no lime on the horizon (2008)

this is the year that the internet officially stupid-ed me to tears. literally. why is it not just called the stupidnet? hmmm? (overexcitable punctuation !!!!)

in the real world, quitting job, choosing correct new job, traveling all over, meeting new people, 2008 was a very good and adventurous year for me personally and 2009 will be the best year ever. i hope and believe.

still, in the year ahead, i have to admit that i am sort of afraid the u2 album will suk. electropopfunkrock. my ass. we'll see. i also am sure it will not suk. sometimes. i'm not sure. but i'll worry about that in the future. not today.

these are some albums from 2008 that i listened to quite a bit:

rem / accelerate reminiscent of some of their stuff i love the most. this is not a great rem album, but this is a great band. and these new songs worked live. it was awesome seeing these guys so full of energy live this year.
vid - man sized wreath

ryan adams and the cardinals / cardinology a few of these songs, especially magick, which i like, sound like they started as silly riffs ra did in his bedroom with witches and dragon lyrics and then changed to real words. (you're like a rain cloud. if it rained mushroom clouds.) others where he goes all weepy and sort of theatrical falsetto kind of don't do it for me, per usual with him. ryan is so ridiculous. but i love that he is so full of the crazy. the creative energy to constantly be making music. i am in awe of it. i would NEVER make fun of it. because the alternative is so FRUNKING annoying (u2).
vid - born into a light (ra video jam)

fleet foxes / fleet foxes i normally wait at least a year to give in to indie animal name bands but their harmonies do drag you in and this sort of soundtracked my days spent writing for hours on end with sounds in the background.
[mp3] white winter hymnal - fleet foxes


tv on the radio / dear science this is an "album" album. old school. where not one song anchors it and it all works together. they probably should have an animal name based on their fan pedigree, but whatever.
vid - golden age

coldplay / viva la vida and whatever the fuck else the title is it's good. get over it. they've got their little melodies and their earnest antheminess wrapped inside their enoisms. it IS good. even joe satriani knows it.
vid - lovers in japan

foals / antidotes this is more "nme" than "indie". so, it's the kind of band that should not be considered an animal name band. even though a foal is obviously an animal. mathdancepunkrockpop. cure-ish.
[mp3] balloons - foals

muse / haarp i enjoy the dvd that comes with this live cd. i listened to the cd several times this year on airplanes, and when i listen to muse on an airplane i usually feel like i am on a space ship. this can be scary if you are sleeping and/or semi-not-sober. which is good or bad depending on your point of view.
vid - plug in baby

also on rotation:
of montreal / skeletal lamping
david byrne & brian eno / everything that happens will happen today
the killers / day & age
the raconteurs / consolers of the lonely
bloc party / intimacy
rem /murmur remaster deluxe edition because of the disc two live show
the smiths / the sound of the smiths deluxe because of the disc two "rarities"
u2 /under a blood red sky deluxe cd+dvd i bought this for the red rocks dvd, which is for me the most important u2 moment. your first u2 moment sort of shapes how you relate to them forever, i think, if you are a big fan, at least. that flag waving doesn't seem so silly when you are 10. from seconds on, this is epic. sweaty and misty:



as far as the other three u2 reissues that came out this year (boy/war/october), i acquired the audio from these remastered releases digitally (via "sharing" - mostly for the disc twos.) the previously unreleased tracks are cool, i think saturday night is fun to hear (fire!), angels too tied to the ground is not great but is interesting. i did not buy these particular spiffily packaged remastered u2 cds. some day i might. in the past i would have. but too much reselling and repackaging is just lame, u2. still, i totally would have shelled out for them if the disc twos had been either complete shows or dvds.

there is currently ice ricocheting off the window next to where i am sitting. oh my. catch you later ...

giant hedz

update: hi-res scans of the whole u2 article in q magazine, february 2009 issue can be found here.

there are some pictures of pictures here and here. (q magazine actual layout). i am sitting here with my little niece megan and she says bono looks like "a burglar" in these photos. so there.

burning bridges

previously unreleased arcade fire track, free download here

also, um, *someone* brought this (below) item into the house. (not me!) it seems wrong on multiple levels:



it's not as offensive as eggs in a bag. but stilllllllllll ... we'll see.

latez

great, now the pudding is on fire

oh, bono.

completelyobviouslyimportantunrelatednews: i always thought a flapjack was a pancake, but not everywhere, people. i would make this but it looks quite unhealthy.

