Diehard/crazy/insane fans of the Constantines may remember that the “Young Lions” video never reached the public eye. According to someone on the Con’s LJ group (oh yes, I’m that nerdy), the band was unsatisfied with the ending of the video. Have a look — the animation’s pretty fantastic, but I think I understand why they might have not been too into it. Like someone said, it’s a fairly bleak treatment for a seemingly freewheelin’ song:

The end of the semester draws near and I find myself buried under a couple of huge projects (which I’ll discuss at a later point). Anyway, I wanted to jot down some thoughts about recent events:

» About 2 weeks back my job hosted a panel discussion (”Music Writing in the Age of Convergence”). The usual suspects of the Old Guard decried their dethronement from the critical pedestal (for the record, some of us lowly bloggers can distinguish between D-sharp and D-flat, thankyouverymuch), alternative weeklies are still fumbling around in the dark, and the lone representative from an online site held its cards close to the chest. For the most part it was unsatisfying, leaving me thankful that I went back to school.

» In academic nerdom, Pew Research Center recently released a report on the growing gap between the values of lower and middle-class African-Americans [via ProHipHop] that’s raising some eyebrows. I’ll definitely give it a closer look soon enough, but a couple of quick thoughts upon first glance: 1a) It appears to be number-crunching of a survey with very little qualitative analysis. 1b) Some of the survey questions may be a bit murky (”Rap” and “Hip hop” are used interchangeably.) 2) There’s a lot of effects theory guiding the report, putting a nice amount of blame upon the shoulders of rap music and other media. But it’s there if you want to check it out and share your thoughts.

» Despite the lameness of the World Café Live, Pylon totally brought the rock Saturday night. Vanessa said there more people dancing here than at the NYC show, so score one for us — both shows were pretty heavy with the audience participation, however. Openers New Sound of Numbers sound like a cross between Delta 5 and ESG, sprinkled with psych influences. Yup, I approve.

The New Sound of Numbers, “Tuning the Air”
Buy: Cloud Recordings or Myspace (via SnoCap)

OMG John is so young and cute in this video. Thanks for putting this up guys.

Kudos to Pilam for pulling off a creative and financially ambitious event last night; a good time was had by all, including myself. As a radio person, I am quite comfortable DJing for no one. (Funny twist: the thing I struggled with in my early days of radio was the nebulousness of the medium.) The small crowd that was there seemed appreciative, so thanks for sticking it out. Here’s an incomplete, very loose recap of my playlist, completely out of order except for the first two songs:

AC/DC, “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution”
Girlschool, “Hit and Run”
The Rondelles, “Like A Prayer”
Outhud, “It’s For You”
Delta 5, “Mind Your Own Business”
Love Is All, “Kiss Kiss Kiss”
Tyvek, “Honda”
Yardbirds, “Puzzles”
B-52’s, “52 Girls”
Spoon, “Someone Something”
The Long Blondes, “Separated By Motorways” (12″ version)
Hi Beams, “Hyperactive”
Feelies, “High Road”
Pavement, “AT&T”
Royal Trux, “Delta 70 of Hearts”
Scrawl, “Green Beer”
ESG, “Moody”
Railroad Jerk, “Bang the Drum”
Pylon, “Feast On My Heart” (OMG they’re playing Philly THIS FRIDAY)
Let’s Active, “Every Word Means No”
Prinzhorn Dance School, “You Are The Space Invader”
Chandra, “Opposite”
Au Pairs, “We’re So Cool”
Lyn Collins, “Rock Me Again and Again and Again”
Gloria Jones, “Tainted Love”

Anyway, Murder Mystery were quite great in the sloppy indie rock way that a person like me could love. So if you like that kind of stuff too, check them out. The rest of the evening’s lineup was fantastic, too. Holy Ghost did a awesome job of mixing it up — as in, not playing all blog house (love this term!) — and their new single is worth picking up. Once Broadzilla nails their transitions, they will own this city. (LOL @ the non-beatmatching DJ of the night to be oh so critical.) Nice selection of deep disco cuts; I throughly enjoyed it! And Dave P brought the cocainesexjams, though was unfortunately cut short due to the arrival of Ye Olde Police.

