Bands You Should Love, Vol. Uhhhh... 3? Arcwelder.

Ah, Arcwelder. How I love(d) this band. The parentheses-ized d is there because they went semi-dormant after their 1999 record, Everest*, and haven't been very active since then (though they do play around town every now and again and per their MySpace page - see below for link - have been recording).

These guys typify the kind of stuff that should have been exposed after Nirvana shook the music industry all up. I think they're awesome, and bands like them and Houston were the bands I was hoping to be able to see/attempt to network w/ when I moved up here to Minneapolis in 2000 - sure, I loved the 'Mats and Husker Du and Soul Asylum, but they were old and out of my league at that point.

They work what could be considered a fairly narrow vein - dropped D and other odd-tuned riffage, but they take those possible limitations and create this rich, dense music that's both melodic and dissonant, often concrrently so. The drummer Scott is amazing, and the guitars and bass (the other two guys switch these with each other constantly)play off of each other brilliantly. The vocals are a matter of taste - I happen to like both singers a lot, but you can judge that for yourself. What isn't so subjective is that they do a great job of weaving the vocals into the melodic mix along with the bass and guitars.

They've got a MySpace page here, and there's also an audio clip from the afore-mentioned Everest* on Touch and Go's website.**

(Oh, shit - here comes the soapbox)
See, instead of trying to find Nirvana-and-Pearl Jam-alikes or trying to mollify the metal heads with shit like fucking Candlebox, the labels should have been signing and pushing shit like this and some more honest-to-god punk acts, as well as some of the DC stuff. Granted, in a lot of cases the labels DID sign a lot of those bands in the feeding frenzy, but they did fuck all to push them unless they fit into their moronic molds. But NO - they couldn't do something intelligent like try to broaden the scope of the great music that was going on at that time. That would make sense. Much better to simply water down the 2 to 3 strains they'd been getting fat on - yeah, that's brilliant thinking right there.
(Stepping off the soapbox - for now...)

Ahem. Anyway... they're a swell band. I just picked up Xerxes* from 1994, and damn if it isn't like a wee little time machine. So nice.

Arcwelder: this installment's Band that You, dear readers, Should Love.



*Didja see what I did, just there? I linked you to somewhere you can sample the amazing music and then once you realize I'm right about this band you can BUY it! What a country!

**Touch and Go was the coolest label ever, back in the day - they had The Jesus Lizard too, and a bunch of other rad bands. If I got signed I totally wanted it to be Touch and Go.

R.I.P. Mr. Vonnegut.

Sadly (for us), Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday. He was 84 years old.

I say "for us" because it had become quite clear that he was more than ready to shake off his mortal coil - so in that respect I'm happy for him. I'm not happy, however, knowing that we'll no longer get any new words from him. He was one of my favorite authors - it's good to know that I can always return to his books and will be able to enjoy his genius anew each time.

I'm not one for long speech-ifying at times like these - so I'm simply going to end this post with a quote from my favorite of his books, Hocus Pocus: "I think William Shakespeare was the wisest human being I ever heard of. To be perfectly frank, though, that's not saying much. We are impossibly conceited animals, and actually dumb as heck. Ask any teacher. You don't even have to ask a teacher. Ask anybody. Dogs and cats are smarter than we are."

Farewell, Kurt - if I were to react to your passing as I suspect you'd want me to, well, then I'd have to laugh like hell.

Regrets? I've had a few.

My sweet babies, I have awful news to tell you: I have the plague. Okay, technically I have bronchitis, which developed from a common cold, but any way you slice it, you can't escape the end result: I'm dying.

As you might expect, this has caused 2 (two) things: First, I've spent a LOT of time at home, on my ass, in front of my beloved television. Second, I've done a little, you know, reflecting on shit and whatnot. Real deep shit, too - peep it:


I don't watch American Idol - I don't like it, and I never will. Thus, I have seen little more of this little bastard than the picture below:

But it's enough. I think he needs to be killed - definitely. I don't like him. Have I seen more than the occasional picture of him? No. Have I ever even heard him sing ONE note? Nope. Doesn't matter, it's a clear-cut issue - he needs killin'.

And that's what I got for y'all at the moment; you'll have to forgive me, this vile malady has sapped me of my strength and wit. If by some chance I don't survive, one of you must promise me that you will kill that bastard in the picture above. For me.