free legal good:

[mp3] the takers - takka takka

[mp3] turn cold - cut off your hands

websites: takka takka / cut off your hands

finally: this U2 cover is not for me... but it's sort of interesting and it only came to my attention very recently:



colin munroe, sunday bloody sunday: official video / making of video

dave, your watermark amuses me

update: hi-res scans of the whole u2 article in q magazine, february 2009 issue can be found here.




more of gavin bond's q magazine u2 photos here.

previously: rock stars (101)

this photo is giving me an ed grimley vibe

dude outside u2 christmas party for staff, friends and, er, coldplay. dublin, december 23.

u2 party pics / more pics

'twas ...

behind the scenes video: the making of "i believe in father christmas"

wow, you had to figure they got that song together quickly, but according to ned o'hanlon in that video - 90 minutes? amazing how long some things take and how not long others take. hmmmm.

i wonder if this video was a same-day shoot as the q magazine cover. was this lucky little eyeliner's holiday on bono's face a one-day only excursion?

...

(an elf made some screen caps of the "making of" video)






more: edge / adam / bono


if you are a (red)wire subscriber or signed up for the free trial, you should be able to get the new issue now (#2) and it includes the i believe in father christmas video and mp3. er, one that actually downloads. also the killers/elton john/neil tennant song and a yusuf islam message that has him playing oh very young in front of a bunch of joshua trees. it works. issue #2 is a big step up from #1. (not hard to do!) the videos (in mp4) can be dragged into itunes now, and having the u2 vid there makes my itunes HAPPY.

have a wonderful day and night and then morning and then day and night again and then ...

i can be as cruel as you

fighting fire with firewood
i can be as cruel as you
fighting life with lies



this is a video for a song on an album that has grown on me despite my natural aversion to some things involved in it, like jacknife lee, and too much synthetic crap. but it did grow on me because it still has kele's bite and for bloc party it still feels natural and real.

i think my shameless love like for bands who belong on the cover of NME sort of waned in 2008. well, then again, coldplaykillersblocparty, not really. well, actually, yeah. a little. maybe.

speaking of 2008, i heard that if you don't put a "list" on your blog before the year ends, then you develop an eyeliner-hybrid unibrow overnight (!) while you are sleeping!! but i hate lists. lists are for marketers, bitchez! still ... 2008 scatter o' shite list things... soon come.

unrelated:

coldplay played the new O2 in dublin sunday night, and covered the pogues

rock star(s) 101

update: hi-res scans of the whole u2 article in q magazine, february 2009 issue can be found here.

u2 is going to be on the cover of q magazine's january issue and the fangeeks have unearthed the (not supposed to be online yet) q mag microsite for the band here. there is a video up now from the cover shoot. (alternate link). love watching bono be BONO.

(i am trying to avoid reading the article with details about the album. hype does not help me.)

in the video, adam explains the singer's eyes. somehow the shaky handed blind monkey who applied this eye makeup on bono is not caught on camera. yes your eye makeup looks slightly ridiculous, bono. (ridiculous HOT). ignore the dissent, bono. KEEP it.








(i had a slight screen cap making mania episode, sorry, ha ha.)

me & rosie are NOT amused (volkswagen)

this ad looks a disturbingly lot like a montauk monster spoof.



related: snarl (montauk monster)
not-so related: rosie gets attacked by a deer!

man of speak (video)

video:

Bono accepts "Man of Peace" award from Nobel laureates

that's video of his speech from december 12.

related: article

s n o

[mp3]
white winter hymnal - fleet foxes

i saw in the latest mojo mag (oasis on the cover) that edge was among the artists naming favorite things from 2008, and he mentioned fleet foxes. he likes their harmonies. so do a lot of other people. (maybe edge and bono were trying to be fleet foxes the other day with those harmonies. heh) edge also told mojo he likes the black keys and danger mouse.

that's better

hey what do you know, u2 are actually putting an album out. march.

(here's the rest of the band in that photo).

interview (bono edge rte)

video:



related:
van diemen's land v.2008 audio/video
blown away or sent away

van diemen's land v.2008 (audio)

[mp3] van diemen's land - bono and edge
bono and edge trading off lead vocals on the verses. and that percussion is bono drumming his hand on the body of his guitar. this is from the performance broadcast on rte tv on december 16, recorded last week at the O2 arena in dublin.

related

oh, and ... who has the video?

cowgirl. cowgirl? cowgirl! (neil young @ msg)

i was surrounded last night by people randomly blurting out "cowgirl" during neil young's set at madison square garden. first they would say it jokingly, like "cowgirl" (would be nice) and then questioningly, like "cowgirl?" (remember that song, neil) and then by the end of the show, demandingly, like "COWGIRL!!" (now, dammitt!). as you can see by below vid, he did play cowgirl in the sand and even during the song some numnutz were still saying "cowgirl. cowgirl? cowgirl!" like they wanted to make sure they even knew which song it was.


