I'm Telling You Something

I've made a final decision about Kanye's three albums.

Now that all three albums have been released, and 50 was shamed, predictably, and some of the heat has died down from the release, I've made a decision about which of the three albums is the best, and I believe this statement will stand the test of time. Firstly, it is not, as I'd previously been heard to remark, Graduation, but I'll understand if someone argues with me on this point, but they will be wrong. If you specifically concentrate on the production value, then Graduation is an easy winner, but that's not the point, I don't think, or it shouldn't be, leastly to Kanye, as it's important to him to be a rapper, and not a rapper/producer, which is especially evident if you think about the fact that some tracks were not produced by Kanye himself (on Graduation). And therefore, you have to think of every album as an album, in the general sense, which you should anyway, but I understand that few probably will.

Therefore, I offer the following:

The College Dropout: It's clear that Kanye was trying to prove that he could be an MC, and that's fair enough. Cause nobody had any faith in him as a rapper, for reasons it would be redundant to mention, and therefore it's full of him trying to impress Jay, Kweli, etc., and the beats are mostly one-dimensional phat beats to ride, and I'm not saying that it doesn't work, cause it does, but I'm saying that it's all you get. (That and far too many skits.)

Graduation: This album has the opposite feel, probably due in part to his fondness for Girl Talk and the general producer appreciation thing that's been happening for the last little while. This is also a good thing, because the production really is incredible and untouched by any except maybe Timbaland, but it's not like Timbo could create something this incredible independently, as we all found out from his unfortunate solo debut. But because it runs with the producer thing, it depends far less on being an MC (save for 'Good Morning,' which is pretty much an homage to Eminem, as far as spitting goes, and 'Barry Bonds,' where he outflows Lil Wayne somehow).

Late Registration: This is the middle point, literally and figuratively, as it finds a comfort zone with both concepts, and therefore the production and rapping is top notch, and pretty much every track is incredible. There are a few songs that I care about far less than others, but the album is generally listenable start to finish. It would be much better if it didn't have so many fucking skits, though, which is something Graduation has over the first two LP's.

Therefore it would seem to defy logic to suggest that either the first or last of the three is as thoroughly fantastic an album, as Late Registration. Kanye was right, Gold Digger was the fucking single of the year, and every other single was always the best song you came across on the radio at any time, and the wierder, more indie-backpack producer tracks were just neat and a nice little break, and they just sound great. Plus the hidden track is cool as fuck, and fucking Cam'Ron is on this album, which is really enough said.

Allmusic fucking sucks

Here's the thing: no one gets Ryan Adams. Why is that? It's really fucking stupid. I hate allmusic. I am now officially taking the stance of Fuck Allmusic, and their over-technical bullshit. Fuck them. I am so incoherent right now it makes no sense. It's almost 1:30 in the afternoon and I've been awake since yesterday morning and I have a rock & roll show to perform and booze to drink this afternoon. Gotta get more smokes, also. Evan and I have been through like 5 pots of strong, black coffee since the last time we woke up. Fuck.

Incinerate

Man. Sonic Youth, dawg, fo realz. They're very dope, is what I'm saying. The guitar work on their albums (and I know this is redundant, I don't care) is so fucking immaculate. It just rocks right fucking hard and that's awesome. Speaking of rockingness and awesomeness, as two of our band members are leaving in the next week for Toronto, Arbeau, Cam, and I will be rocking our asses of as a three-piece--------------->

At this point all I can figure is that we'll be rocking as fuck, with a bunch of really poppy sidenotes, and a fantastic live show. Since I'll be playing guitar again, you can expect really simple and loud abrasive guitar work, with Cam's expertise on guitar bass and keys to put the whole thing into perspective for you. Goddamn he is awesome. BTW, this fucking poster thing is rad as fuck. I heart Andy Warhol dawg, fo real. Rather Ripped is really a pretty good album. Incinerate is a fantastic single, that's for sure, but this album doesn't even approach Daydream Nation, but I don't think anyone is enough of an asshole to expect that of them.

I have this renewed interest in rocking the fuck out lately, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I can't remember ever being in this phase before, it's kind of a new thing, since the last time I talked unironically about rocking was probably the tenth grade, but man, I love rocking. I've been real nostalgic for the TCS days lately, when it was all about rocking the fuck out and leaving everyone confused. Those were the good days.

In Utero

I've had an intense love/hate relationship with Nirvana since the 11th grade. I loved them unconditionally when I was in the 10th grade, but when you get older and smarter and more musically informed, it becomes more difficult to decide which stance to take. The initial transition is to, 'They had some good tunes,' and then, 'They were fucking lame,' and then, 'They're one of the worst occurrences in rock history,' if you want to be over-the-top about it, which I did. But all of these statements are nothing if not uninformed and somewhat silly, and definitely immature.

