Music

Music is a necessity. Though I focus mostly on alternative/industrial/EBM/electronic styles, my tastes are eclectic and wide-ranging.

DJ Wudi @ UAA this Saturday

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Just a quick reminder that this Saturday I’ll be spinning from 2pm-10pm for the UAA Dance Marathon fundraiser for the Providence Children’s ICU (at least, I’m pretty sure that’s who it’s for…someone correct me if I’m wrong). I’m honestly not completely sure if this is open to the public, or how it would be handled, but if anyone wants to stop by, say hello, and give a few dollars to the cause, nobody would complain too terribly much.

Great Napster discussions

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I just had to get something up on this — there’s an absolutely great discussion of the seemingly never-ending Napster controversy going on over at the Home Theater Forum right now.

I understood Metallica’s plight at first. There music was being hijacked, goddamn it! But their waning CD sales weren’t from Napster, but from the fact that they were like a tough version of Poison; they should have become extinct when the meteor of alternative hit.

— Ike

Who didn’t cringe at Xzibit preforming Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” in a F*** Napster shirt? (I didn’t censor that, his actual shirt was censored.) Here was an artist who was as carefully managed and kept as any of the boy bands preforming one of the greatest songs ever, in a shirt that went against what Chuck D was wanting? Would the “power” not be those that want to close down a forum like Napster? (His friend on stage was wearing a “I Voted For Gore” shirt. How radical you are!)

— Ike

When a music journalist on VH1 said that the superstar would be lessened down because we would have a choice. Amen! Who cares that Limp Bizkit’s “My Generation” is in the top 50? You can get the best song titled “My Generation:” The Who’s. The ideas presented in The Who’s “My Generation” overshadows every baiting anti-gay, drug supporting lyric that today’s group can muster. The Who didn’t care if you understood what they said. They’d rather die before they got like you. The end, an explosion of feedback still hits hard today.

— Ike

Can anyone remember Garth Brooks’ whining about used CD sales? Does it strike anyone else as vomitious that a multi-million dollar recording artist, who stood to lose practically nothing from used CD sales, was trotted out as a poster child representing the unfairness of it all, while struggling musicians would give major organs if someone would just consider buying their CD?

— Buzz Vinard

A tribute album worth listening to

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Tribute albums have a tendency to be one of the most overdone and under-worthy genres in the music business. Take a bunch of songs by a worthy artist, farm them out to a bunch of bands that aren’t nearly as well known, and issue a ‘tribute’ album that usually tends to be an excercise in mediocrity — there will usually be one, maybe two tracks that shine through, while the rest range from ‘listenable’ to ‘why bother?’

However, while going through my CD collection, I’ve found something of a rare gem: We Will Follow: A Tribute to U2 (this tends to happen when you’ve got 1000+ CD’s, by the way…it’s way too easy to lose track of music for a while). While this album does have a couple duds on it, the overall collection is definitely quite a few steps above the average tribute album — I’ve had it going on random for the past couple days without going absolutely buggy, which can be quite the rare thing. The majority of the tracks range from listenable to good, with probably between 3 and 5 real gems on here. If you’re at all into U2 and/or synth-pop/electronica, I can acually recommend picking this one up.

Here’s a quick track listing: Heaven 17 With or Without You / Information Society One / Front Line Assembly with Tiffany New Year’s Day / Razed in Black Pride / Dead or Alive Even Better Than the Real Thing / Spahn Ranch We Will Follow / Mission UK All I Want Is You / Electric Hellfire Club Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rosetta Stone October / Die Krupps Numb / Silverbeam with Ann Louise Where the Streets Have No Name / Bang Tango Even Better Than the Real Thing (Julian Beeston Mix) / The Polecats Desire / Intra-Venus Discotheque (Suspira Mix)

Balls and beats

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Bowling balls and musical beats, that is…

I don’t even want to know what you were thinking, you perverts.

Anyway, apparently my bowling game actually is improving — my average is up to 111, and tonight I managed to pull off a good three sets: 134/125/136. Not bad, considering this is the first time I’ve ever bowled on a regular basis.

I also may have an opportunity to start spinning again…albeit in sort of a cheezy fashion. The bowling alley in Muldoon is one of the ones in town that does Neon Bowling on weekend nights (blacklights, smoke machines, fancy lights, and loud music — everything you need for a good night of bowling, right?), and they’re looking for a DJ for their Saturday nights. I’d have to restrict some of my set a bit — as a “family establishment” I’d have to stay away from anything with swearing, overt sexuality, or drug references (which, I have to admit, knocks out a fair amount of the more popular tracks I own)…and while it’s not exactly a dance club, it would at least be spinning again. I’m thinking about it…not entirely sure yet, but you never know….

DJ Wudi strikes again!

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Well, I’ve just been confirmed with a gig — for the third year in a row, I’ll be DJ’ing at UAA‘s Dance Marathon benefit fundraiser for the Providence Children’s ICU. Purty nifty, and a good cause, too…woohoo!

A dark day for buttrock

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Well, just found out that Metallica’s bassist has quit the band. I guess it’s kind of a bummer…never been a huge Metallica fan, but never really disliked them either. Oh, well, these things happen.

I’m just kind of curious how long it’ll take before we start hearing news stories about the majority of the Mat-Su valley slitting their wrists in dispair…. ;)

Insomnia

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I’ve been having some real problems sleeping for some reason lately — last night I went to bed and crashed out at 10pm, then was awake again at 1:30am, and couldn’t crash out until around 4am. Really, really annoying…so, in honor of my own sad state, I found the lyrics for “Insomnia” by Faithless (one of my favorite dance tracks).

I only smoke weed when I need to,
And I need to get some rest,
I confess, I burnt a hole in the matress,
Yes, yes, it was me, I plead guilty,
And on the count of three I pull back the duvet,
Make my way to the refrigerator,
One dry potato inside, no lie
Not even bread, jam,
When the light above my head went bam!
I can’t sleep, something’s all over me,
Greasy, insomnia please release me,
And let me dream about making mad love on the heath,
Tearing off tights with my teeth.
But there’s no relief,
I’m wide awake in my kitchen,
It’s dark and I’m lonely,
Oh, if I could only get some sleep,
Creeky noises make my skin creep,
I need to get some sleep,
I can’t get no sleep.

© Faithless (Maxi Jazz/Sister Bliss/Rollo)

[From Usenet: 12.19.00 0228]

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[Note: This was originally a post to the alt.culture.alaska Usenet newsgroup. I’m including it here for completeness. Originally archived here.]

Hey all –

Just a quick note that I’m working on starting a new website tracking local Anchorage musicians, who’s playing where, things like that. Features on the site include a calendar of events, downloadable .mp3 files of some performances, and a BBS. I’m mainly focusing on underground/alternative stuff, from punk to rave to urban, but tend to wander all over the place depending on what information I get to post.

Feel free to stop by and take a look sometime…

http://djwudi.dyndns.org/akevents/

Thanks! :)

Parallax1

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Went out to catch Parallax1‘s show tonight. Very cool, they’re a great bunch, and keep doing very interesting stuff with their music.

Not much other than that…stayed up to late chatting at VI again. Ah, well — one more day of work at Suncoast, and then I’m officially on vacation for the next three weeks. It’s about time!