Cowgirl

now, i gotta say, cowgirl is awesome and neil is still kick ass even at age 603 (er, i mean 63). he has tons of killer songs and he played a lot of them. (setlist). but he played waay a few too many new, not good ones for my taste. then again, he IS neil young and he can play whatever the hell he wants. he also started at 10:10 and ended at 12:40 a.m. !! RAWK.


Heart Of Gold MSG 12/15/2008

wilco opened for neil with a 45-50 minute set, i thought they killed it, i wish they played longer. everest opened for them, and ooh, i really like their guitars, they do that ethereal atmospheric thing, but also that rock rock rock thing. you can get a few free everest mp3s here.

below are twitter comments clr and i were making during the concert last night:

clr: http://twitpic.com/t6k0 - tonight
scatterolight: At msg lovin this multigenerational rock n roll crowd
clr: Watching donald trump watching wilco sing
scatterolight: Wilco is killing it and i may be getting a contact high from someones granpa
clr: Why does tweedy remind me of a muppet? is it just the hair?
scatterolight: Waiting for uncle neil
clr: Glenn just got his picture taken with ron darling, who is here in the pit for neil young with joe pesche
scatterolight: Hey hey my my new york city will never die
clr: Now watching the donald nap through cortez.
scatterolight: Neil is playing too many new songs
clr: @scatterolight and oh did the new songs suck
scatterolight: Cowgirl makes people so happy
clr: http://twitpic.com/t9wc - Rocking in the free world

(more of the one and only clr ... here)

blown away or sent away

still the gunman rules and the widows pay
a scarlet coat now a black beret
they thought that blood and sacrifice
could out of death bring forth a life

those are the edge's original final lyrics in the u2 song van diemen's land, according to the rattle and hum album sleeve. but they can't be heard in the album version and edge never sings them live. (prior to last week, van diemen's land was last played by u2 in 1993).



edge discussed these lyrics in an nme interview in 1988, where he said: "Yes, the lyrics fade out. But that was for time reasons more than anything else because the lyric is on the lyric sheet. And there I'm just really asking a question I've been asked: What's the difference between men of violence on both sides? In this case this guy O'Reilly was sent away for 20 years by the powers that be. In Belfast today you're liable to get executed on the spot by men of violence, men with power. What's the difference? There's no freedom in either situation. Freedom of thought or freedom of conscience. People are either blown away or sent away. What I'm saying is that it's the people with the guns who are ultimately in power and I see them all the same."

as noted in the liner notes and edge's comments above, the song is dedicated to john boyle o'reilly, a writer/poet/novelist, who was perhaps most legendary for being an imprisoned irish republican who famously escaped from van diemen's land. he went on to freedom in the u.s., where he became a highly influential and respected member of the boston irish community.

more:
john boyle o'reilly new york times obituary, august 11, 1890 (scroll down a little)
(fremantle prison escapes) the fenians: j.b. o'reilly
excerpt of edge nme interview 1988

[mp3] van diemen's land - u2 (live)
rotterdam, 1990, january 10. the rest of that awesome show is here.




as per u2.com and this and this and this article, we can expect to see v.2008 edge performing van diemen's land, accompanied by guitar virtuoso le bono, on rte tv on dec. 16. and on the internetz (surely) shortly ... soon come.




(my interpretation of the reporting of edge and bono's performance at the O2 is that while van diemen's land will air on dec. 16, desire, which they also performed, might not air until a later date - i.e., the ronnie drew tribute, which is supposedly airing over the holidays on rte.)

later

related

evan rachel wood on spider-man musical




tom jones on bono writing the song sugar daddy (via)




related posts: arachnid hero / sugar daddy

two of these legs are not like the other two

(crazy town adorable.)

previously/related

b-man

bono in paris today, where nobel peace laureates awarded him the annual "man of peace" prize.

more photos here and here

article: nobel laureates crown U2's bono 'man of peace'