Saturday night was nu-gaze blog hype du jour A Place To Bury Strangers at Pilam. If the system’s as bloated as folks claim, chances are this band’s next show in town will cost 15+ dollars — so five bucks is a paltry sum to get in on the ground floor. (Strange truth: the show was a benefit for breast cancer awareness/charities?)

OK, here’s one thing I don’t get: nu-gaze as a movement. Why are people talking like there’s some huge enormous shoegaze revival? It never left. Look at messageboards, the guitar pedal industry/racket, dance parties — people still get weak in the knees thinking about whammy bars and notes that quiver like a baby’s bottom lip. Maybe we were all too busy getting rad, covering up our shoegaze intentions with a pseudointerest in metal, or whatever that’s popular at this moment, but it’s been there all this time. I’m sure there’s some agenda-setting & cultivation theory I could cite here to explain why shoegaze has been suppressed, butyouknowwhatimtalkinaboutamirite?

APTBS were solid. They are not, despite Pitchfork’s claim, the loudest band in NYC. When I was younger, a concert caused me to lose my hearing for three days straight. I know loud. APTBS are loud, but entirely tolerable with earplugs. So chalk this up to a bunch of indie rockers being pussies. If they were such a thing, Pilam’s board would have gone up in flames after the first chord was struck. (Have you seen Pilam’s sound system? It makes Tritone’s PA look like the Wachovia Center. I think my shitty home stereo — which has only one working speaker — is more powerful.)

They also sound a whole lot like Loop. Yeah, Loop! That long-forgotten Creation band has been overlooked for too long; let’s make some Loop love happen folks. I mean, have you heard some of these “heavy” bands who get namedropped these days? All I ever hear — and what I loved last night — is loud, relentless, garage-drone-throb that was Loop. Loop, Loop, Loop.

But whatever. The band was not the highlight of my evening. It being “Greek Week” for the fraternities at Penn (yes, it’s weird to think of Pilam as one of those, but they are), every frat had party monitors at the door checking I.D.’s. Don’t ask why I went to crash another fraternity party with friends (watching a whole dancefloor of douchehammers fist pump along to “Stacy’s Mom” was penance enough, thank you; I have learned my lesson), but I did. The doorman would not believe my driver’s license was real, nor that I was 21. I’ve been cursed with looking young for my age, but seriously — SERIOUSLY FOLKS — I don’t look 18, 19, 20. I will just happily accept the ego boost and move along, thankyouverymuch.

This Saturday 11/3 I will get another shot at being 21 (forever?) when I DJ Pilam’s record release party for DFA artists Holy Ghost. Also on board are Dave P, the Broadzilla dudes, DJJJC and live musical act Murder Mystery. I know I’m the sore thumb on this bill, so screw the cocainesexjams†, my set’s gonna be a long distance dedication to that select segment of the audience who won’t get the special opportunity to make poorly-informed choices about their sexual partners. You’re my people. I promise to disappoint everyone else but you.

With that said, I think it will be a good time, it is BYOB and the Philafunk space is gorgeous. It’s a shame a piece of me dies every time I have to utter the venue’s name.

† with all due respect to Dave P that is. I mean, you don’t want me attempting c.s.j.; better leave it to the master, you know?

Just got this from the good folks at the Prometheus Project. It seems they’re putting on a public hearing with Stopbigmedia.com; FCC commissioners Adelstein and Copps will be present to hear your thoughts on the subject. So if you liked what you heard at yesterday’s meeting on the hill with Mac MacCaughan and others, now it’s your chance to participate — let your voice be heard!

Public Localism Hearing
at the Federal Communications Commission
Room TW-C305 following open commission meeting
FCC, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20554 (map)
Date: Wednesday, October 31
Time: 9am - 2pm

More details here; if you would like to hear Prometheus’ thoughts on media consolidation, visit their website.

Merge Records Mac McCaughan, among others, is at the Senate speaking on behalf of the future of radio today. Did you tune in? Thoughts?

Update: Damn, they were awfully quick about getting the archive & statements on the sites — not even 5 minutes after it was finished!

We all complained about the hierarchy of music writing — too few deciding for many — and depending on your perception blogs decimated and/or leveled the playing field. But there’s a world of difference between even ground and the riotous free-for-all feeling pervading that particular end of the business. I can’t help but wonder if the OiNK shutdown is like a virtual Gas-X, attempting to cut down on the bloat of the business.