I hate hearing myself, almost as much as the other 2

Listening to the cast today, a few things. Talked about my review process. I like the fact we disagree now. Conflict is the foundation of all entertainment. I mentioned my method to evaluate an album to find the good and bad. I use this not to qualify an album, but to analyze minutiae I may overlook upon initial examination.
Tom made the faux paux of using a rating scale (7 out of 10). We had early on opted against ratings, as they're completely asinine. In fact calling it the Know Nothing Music Show was intentionally contrary to our "critic" credentials.
Reason this even comes up, I've been reading lots of reviews lately, trying to educate myself preshow, so I don't come off as a complete ass. I've learned something after reading some of these articles. Music critics are self righteous, self indulged assholes. To assume anyone can attribute value to art is ridiculous. They're arbitrarily rating something on fictitious merit.
To rebel I cut my facial hair like Tony Stark, which makes just as much sense. It has no constructive bearing on the complaints I have, but it's a form of masterbation I can drag around town that won't get me kicked out of Troupe 32. Our nerdcast is a circle jerk.
All opinions are self indulgent, and that's your bottom line.

Good morning

Inspired by my two current favorite sites. Shaun's blog, and Failblog, I made this up this morning.
It's a reference to Rod's self inferred martyrdom. I meant to do it several days ago when the joke was apt, but fuck it. It's done.

Ass, gas, or grass

Well, Coachella line up looks to be the bee's knees this year. Therefore I have a proposition to the interweb, I'm gonna need a ride, tickets, and a place to crash. I'll bath regularly, and keep mostly to myself, but I warn you I have night terrors unless held at night, then again in the afternoon.
Thanks to Sky Report for the jpeg.
And yes, I will give bone marrow, hold hands, slow dance during Antony and the Johnsons, make out hardcore during Fleet Foxes, everything except pretend to give a damn for Glasvegas.

I wouldn't apologize unless I was afraid of invasion.

This week's show was one I'm proud of for a few reasons, not the least of which is I get the to make nice with the Highland warriors I've felt hot on my heels since since our GlasVegas review in Ep. 2, and my literal translation of Swift's Modest Proposal (yes, I know it's Irish babies, but I don't do literate humour well).
So after giving the boggy marshes the "shove off" for a less than impressive outing from the Scottish up and comers (Glasvegas-Self titled), we geek out over The 3 Ep's, the Beta Bands first full length LP(Wiki). This album is among the first to spin up every time I do an audio upgrade.
Having aurally scoured this disc up and down, I've been over every inch of sound scape imaginable. From the first track, when you press play and close your eyes you're guided by the hand and sat center stage to an exploration of trip hop's then premier artists, sowing oats and throwing seeds, to till and wait for their future releases (hindsight: eww) to finally see come to fruition.
Being a collection of, yep, their first 3 EP's, drives home a constant I feel when referring to this album. You see, the precedent this this holds for me is clear: It defines the meaning of potential, promise, raw talent, and a collaborative effort to explore the road less traveled around the next musical bend.
Now defunct, I still have memories and the privilege of seeing them call it quits on the top of their game.

Episode 4, I'm still not happy

All an opinion needs to be validated, is for the originator to believe it. Keep that in mind.

We do a music podcast for fun, and while conflicting opinions is the bread and butter of our appeal, I just wanted a place where my opinion can go unhindered, and any after thought can be touched upon and examined in full light. This week...

Antony & the Johnsons- The Crying Light
Gorilla in the room: Antony is a it a bit odd. All the songs make use of his distinct falsetto voice, and it sets the eerie tone for the rest of the album as you will notice. The Crying Light musically takes a minimalist approach to it's arrangements, putting his voice in top seed. In particular the track Aeon utilizes a new trend I've notice in modern indie, the dual self harmonies. A vocal trick in part pioneered and possibly bastardized by Of Montreal, luckily used in moderation here, is a stand out track along with Epilepsy in dancing, which appears early in the batting order, and of course the title track, the Crying light.

The other party stopper is the cover artwork which is off putting to say the least. A geriatric Asian man, a withered shell in drag. Antony, having dealt with inter sex and trans gender themes, is no stranger to less than ideal subjects, as starting points for hidden beauty. That makes the use of Kazuo Ohno- a celbrated Butoh performer and respected artist for Antony, a likely inspiration. Butoh,is a form of interpretive dance, intentionally slow paced and methodic, deliberate and punctuating. He draws from his muse continuously throughout... Visual imagery, and keen sense of making the macabre sensational and endearing, is probably the best aspect of Antony and the Johnsons, new album. Epilepsy is Dancing, for instance, is taken for it's literal translation, with lyrics that that reach the core about trying to find his rhythm as he shakes in the snow. Bold imagery about taking a horrifying experiences such as uncontrollable convulsions and drawing the relationship to artistic expression flow flawlessly in this particular album.

Lyrically top notch. Emotionally up and down, the entire album finally culminates, and musically blossoms and blooms with a complete marrying of raw vocal talent, and a bittersweet lullaby.

Why you'll hate it and fight me to the bitter end on this? It's sad sap music at it's most pungent. From verbrato to crescendo, it drips it's sticky resin, and unless willing, may leave a bad taste in your mouth.

When reviewed this week, I was pleased to find we all disagreed on aspects of this album. I'd rather polarization than indifference. Art's sole responsibilty is to invoke emotion and opinion. A good artist knows that and braves criticism to find the passion that sits untapped in all of us.