Author Archives: jms

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About jms

My desire to make the markets bleed is nothing to freak out about at all.

Only Salt Remains

Since January, we were toying with an idea. Andrew and I listen to Public Strain frequently, to a point where we were coming around to having something else to say about that record. The idea we had was that everyone on the site would write something about the album. Andrew would’ve covered his attatchment to the record. I would’ve written about the lyric decoding process (you can see the results of that here). Matt hasn’t heard the record since we called it the 2010 Album of the Year. Metal Dan hadn’t heard it at all.

The deadline we set for all of this was last week. No one wrote anything (me included), and it seemed like that’s the end for that idea. At the same time, I’ve still felt urgency behind writing something about Women, as it’s been over a year since their meltdown. The sadness from reading that turned to jealousy at a certain point- what an amazing thing to just throw away. At the same time, I’ve got no right to say something like that, since I wasn’t someone that actually dealt with the people in the band. All I have is my perspective. Continue reading

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John Vs. “The Malkin Jewel” by The Mars Volta

WINNER: “The Malkin Jewel” by The Mars Volta

WHY: It’s always the punch you don’t see coming that gets you.

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OH GOD OH NO OH #1


Introducing the newest in hater technology, OH GOD OH NO is an album commentary podcast made to… enhance the newest in shitty music.

So of course our first episode is dedicated to the hopefully last hurrah of internet hype, Lana Del Rey. This podcast is meant to be listened to in concert with the record, synchronizing as best as you can at the given point (around 4:06) in this case. Don’t feel bad if you miss the sync point- I don’t think we hit it right either.

Right click, save as.

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Podcast? #12: “Ow,” says Christopher Walken

Also,
“Attack on Memory”
by Cloud Nothings.

Right click, save as. PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO THIS, WORDPRESS PUT AN EXTRA 1 ON THE FILE NAME SINCE I HAD TO UPLOAD IT TWICE. THIS… THIS ISN’T REALLY A PROBLEM, BUT IF WE DO MAKE IT TO PODCAST 121 IT’LL MAKE THINGS WEIRD.

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John made a record.

You can get it here.

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Fucking Whatever with Colton David #2


Colton says “It’s cool as shit.”

John says “That picture is funny because that’s January Jones, and this episode is about January.”

Jer offered no comment.

Right click, save as.

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John Vs. “Please Heat This Eventually” by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Damo Suzuki

TAG: Skippable*
PERIOD: Amsterdam

I don’t like Can.

I can acknowledge that Can and krautrock as a whole are a huge influence on what Omar Rodriguez Lopez is doing with all of his recorded music. That doesn’t mean my opinion on it has changed just because I cite Omar as someone who influences me.

Please Heat This Eventually ends up coming off tailor made for Damo Suzuki. It was recorded as a live performance, as part of Omar’s 2005 touring with the ORL Group. As a digital file, it is one 24 minute track of improvised music. To the credit of Omar’s band, the majority of the song does sound like a Can piece. Presumably done to put Damo in his element instead of the acid-salsa attack of Omar’s normal style. Continue reading

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John Vs. “Omar Rodriguez” by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

TAG: Standard
PERIOD: Amsterdam
With the self titled, we’re into the first album of the Amsterdam period, and also the first publicly available sign that Omar was serious about recording as a solo artist. It does make sense, as apparently the record label contract for The Mars Volta requires an eighteen month gap between records, and since they don’t tour for that long, a burning mind like Omar’s had to be put to something. Still, I personally find self-titled records to be obnoxious. It presupposes a horrifying statement, that “This one recorded instance is this person.” And as Omar’s compositional and playing style expanded, his self-titled record seems like the fastest one to age. Continue reading

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100

Somehow.

Let’s lay down what’s happening in 2012.

-We’ll start tagging shit better. We’ve been doing basically none, and that blows, so, that gets fixed.

-We will keep lovin’ y’all in the fan club.

-A whole bunch of ill shit is on it’s way out. Off the top of my head, there’s Big KRIT’s first album, Sharon Van Etten’s biggest, new Swans, that Cloud Nothings record, The Men already have a new album ready, that Mesita record looks to be totally crazy… 2012 is looking to be crazy for the first quarter at least.

-We don’t write enough? Well fuck that, son. We’re going to be more on top of shit this year. More song reviews, more album reviews, we’ll figure out how to do more podcast stuff, and a lot more C&A. There’s already some shit in the can for January.

-How about some new writers? At least one, at most three.

-Where’s Metal Sam? Fucking fired, that’s where Metal Sam is. But don’t worry, I got a replacement (thus “at least one.”)

-Music. That’s right, we’re going to put some damn music out.

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Best Songs of 2011


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