Firstly, they had a lot of really good fucking songs (Blew, Negative Creep, Swap Meet, Drain You, Aneurysm, all of the songs on In Utero, everything on Nirvana: Unplugged, etc.). Secondly, all rock music is usually pretty lame if you really think about it. In fact, it's almost impossible to really, 'rock,' without being, 'lame.' If you don't follow me I don't really know how to explain it, plus I am kind of full of shit, cause the definition of 'cool' I'm using to claim that rocking is lame is not the definition of cool that I would really use. I can't look at the back of Appetite For Destruction and pretend that it's not cool, or read about Nikki Sixx snorting ants and piss and not think that's cool, or listen to a Nirvana song (aside from Smells Like Teen Spirit, Something in the Way, etc.) without thinking it's cool, so fuck it.

But if we're using the indie pretention definition of cool, rocking is uncool. Which is why Indie is cool, and also why it sucks balls. Same can be said for instrumental music of any kind (aside from Miles Davis, which is obviously cool as fuck).

Anyway, that being said, Nirvana were pretty cool. Kurt Cobain, as a dude, was never cool. In fact he was almost always the least cool person in the room. He was either being somewhat friendly and normal, or quiet and weird. He was never being cool. Before Nevermind, he was that loser that butts into a conversation about like, Pavement or something, and is like, 'Yeh they totally rule, I totally know who they are and like them.' (This is documented on at least one occasion.) But on a general scale, in the eyes of the public and rock music after the 80's, he was the coolest shit ever, and so was Nirvana.

Smells Like Teen Spirit is supposed to be the 'definitive' Nirvana song, but that's only because it was the breakthrough hit, but if you know anything about the band and why they were important, it should be pretty obvious that the real definitive Nirvana song is Lithium. Lithium so thoroughly defines everything about that band, their following, and their importance and why they 'defined a generation,' that it's fucking sick. The lyrics in the song are definitely not cool, but they're certainly not as embarrassing as the lyrics in Teen Spirit, and they certainly do say a lot about everyone who loved the band and why. I really don't want to go into all the lyrics in the song, so I'm not going to, but listen to it and think about what defines 'generation x;' it's all there.

Bleach was a fucking awesome record. It didn't have any label pressure, it had very few really lame lyrics, and all the songs rock your ass off. Nevermind seems, at first, like some singles and filler, but there are like six really good fucking songs on it (Come As You Are, Lithium, Drain You, Breed, Polly and Lounge Act, the others are debatable). Which means, generally, it's listenable in its' entirety. Incesticide is brilliant, and better than Nevermind. Aneurysm is probably the best song Nirvana ever recorded, with the possible exception of You Know You're Right. Plus Dive, Sliver, Been a Son, Molly's Lips, Downer, Hairspray Queen and Aerozeppelin are all really good songs.

I'm giving In Utero it's own paragraph, since when I started writing this, it was only to talk about that record. In Utero is fucking awesome. All the music that Steve Albini writes himself sucks ass, and he should really not bother, but as a producer, he's a fucking genius. His brilliance on Surfer Rosa goes without saying, but it's really cool that Nirvana would choose him based on such a great record, and that he would help Nirvana make what's probably their best album, in the general sense. I don't skip any songs on In Utero. I don't have any albums that sound like it, and that's awesome. It' s got bone-crushing drums, impressively precise and consistent bass lines, and crunching startling guitars that melt your fucking face. I won't get into how underrated Cobain's guitar-playing is (even though it is) but I will say that the guitar playing on this album is incendiary and immaculate. All the songs are good, and I'm glad the band fucked with Albini's production by adding Scott Litt's mix work. I'm sure that the band was right about the album not being good enough as Albini's 'final product,' especially since everyone except Albini (who, pretentious asshole that he is, claimed he worked with Nirvana out of pity for them) agrees that the vocals weren't loud enough, and the bass was inaudible. Both those things are unacceptable. This record rocks so hard it's ridiculous, and therefore, by my definition, it's cool as fuck. And the older I get, the less I give a shit about the lyrics being 'lame.' As far as I'm concerned, Cobain just wrote about whatever, and all power to him really; we can't all be Morrissey.