"I am an over-awarded, over-rewarded rock star. You are the people who do the real work," Bono told the Nobel winners present, who included F.W. de Klerk of South Africa, Lech Walesa of Poland and Northern Ireland's John Hume. "So I am very, very pleased to be in such esteemed company."

the bogmen: oceans apart

new song/video from the bogmen:



that makes me smile.

who were/are these guys: read this article

and WATCH these teasers from chris cassidy's documentary about the bogmen, titled we will go to them tonight.





thebogmen.com

i am laughing but i just might vomit on my keyboard (OVERREACTIONS)

pitchfork: kanye thinks will.i.am is producing the new u2 album

kanye west's blog: WILL I AM IS PRODUCING ON U2's NEXT ALBUM. I'M SURE IT WILL BE DOPE AS SHIT JUDGING FROM THE CRAZY BEATS HE'S DONE IN THE PAST 3 YEARS!

this rumor is breaking large now, baby. ha ha (vomit).

fact check: kanye actually says "producing ON" not "producing". and yes, will.i.am was in a studio with u2. (billboard: will.i.am was recently in London working with U2 ("I'm not supposed to talk about that," he says).

i am just going to go with ... he twiddled a knob on a remix, maybe a single.

incidentally: info about new u2 album

and: video evidence of u2 in studio with actual producers not named will.i.am or else i will vomit

(bono, do NOT make me kill break up with you.)



bring me the head of jimmy iovine.

i was almost going to be in denmark today

but i'm not. i'm in a little white house near the ocean. the wind was blowing from the ground up, but it stopped, it would appear. those spooky trees down the street perhaps now won't fly down here for a visit. music in the background. maybe too loud to be background. drowning out the wind. that isn't really blowing anymore. this is the house of getting so much writing done. if i say that, then it will be true. hee. yeah. anyway.


[mp3] mexico city - jolie holland
from the album living and the dead [buy]. also available for free on the anti- digital sampler that you can download here. pretty power. i don't think i can listen to her all day, but for a start.

[mp3] when i say go - the 1900s
that's free on their website. from their omg greg kot loved it (heh) 2007 album cold and kind. [buy]. this is a very good listen to it all the way through album. which i guess i kind of forgot about. girl singer on this one, boy singer on that one. whatever.

also: gerry ryan says bono edge recorded songs at an empty O2 arena (old point depot) for upcoming airing on rte tv? desire and van diemen's land? like the movie? kind of?





drummer and bass player? helloo?

oh, wait i gotta go do some work. i forgot.

later on, yo ...

how to kill bono (high quality comedy)

check out these two little jokers:



in the lounge with the bike. WIN!

around the corner

from anything that's real. feels like chilly fingertips this weekend.



i like this band a lot: the shaky hands

bts

(pics): boots and beanie in london. (more pics )

article

greg lake's take on u2's cover of his song "i believe in father christmas"

via the atu2blog: "The clever thing about the U2 version is that it manages to capture both elements, the original and the inventive without really falling on one side or the other and in this way it is definitely unique. The guitar part is very clever and the vocal, as always with Bono, sounds sincere. That is the mark of a great singer." [more]

related: eyeliner

the green tornado ?!

this is an ad from fall, 1981. see the whole ad and other amusing details here.

whoosh

super-exciting sights from my wednesday. waiting at starbucks for super important ceo dude to show up for meeting. and then dodging tourists and getting tripped up by the guitars in the window here because how can you not just pause and stare when you walk by. for like a second. helloo irish falcon.

two

one post about this was not enough. clearly. so, yeah, here's another.

also, i am at this moment tapping my foot to joy ride (!) by the killers. wtf? i am sending out hounds on a hunt for my snarkicism now.

latez

the eyeliner is HOT

it is, people. do. not. argue.



prog u2. heh. covering greg lake's i believe in father christmas on the (red)wire "launch party." this song is well-suited to u2 musically and lyrically. can't argue with that guitar player either. especially when he dresses like a lumberjack. i dig the sound. nice choice.

here's a youtube of greg lake's version. who among us was alive when this first came out? 1975?

you've got a dream that is driving you mad

[mp3] they're calling - setting sun
straightforward pop all teched out. new tune from the children of the remix ep, which setting sun is giving away for free here.

[mp3] wait a while - the mojomatics
garagey and noisy, but catchy as supe*. these guys are based in venice italy. mojomatt and davmatic. [myspace]


unrelated: supebono. heh.

also: this new pic and others were here (since removed). hmmmmmm.