I woke up today looking at my still empty bags. I know I should pack soon, but I need to do laundry first. I'll pack later, I tell myself. I look out the window instead. The morning sun has been diffused by a layer of fog, making everything milky and unknown. Tomorrow when I wake up I will be ready to board a plane where I hope to kickstart my adventure, taking a bite out of the Big Apple. I just hope I don't choke.
I've had the dream to see New York City for longer than I can remember. For me who has never experienced such an urban metropolis at this scale, New York holds a fantastical quality. I have this image of this landscape; buildings, apartments and skyscrapers, that go off into infinity. I imagine born and bred locals who have never even seen all of their city. I see a world removed from my reality, a world where anything is possible.
I made this trip co-inside with a concert by the Icelandic quartet Sigur Rós, a band who's music I nearly worship. The last time they had a tour that brought them to the States was in 2008 and of course, there were no venues even remotely close. I had a taste of what their live experience could be like when Jónsi, the band's singer, came to Moogfest to promote his solo project. It was such a affecting and magical performance that I vowed to myself that then next time Sigur Rós included the US in a tour, I would find a way to go. Seeing as it is now 2012 and the supposed end of the world, I better knock out two dreams at once.
What will I be doing there? A great friend of mine who has been to New York a couple of times will be accompanying me acting as tour guide. We're going to go sight seeing, attend a Broadway show, see the city from the vantage of the Empire State Building, peruse museums, have fun at Coney Island, watch Shakespeare In The Park, eat some traditional New York fare and many more adventurous activities.
I hope I get lost, lost in the city, lost among the people. I hope I fall in love, transitory, fleeting, pining love. I want the City to teach me things about myself I could never learn anywhere else. I don't want be static, I want to keep going, running, doing. I want time to stop in the perfect moment where everything will be enlightened. And in that moment I want to realize everything that is good about the world. I might fall for the city, crush on the streets and towers. I might desire to be apart of the life blood that makes this magic work. I might never want to come home, and when time comes for me to depart, I might run from the airport and embrace my new home. You never know.
So this is what I will be doing for the next week. I'll keep you posted regarding my adventures. I promise you'll be on my mind during all of it. Wish me luck and bon voyage.
I'm just now waking up from a marathon showing of all three Nolan Batman films. My friends and regular visitor's to this site know how much I love Christopher Nolan. I knew my love for this third and last of his Batman trilogy would not be an exception. I wanted to start by saying that I didn't know how to start, how conflicted I was. I wanted to say how amazing and satisfying it all ended up being, but that it wasn't The Dark Knight, and somehow that didn't matter. On this morning, I find myself still conflicted, but it's for a darker reason entirely. I have woken to a string of news reports of a mass shooting at a theater in Colorado for a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises that have left about 15 dead and up to 50 wounded.
I'm conflicted about what this might mean for future midnight showings, I'm conflicted about how this might affect how we feel about this film. Will this make it infamous? Despised? I am so sad for the victims, sad for their families. These people didn't have to die. Among the victims were teenagers and children, people that did no crime. I try to imagine these people and I end up imagining myself. These people had their life cut short against their will, they will never enjoy another movie again.
I find myself asking the usual questions. Why did this have to happen? What made the perpetrator so troubled? Tragadies of this magnitude are so acute because these questions have no answer and therefore they can never be understood. It's so natural to feel the need for vengeance but our frustration seems aimless. We can't fathom the tragedy because the perpetrator is so far less than the crime that surrounds him.
I'm going to be honest. My sadness and anger come from the fact that The Dark Knight Rises was truly a great movie. It was just about everything I wanted this last Batman film to be. Myself and a friend of mine had a fantastic time watching the entire trilogy in succession. It was great to be part of all of that, brought together with fellow fans who shared a love for this film franchise. All of this seems ruined. All my pleasure that I have felt from these movies, the sense of community felt, gone. It can never compare to the sense of loss that comes from learning that your son, daughter or friend has been killed, and I wouldn't want it to. I am just expressing myself, expressing my sadness.
What has happened can't be undone. My hope is that the victims and family's of victims can find the strength to move on. If not now, then soon. If not soon, then eventually. I pray that justice will bring closure, and that this can make us all stronger. And it this is what makes it so interesting because the most prominent themes of the films were of justice, revenge, closure and the humanity and faith in humanity we can lose when dealing with injustice. Few are the times that we are confronted so earnestly with events of life by themes that we have just witnessed from art.
This last May saw the release of the fifth full length album Ten Stories from Philly's loudest poet-story tellers, mewithoutYou. It's quite a shame I just got around to picking up the album knowing that mewithoutYou has been a favorite band of mine for several years. Back when I only had a couple of songs on a mixtape and first heard that yell hollered by Arron Weiss, I knew that they were unlike any band I had ever heard then, and really, since.
