gygax!, what sez you about the drubbing Dusted gave Casiotone For The Painfully Alone?

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― jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 21:37 (twenty-two years ago)

is the appearance of sincerity really a turn off?

― jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

If you’re going to do heartbreak with a detached vocal style, take care, since you have the rather large shadow of Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields looming over you. Merritt’s genius lies partly in his gift for programming and arrangement, but his songs work chiefly because he has a delicate eye for detail and a fully internalized sense of pop’s mechanics.

YAWN! (Sorry, but this emperor stopped having clothes way the hell back.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)

grrrrrrrr. the idea that the vocals are detached is ridiculous. there are a quite a few other things that i'd like to say, but i'm going to hold my tongue because owen's a dear friend and i've got a huge bias.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

who is stephen merrit anyway?

― Savin All My Love 4 u (Savin 4ll my (heart) 4u), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

spare me

― the surface noise (electricsound), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 23:23 (twenty-two years ago)

merritt=magnetic fields -- musically and lyrically, the polar opposite of Casiotone.

― jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 23:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh dear. And gygaroonie rates Dusted highly, I seem to recall.

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 23:35 (twenty-two years ago)

hobbit heads will explode. news at 11.

― jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned do you have nude Merritt pics??

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 27 November 2003 14:06 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm confused, does gygax= casiotone?

― jed (jed_e_3), Thursday, 27 November 2003 14:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned do you have nude Merritt pics??

What, you don't?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 27 November 2003 15:18 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm confused, does gygax= casiotone?

He wishes! ;)

I believe he is AWOL for the next few days, so this thread will have to stay alive a while for him to notice it...

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Thursday, 27 November 2003 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Well well...

I think that the Dusted review says less of the album but more of the reviewer. So I took a quick look at Dusted to get a glimpse of what exactly tickles Jason Dungan's musical fancy.

In his article on "What Makes Great Records Great", Jason Dungan mentions the following:

The White Album
Daydream Nation
Automatic for the People
Tim
Nevermind
Exile on Main Street
OK Computer
Sgt. Pepper
Kid A
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Slanted & Enchanted
There’s Nothing Wrong With Love
[R.E.M. producing a string of four or five classic records]
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
The Moon Over Antarctica
Soft Bulletin
Lonesome Crowded West.
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Additionally here is a sample of some of the bands that Mr. Dungan has reviewed at Dusted:

Black Eyes
Caustic Resin
Clinic
David Cross
Guided By Voices (x2)
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks
The New Pornographers
Portastatic
Rachel's
11th Dream Day
The Sea And Cake
Sebadoh
Silkworm (x2)
The Soft Boys
Sonic Youth
Tobin Sprout
Superchunk
Ugly Casanova
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yo La Tengo
....

It's no stretch to picture this guy as a recepticle for all the Merge/SubPop/Matador/Thrill Jockey promos ending up at Dusted .

So when Jason Dungan talks of "average indie tales of average indie heartbreak" you would think he would be an expert on the matter considering his tastes...

"True Love Is Hard To Find" is an awesome Toots & the Maytals song... it's one of the saddest, soul-wrenching things that I've heard in my life. It's neither "average" nor "indie", and good folx who have a knowledge of music outside of the 4 "major" "indie" labels may appreciate the reference, esp. when quoted in the context of the song.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:05 (twenty-two years ago)

gygax, i dont understand this thread - are you the worlds biggest casiotone fan or something?

― jed (jed_e_3), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

re: quoting Toots' "True Love is Hard to Find". Haha! I remember running into Owen a couple years ago on his way home from Aquarius (this was before he'd left SF) and he had just purchased the Trojan box sets, that lyric is definitely no coincidence. Great song too. I like the new album lots, although there are a few too many songs about being on tour on it (musicians writing songs about being musicians = writers writing books about writing = *snore*)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:23 (twenty-two years ago)

that review isn't that bad of a drubbing, but the shot at "True Love is Hard to Find" is a definite misfire.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:25 (twenty-two years ago)

gygax, i dont understand this thread - are you the worlds biggest casiotone fan or something?

we vie for that title.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 2 December 2003 23:59 (twenty-two years ago)

also... isn't there only one song on the new record about being on tour ("jeane, if you're ever in portland")?

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:03 (twenty-two years ago)

yes jed, i am a fan, but neither big nor small.

shakey mo is a pretty big fan himself, ms. lauren. he has travelled long and far spreading c4tpa praise.

ps lauren: not so much on tour, but being at shows.

and shakey mo, what would you know about touring?!?! :-D

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:06 (twenty-two years ago)

come to think about it, my first c4tpa show was when he was opening for shakey mo's band many moons ago. this was when cass mccombs played in the band and the super tall drummer with the glasses (peter?) who i just rememembered becuz i saw him at amoeba on sunday.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:08 (twenty-two years ago)

So, where does the guy live now? I first met him in SF, then he said he was moving to Seattle and now where?

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:10 (twenty-two years ago)

haha! touche re: touring... also

"this was when cass mccombs played in the band and the super tall drummer with the glasses (peter?) who i just rememembered becuz i saw him at amoeba on sunday. "

Owen told me later that the "drummer" was underage and that his being in "the band" was just a conceit to get him in the door that night. ah the Tip Top. Owen got us our very first show, playing with him at a warehouse on 17th and Capp.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:13 (twenty-two years ago)

he's transient. SF-ish but he's opening for the Rapture east coast swing starting tonight in DC.

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:14 (twenty-two years ago)

S Fish?

― @d@ml (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Seymour Bananafish

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:20 (twenty-two years ago)

shakey mo, how was your trip to new zealand?

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:28 (twenty-two years ago)

it was great, didn't get to see any shows but did a little record shopping (early Fall records for under $5!) Food was also surprisingly good. Did a lot of nature stuff: hiking swimming, seeing the sights, that kind of thing.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:35 (twenty-two years ago)

sounds great, i personally love the idea of escaping winter by traversing the equator... (cf: the beach boys "fall breaks and back to winter", gastr del sol's "the seasons reverse")

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 3 December 2003 00:49 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

a listless intellectual
in her prime
scrabble high score: 409
and a note on the bed
"true love is hard to find"

― gygax! (gygax!), Saturday, 12 March 2005 22:04 (twenty-one years ago)

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