in the spirit of congeniality, and also throwing out a few interesting links, i thought i should do a round-up of medillian blogs, near and far, written by friends and acquaintances (and in one case a stranger). yes, even old-school j-school folks have learned this here blogging technology.

dinnertime, y'all!

the bottle of rum in the background is the second course.

just kidding! but this plate of butter will be eaten in one form or another. in fact, i magicked it up into cupcake icing for a classmate's birthday tomorrow. i nailed the cakelove icing - totally disgusting and buttery, but somehow delicious at the same time.

1. The Figurines album: pretty good. UPDATE: Especially "Other Plans", which is the album's standout track. Between this and "Rough Gem" (mentioned below), I think we've got a solid start to a summer '06 mix CD.
2. The Islands CD, I'm sad to say, is not. I was pretty excited about it when I first got it. I've been slavishly devoted to the Unicorns from the moment I saw that their press photos were a set of shots of them being brutally murdered (as seen here). Plus, you know, the music is great. But then they broke up. Based on the also-excellent NAHPI one-off and some early tracks, it looked like Islands, the Nick Diamonds/J'aime Tambeur half of the Unicorns diaspora, would be the (horned) pony to bet on.

   But their debut album — meh. "Rough Gem" is a great song (although once you realize it's a pun on Nick's name, it gets considerably more irritating), but it's the only undeniable highlight. "Swans", for instance, is one of the better songs, but it's too long and rips off an Arcade Fire melody (forgivable, since AF members play on the album). So yeah: disappointing. This Pitchfork review, which gave it an 8.something/10, is wrong in just about every possible respect. The album does not simultaneously "present a more linear approach in their arrangements" and "[enjoy] the freedoms of exploration and discovery", for example. Sure, it's more linear, but it feels boxed-in and boring compared to the rest of Diamonds' work. And "Volcanoes" isn't "ridiculous but fun" — it's about the motherfucking Yellowstone supervolcano, and when it blows, Mr. Pitchfork, you and your stupid haircut are going to be entombed in burning hot ash.

   The album's okay, and I wouldn't want to rule out the possibility of a musical revelation on my part. But right now it simple doesn't appear to be a great an album, no matter how much I wish it was.

3. There was controversy today on the DCist core list, and later via IM with Catherine, as we debated whether to include a contributor's Christian Rock pick in the week's music agenda. Catherine thinks I/we am/are being unfairly biased in jumping all over an act because they're faith-based, when we might allow any number of sucky secular acts to pass by without the type of detailed vetting that this Christian band received. She might be right. My personal feeling is that CR is an inherently flawed genre whose participants should be considered guilty until proven innocent, and that a bands inclusion in the category naturally and justifiably provokes skepticism. A few of the genre's more obvious problems:
   1. Despite its musicians' protestations, the genre's raison d'etre is clearly non-artistic — the tunes are meant for proselytizing or worship. Putting artistic quality second or third behind other aims leads to naturally worse music (in rock music, at least).
   2. In most cases Christian Rock is lyrically confined to explorations of one kind of relationship: the one the artist (or song protagonist) has with god. Real rock and roll is about drugs and sex — that's twice the variety!
   3. Based on some long-past Youth Group experiences, CR fans are among the most musically insular people I've ever met. Most haven't been exposed to much variety, so they don't demand much quality. The music serves a social function for all of them and a religious function for some of them, but that seems to be about it. It's not art that provokes emotions of its own — instead it just helps its listeners recollect emotions evoked by other works.

   I feel that I've given CR at least somewhat of a chance — in the past, people have tried to push DC Talk and Newsboys on me, but were hindered by those acts' innate awfulness. But those are the cream of the Christian crop — Charles assures me that it gets much, much worse. Pedro the Lion is the closest I've come to a messiah-oriented rock act that I genuinely enjoy (although I do get the feeling that the Polyphonic Spree could accidentally begin falling into that category at any moment).

   But I'll admit that I haven't checked in with the state of the art in devout pop in quite a while. I'm sure a lot has changed — I can only imagine the travesties that occurred when the CR world internalized emo, for instance. So if any CR adherents can suggest an act that approaches the depth of PtL, maybe I'll adjust my opinions. Until then, I'm remaining happily closed-minded.