That wasn't the point anyway, and that's why Nirvana will be loved and hated for all the wrong reasons forever. Everyone acts like it's bullshit when Cobain (and Dave and Krist, by the way) insist that the lyrics were the least important part, and that the structure, melody and fucking ROCK was what mattered, but I'm 100% positive that this was the case. In fact, it seems almost stupidly obvious. This would be easy to argue for Bleach, but in every song they ever wrote, the subject has no consistency, often doesn't make sense, and lines are placed seemingly at random, as long as they rhyme, and sometimes even if they don't. You will get no argument from me that Cobain wrote really terrible poetry on a regular basis, and everyone knows that a lot of his lyrics came from those, so from that you can basically just claim that his lyrics were terrible, and fair enough, but really though, who fucking cares? If you're into a band because of their lyrics, that's stupid. And this is coming from a dude who's favourite song of all time (probably) is a Smiths song. But the Smiths were an awesome band. Morrissey's lyricism is an important part, obviously, to everything that the band was, but if Marr, Rourke and Joyce had sucked ass, I wouldn't care about them. In Nirvana's case, I mostly regard the lyrics the same way as the bass line, they sounded good, in a purely musical sense.

Most of the time when I talk about Kurt Cobain, I feel like an asshole. This is because I pass a ridiculous amount of judgement his way, the same way that everyone else does, despite the fact that in reality, I don't really know anything about him, and neither does anyone else who talks about him all the time. I know his birthday, his parents, who gave him his first guitar, his favourite album of the 80's, when he killed himself, what his suicide note said, and an endless amount of useless trivia shit, but I don't know him, at all. All the people that did know him (Krist, Dave, that dude that still does heroin and insists that no one killed Kurt because if he thought they had, 'they would be dead... I would kill them.') seem to agree that he was a good dude. Apparently funny, really serious about loving music, friendly, and a bit odd, but never pretentious, no sense of inflated self-importance, no elitist attitude, etc. This seems fair enough and everything, but for some reason I still assume he was an asshole. Mostly because he killed himself, and people that kill themselves are assholes. But then, as I talk out loud, I inevitably blame Courtney Love. I know this seems like a lame fan thing to think, but it seems legitimately probable. He may not have been so bad with heroin, he wouldn't of abandoned all of his friends and made them hate him (though they never said they hated him, it seems pretty obvious) and therefore he may have enjoyed playing music and continued doing it.

I honestly believe that he felt trapped by Courtney. Everyone has stated in interviews that she was a controlling bitch (she would come down to the studio during the recording of In Utero and piss everyone off by critiquing everyone, and Kurt would just sit there all sad and shit) and no one provides more evidence of this then her. The fact that she kept the rights to their catalogue and unreleased material is fucking infuriating, even to me. She had nothing to do with their music, and it's as plain as day to everyone who isn't retarded that Krist and Dave should own all rights to the music they helped create. Anyway, what I'm trying to get at here, is that Courtney killed Cobain, but not in any conspiracy type way, she was just real bad for him in general. I don't buy that she made any serious attempt to get him off drugs, and I do buy that she was/is a stupid bitch.

So the thing is this: all accounts of Cobain seem to point out the fact that whenever he was playing shows and writing songs, he was happy, and whenever he wasn't he was not. This makes a lot of sense. Courtney seemed to have fucked this up for him. If she'd been a good wife/mother, I really don't buy that he would've been so selfish as to off himself. Reports also indicate that Kurt was considering breaking up the band, and I don't buy that either. Cobain reported that he was super-psyched that some of the songs on In Utero came together jamming, and were therefore collaborative efforts, and they fucking made You Know You're Right, and Kurt was working with Pat Smear on a recently released home recording called Do Re Mi, that's fucking really, really good. This doesn't seem like a person ready to quit. In fact, the only person that seems certain of this is Courtney, because she wanted him to quit. Therefore, I'm sure the prospect of not having his friends, family or band and being left to deal with Courtney's psycho shit, and be a heroin-addicted asshole worse at fathering than his father, made him want to kill himself (coupled, of course, with a mysterious stomach disease, as well as what was probably manic depression). That makes a lot of sense to me.

Nirvana:Unplugged is so fucking good it doesn't even make sense. It is the best live album of all time. All the songs on it are better than the original versions (especially the covers) and you can definitely tell that Kurt is mad down with this idea, despite his supposed dislike of MTV. Everything about this album is great. It's also very much one of a kind. I won't get too far into it, but I'm just saying, Nirvana:Unplugged fa lyfe.

I think this will be the last thing I talk about: You Know You're Right is by far the best single of their career (or would've been) it's better than the rest combined, including Love Buzz and obviously Teen Spirit. Do Re Mi was a major step forward in Cobain's songwriting and singing, therefore, if it hadn't been for Courtney Love, they would've made the best album of their career in the next year or so, and that's depressing.