This angry sound has come to be known as the band's trademark. Starting from their debut LP, [A to B] Life (2002), the music is very raw, tremendously loud and is the closest the band ever sounded to their hardcore cousins from the early aughts. The guitars were thick with distortion, octave chords were plentiful, many songs had drastic volume dynamics and they even played around with simple time signature changes. Wiess' vocals were the hallmark, setting mewithoutYou apart from other bands. It was a mix of yell, scream spoken-word that was neither singing nor talking. Combined with vivid lyrics that dealt with religion and heartbreak proved to be a very potent mix that could evoke strong emotions in any listener.
They further refined their sound with 2004's Catch for Us the Foxes, ratcheting down the noise but keeping their intensity. But it wasn't until two years later that the band struck gold with Brother, Sister. This album showed mewithoutYou at their most mature. Wiess' lyrics were more poignant and he exhibited more versatility in his voice with convincing singing. The instrumentation was also more stout with the band reaching out into different styles. The rock was still there but it was emphasized with a more talented band. Even more, it was interlaced with folk interludes about a slowly aging spider that worked suprisingly well to create a rounded sound.
In 2009 mewithoutYou surprised its fan base with It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright! which planted the band firmly in the Indie-Folk camp. With the electric guitars being overcome by a chorus of acoustic guitars, accordions, harps and many other instruments, their rock seemed to be gone. Aaron Weiss was not yelling anymore, so gone was their fire as well. It seemed as if Weiss had turned a major corner in his life because the antagonism of the past had all but vanished. If I didn't know any better I might say that he was actually happy because that is what the music reflected. The record seemed to surround itself with morality tales and fables staring animals inspired from writings by Sufi teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. I found the beauty of the album but it wasn't easily won. I still find it the most difficult one to grasp from the band's catalog even though I consider it one of their best from a creative stand point.
It's from here that I thought mewithoutYou would draw their material for their fifth LP, Ten Stories. I was partially correct, but still a surprise came with the opening of the first track, "February, 1878." Gritty distorted chords move upward building tension until the band breaks in with Weiss reclaiming his trademark yell. I was giddy, this was mewithoutYou returning to the sound that made them famous. The song later mellowed out retaining some ominous overtones but there was no denying that this was mewithoutYou.
The energy held out on "Grist for the Malady Mill" with one of the catchiest pop beats that I have heard in a while. It evokes past songs such as "A Glass Can Only Spill What it Can Contain" and even "The Dryness and the Rain" to an extent.
"East Enders Wives" is a short and melancholy song that focuses on a clean electric and acoustic guitar. It doesn't have the impact of similar songs by them, though it is still very good. My favorite line is the question, "Let's give up sacrifice next lent?"
"Cardiff Giant" provides the most fun you will ever have listening to a mewithoutYou song. Echoing guitar chords propel the music forward during the verses while arpeggiated notes are played with perfect delay over a chorus of vocals that beg to be sung along with. This song shows how much the band has learned since the last album. Keeping the folky optimism but incorporating an amount of pop to keep the sound accessible.
"Elephant in the Dock" has the most engaging story on the record. It's about an elephant being charged with a crime and being tried by a jury for it. The elephant is brought before a crowd to be sworn in. The elephant is rather obstinent because she declares, "I don't know anything about truth," and continues with the pointed statement, "but I know falsehood when I see it, and it looks like this whole world you've made." The chaplian then interviens with a prayer until the crowd rouses together, "We must hang the elephant, must hang the elephant, must hang!" The elephant has time to defent herself and choses to declare, "This mock trial can do no more to determine my lot, than can driftwood determine the ocean's waves." The fate of this creature does not seem sure because after another chorus from the crowd to hang the elephant, the elephant's last words we hear are, "I feel it stealing now, all adrift fathoms down."
This song brings the overall arc of the record in focus. It's about a circus train running through Montana. While going through a snowy mountain pass, the elephant uses her strength to break the cage and derail the train, setting the rest of the animals free. The album's songs tell the stories of the animal's fates and interactions. Some had luck while others did not.
Ten Stories plays close to the sound of the last LP. Sonically, it can be found between It's All Crazy... and Brother, Sister. There are songs that ride the folk road and others that crank the gain knob, it has a fantastic mix. Lyrically this isn't their strongest record with some songs being better than others but the standard set by mewhithoutYou has always been high. I applaud the band for striving to keep consistent themes late in their career, this one completely being a concept album. In the age of quick singles and the scavenger mentality (pick the best, leave the rest), it's great to know that there are bands that are keeping the spirit of the album alive.
From the opening moments to the grandiose closer, "All Circles", Ten Stories is a superb addition to mewithouYou's catalog. I found it instantly accessible while the story arc will make for deeper study. My recommendation is to go as soon as possible to your nearest record store and pick this release up. While you're there, pick up some of their older albums as well. Educate yourself. Find out about one of the most creative and unique bands of the last decade.
