone - of course, none of this is considered especially obscure, but to a classroom of 3rd graders in the middle of indiana, it was. but it didn't matter to me. it's what i liked. and i was always encouraged to seek out stuff i enjoy instead of going with what was fed to me or considered trendy. i think i'm lucky, because i've had a lot of fun doing just that.

now does that mean i look down on stuff that's considered popular or mainstream? no. does that mean that i maintain some kind of appropriately obligatory respect for stuff that i think is crap? no. does that mean that i think everyone's tastes are valid? yes. would i like to see people expand their tastes and explore stuff that's new and different? HELL yes.

any kind of cultural snobbery - be it music snobbery or whatever other "scene" is out there - is just a form of insecurity to me. an indie rock snob is no better than someone who will only listen to 50 cent and ashlee simpson. people are afraid of what's different. and if someone's "norm" is someone else's "different", it doesn't matter what the variables are. the behavior is exactly the same. just different hairstyles and different drag.

Sounds wonderful! I keep seeing you mention the neighborhoodies, but I'm not quite sure what that means. And how was the record show? Strictly indie or all sorts? Rare Prince? That's how I usually guage a good record show, although I'm not admitting to buying any.

chicago diner.

neighborhoodies is an independantly owned t-shirt company that started in brooklyn a few years back. basically, they personalize stuff for ya - your name, phrases, whatever - and they have really cool t-shirts and vinyl letters in all kinds of fonts and colors. i got a purple one this weekend that says "WRECKA STOW".

Anxiety said:

lilgish said:

ah memories...i remember when i thought 'green' was a great album back when it first came out, and all my coolkid college co-horts called me a poseur for liking their big 'sellout' album better than 'murmur'. those were the days...


...in other words, i guess i'm saying you're late.

Anxiety said:

THAT SOUNDS LIKE DANGEROUS FUN!!!

the record show could have been better, but it wasn't bad. i thought it was going to be huge, but it was really about the size of two garages. considerable, but i've been to better. and it was about 80% vinyl, which i know is indie rock fan paradise, but i'm more of a CD kind of guy. dansa would have gone nuts.

I was kidding, Murmur is better than Green

Anxiety said:

THAT SOUNDS LIKE DANGEROUS FUN!!!

GangstaFam said:

co-

three times a

Oh, and speaking of vinyl and snobbery...did you see that Stereolab has 3 new EPs coming out?

endorphin74 said:

you would LOVE them: www.neighborhoodies.com

i worked with the owners over the weekend, and they're the NICEST people. give them LOTS of your money, because you'll be giving it to NICE PEOPLE.

they're going to be starting up a little online record store on the side soon, too - they want to try to sell good stuff for cheep.

endorphin74 said:

I still have something for you.

Anxiety said:

Once...twice...three times a droolie!

yeah, and it's frustrating because i'm a CD snob.

Anxiety said:

I'll hook you up.

Anxiety said:

Oh, that reminds me...I've been meaning to ask you something. Since my big Stereolab discovery, I've hunted down every song by them I could find. There are still a few I can't get my hands on though. There's one called "Aluminum Tune", not found on the album of the same name, and also a rare EP track called "XXX OOO". Do you have either of these?

wow, that's gonna be quite a hunt, because stereolab has quite a lot of music out there. and i'm sure it will lead you to groups like monade and the high llamas, and all the other stereolab spin-off/collaborator bands...so be careful!

i'll look into those songs for ya. i don't know that i have them, but i just might have 'em floating around somewhere...

Anxiety said:

I love them and I need it all!

once you start venturing into that high llamas territory, it'll be too late...nobody will be able to help you back out...though i have some bitchin' HL limited edition stuff when you're ready to go down that particular rabbit hole.

Anxiety said:

Why's that? Do they have an impossibly large volume of out-of-print collectioney things?

You must've busted a nut when "Turn On" came out, huh?