I’ve been running an old version of Movable Type for a while now, and that’s because I’ve got a bunch of custom code from the old archive depending on it.
I’ve been lazy to upgrade, and the brouhaha over the revised licensing of version 3.0 made me wonder whether it was worth the effort. As a result, this site hasn’t really employed some of the basic requirements of a weblog — comments, specifically.
Well, I upgraded to Movable Type 3.33 back on Tuesday, and today, I’ve enabled the commenting system.
Not that she’s actually gone away or anything, but back in 2004, she put her solo career on the back burner to form Tokyo Jihen.
Two readers have brought to my attention some new announcements on her fan web site — Shiina Ringo is releasing a new single and a new album under her name in 2007.
The Tokyo Incidents web log has a detailed account of the releases, so head over there. Kronekodow also has a special page for the new project, which is tied to a new film titled Sakuran. I will just mention the new single, "Konoyo no Kagiri", hits the streets on Jan. 17, and the new album comes out on Feb. 21, 2007.
There’s also a digital-only single of the film’s theme song being released on Nov. 11. There’s little chance of someone outside of Japan legitimately purchasing this download, since online services such as iTunes require a credit card issued from the country of origin. (Bittorrent *cough* *cough*.)
The new release season is winding down for the Christmas break, and it won’t pick up again till the spring. So there isn’t much to preview this time around.
I’m very cranky these days. Is this what happens to aging music fans? I like to think it is.
The Killers made me realize something about how I pass judgment on the quality of music I consume. To wit:
Some albums are good, and some albums are good enough.
The albums that are good are ones you take for a spin time and again, and you look forward to that kind of repetition. The albums that are good enough are ones you take for a spin, just because nothing else at the moment appeals to you.
In terms of the Killers, I made the following distinction:
I experienced something weird last night — I went to the record store and discovered a band I’ve been interested in released a new album without my knowing it.
I haven’t felt that kind of surprise in a long time — perhaps more than a decade.
The album in question was Oye by Aterciopelados, and it’s the band’s first new album in six years.
If ICE magazine were still around, I probably would have been informed weeks in advance. Damn, I miss ICE.
I have a hard time perceiving St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley as anything but an indie rock album.
Yes, Danger Mouse comes from the hip-hop underground, and Cee-Lo was a member of Goodie Mob. By virtue of those credentials, St. Elsewhere is a hip-hop album.
But there’s a level of psychological exploration happening in the lyrics that go far beyond the few hip-hop albums I’ve encountered in my largely rockist life.
Garrin Benfield was one of the musicians listed in the Advocate’s Top 10 Indie Artists of 2005.
Benfield is a singer-songwriter in every sense of the term — his music would definitely appeal to the Austin audience who love their guys-with-acoustic-guitars.
His sound is a bit more mellow than Dylan Rice, and his influences go a bit further back. The arm of John Lennon stretches far on his 2004 album, Where Joy Kills Sorrow.
I’ve been very neglectful of this site because I had a presentation at work occupying my time. Now it’s done, and I can catch up (a bit.)
I promised more gay-themed listening choices in observance of National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), and you can’t get any gayer than Ari Gold. Don’t confuse him, though, with Jeremy Piven’s role on Entourage.
Ever listened to an album by a band that was so good, you bought other albums by the same band, thinking they would all be good? Wasn’t it disappointing when they weren’t?
That was the fear which fueled my reluctance to explore the string quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich.
Kronos Quartet introduced me to Shostakovich’s Quartet for Strings, No. 8, and it rocketed to the top of my favorite classical music works on first listen. (Kronos’ Black Angels is an essential album for anyone who wishes to explore the repertoire of the 20th century.)
I loved the Eighth Quartet so much, I didn’t want to spoil it by potentially being disappointed by the other 14 quartets in his catalog. Of course, I would turn out to be wrong.