I hope Courtney Love gets cancer.

Next Time I See You, I'll Have a New Tattoo...

Greetings friends, David R. here, giving you the scoop on the Youth and Beauty Brigade. The Hands have been writing again, which is very exciting, though ultimately saddening, as Paul and Graham will be moving in the not-too-distant future to the all-too-distant city of Toronto. Arbeau, Cam and I will probably meet them there next year, though, then FAME!

We've started production on my debut album, which should be seeing release sometime in the next month, which is dope. I got a new tattoo yesterday, it's dope as fuck. I'm not gonna describe it, you'll see it when you come get drunk at my house, which you will. So far we have something like 13 tracks, which is much more than the 7 or 8 I originally planned on, but none are unnecessary, so fuck it, ya know?

I played with some kids in the park today plus about the WHATTHEFUCKGOINTOSEETHEFUCKINGWHITESTRIPESTOMORROW!!!!!! yeh dog. SHIIIIIIIIIT. So that should be a good time. The gang's all goin up tomorrow, although unfortunately Graham could not attend, which totally fucking blows.

Baby I'm a Star

Greetings.

It's been some time since the last time I posted, but whatev, I'm still using this, which is impressive. No Show Jones have not really done anything, and that's kind of silly, but it looks like we may be able to start playing elwood's soon, which would be neat. Cam and I played an acoustic set at his school the other day, and it went reasonably well. We got kicked off stage for swearing, which is pretty laughable. I merely noted that the song to follow was written on the subject of a fucking whore, which I feel is an understatement. Whatever.

No Show Jones are very fucking good. We have a myspace now but there's nothing on it. I've been facebooking to a ridiculous degree. It's just so convenient and hilarious. Especially the latter. My sister had a child a couple weeks ago named Kaiden, so that's exciting. I like that name.

I haven't written any literature at all in the past three months, but I've written several songs. Which is a fair trade to me. I've been spending a lot more time on music lately, which makes me really happy. Ryan's been home a lot too, which is dope.

Yesterday I bought Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk,' and Prince and the Revolution's 'Purple Rain,' on vinyl. Which is so awesome. I also found 'In/casino/out,' two Hives albums and RATM's 'Renegades' album. Good haul. I rearranged my library. Oh man, it is so fucking awesome in there. I'd like to get Graham over here tonight, but so far no luck. Oh well, I still love him.

'Gotta Get Drunk' is an incredible song.

Greetings. I am, again, intoxicated, just so you know.

Since my last post I've started a country/blues band called No Show Jones, and we're playing Night Train on the 25th, and I'm making a personal appearance on PaulC's radio show that he does every Monday from 6 to 7:30. He's been spinning my shit for a little while now, so that's exciting.


No Show Jones have almost entirely finished Two Timin' Blues, Tears in my Coffee and I Ain't Missin no Goddamn Woman. We're also working on a bunch of other songs. They are very fucking good. Been drinking sort of heavily. It's because I'm a country music star.

Breakin' a cigarette, clenchin' my fist.

Well, it's been a little while since I've posted anything, but the fact that I was in Quebec is a pretty good excuse, I think.

Let's get updated then. I've written several new songs. I wrote a very Pete Doherty-esque ditty called Young and Tired, and then I wrote a song I like to think of as a cross between "You're no Good" and "In My Time of Dyin'" off of Bob Dylan's first album; it's called 'Two-Timin' Blues." A couple of minutes ago I write most of an untitled new song that owes everything to Ryan Adams and the Cardinals and their album, 'Jacksonville City Nights,' which is very high on my favourite albums of all time list.

I'm playing at Night Train on May 25th, and these songs will definitely be featured in my set list, along with some standards ('Now I Got Those Cigarettes,' 'I was There When it Happened,' etc.) so everyone should attend.

Quebec was fucking awesome.

Young and Tired (with the Two-Timin' Blues)

It's been a little while since my last post, and I half-figured I'd never post again and one day remember that this is here and read it and stroll memory lane. But, here I am. I'm at my parents' house, surfing the net. I haven't much else to do. I took the week off work and it's been fantastic already, except I've been up since 6:30 for no good reason at all.

So far this week off has yielded one new song, and I haven't even left for Montreal yet. I'm hoping to get one song out of the trip, at least. I wrote a song yesterday called 'Two-Timin' Blues' and I'm very proud of it.

I'm so fucking tired.

Also, I wrote another song the other day called 'Young and Tired,' and it is also very good.

Radio Radio (this is an Elvis Costello reference)

Greetings once again. Graham and I spoke today about how it's confusing to use Matthew D. R. Elliott and m.d.r. elliott and David R. Elliott, so from here on out, I am m.d.r. elliott, because that's what it says on my pins. Even though my myspace is myspace.com/davidrelliott and my purevolume is purevolume.com/davidrelliott. I am too lazy to change those.
Anyway, more importantly, I'm going to be on the radio tonight somewhere between 6 and 7:30, on 92.5 CFMH, on PaulC's radio show. He's a cool dude that Paul. I'm drinking coffee and it's a good feeling.

Now I Got Those Cigarettes

I'm not gonna lie...I'm fairly intoxicated. Therefore, I'm going to hope this isn't hilarious to me in a way that is not something to be proud of tomorrow.
We went to see Grindhouse today, which is Arbeau and I's second viewing, and Jeremy and Kelly's fourth. Shit, I hope that doesn't make Arbeau and I seem like a couple. Anyway, the important thing is that Grindhouse is the greatest movie-going experience of my entire life, and everyone who doesn't see it in theaters and proceed to purchase both movies (separately, of course) should be fucking mortified. Anyway, generally it was a decent flick. Fuck, dawg... fo' realz.
Anyway, the usual effect of a film of this caliber forces me to act like I'm in a very well scripted film, about cool dudes who read Sartre and Hemingway, and talk about rap music non-stop. It would probably be an awesome movie. Kevin Smith could probably direct most of it. Although I would then need Tarantino to direct the scene where I murder several hippies with a torch and a large, impressive-looking knife. It would actually be an excellent pairing, I think. It would definitely need my final verdict on the script, though, because I'd have to be like, "Listen, dude (Smith), I was kinda thinking a lot less dick and butt jokes, and a lot more references to Nietzsche and Dawson's Creek... you know."
I'm working on a new short story for the first time in several months, and I'm hoping it will be my 'return to form!' Also, I'm writing songs that are obviously tribute to Doherty, but only really obvious to Arbeau, who knows that I'll do that type shit before it happens.
Speaking of my amazing music, PaulC's radio show on 92.5 CFMH will be spinning my shit again tomorrow night at 6. I'm trying to convince him to bring me so I can be on the show, which would be radically awesome. In either case I think he'll play 'Now I Got Those Cigarettes,' which I will be promoting as my lead single.
In closing, I would like to point out that I fucking hate when people use a paragraph starting this way to end something they mysteriously consider a piece of writing.

The Three-Day Blow

This is impressive already, because I created the blog yesterday (technically this morning), and I'm posting again today. Although I'm mostly posting because I'd like to mention how incredible I feel today. I feel a creative spurt coming on.
Arbeau is visiting tonight, and hopefully I'll be able to get Graham and co. on board, though probably not. I bought some Scotch tonight and am planning on getting extremely intoxicated and probably writing something. I am this generations Hemingway.

Youth and Beauty Screeches Into the Face of Ugliness (A Quiet Night, No Dogs)

It's one of those nights where I can't sleep and it's too late and cold to go anywhere. If this were some months ago I'd probably be on King St. waiting for the sun to rise over everything, but I'm in my living room, tired but not sleepy, wanting to feel creative and coming up short. I wrote a new song tonight, that I'll probably show Graham as soon as possible. Also Arbeau, but I especially enjoy the look on Graham's face when he really enjoys a tune of mine.
It probably is as funny to you (assuming this is ever read) as it is to me that I have created a blog. A while back I created one for Exclamation Marx, but posted twice and forgot about it. Fair enough; the hip-hop obsession has been waning and has once again been replaced with Pete Doherty and many literary greats. I would like a coffee, but the hookers and crackheads have forced the Waterloo Tim's to close it's doors at night. Perhaps I'll stay up to watch the sun rise and walk down to wake myself up, then I'll walk back and perhaps finally get some sleep. I most likely will not do any of those things.
The Invisible Hands are preparing for a show sometime in May, and I've been spreading the word as much as possible. I'm going away to Montreal soon to see Ryan graduate from his basic army training, and am looking forward to the trip.
I feel like saying something poetic but I can't think of anything. The mastery with which Ellis conveys the emotions, habits and priorities of his characters is impressive (that wasn't my poetic thing, but merely an observation).
I'm going to start drinking. If only to be more like Hemingway and Thompson, and to prepare myself for touring, which I can only assume will be riddled with excess. True rock n' roll hooligans, free-spiriting province to province on a mission for success of some kind in a moronic rock industry whose giants have been losing money. I figure the mathematics behind our success can't fail. If nothing else, we will have pissed away youth and beauty through drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and hostile-pop. The whole thing is so romantic. Anyway, I'll leave you to your....et cetera.