To begin, a quote worth considering by the French philosophical writer Albert Camus in his essay "The Myth of Sisyphus," regarding the topic of music: "That game the mind plays with itself according to set and measured laws takes place in the sonorous compass that belongs to us and beyond which the vibrations nevertheless meet in an inhuman universe. There is no purer sensation."
We are pleased to announce that we have surpassed that 50 reviews mark. The Aeroplane over the Sea website has been in operation since the end of August, which means that we average better than 1 new review per day. And for those of you who are still baffled by remedial math, this means that if you don't check the site frequently, you're missing out on a lot of content. And now to end the gratuitously self-congratulatory section of the update.
Our top story: Flaming Lips continue to beg the question: Whaaaa? Now they remix Chumbawamba's only hit, that favorite of the 1998 Bar Mitzvah circuit and your mom's oh-so-hip aerobics class, "Tubthumpin." This after performing with Justin Timberlake, making films and recording with Blues Clues' Steve Burns, engaging in an ongoing White Stripes love-fest, touring extensively on the Jam Band circuit, and releasing not one but two unimpressive post-Yoshimi Eps and a special edition version of Yoshimi (this gouging I'm willing to blame on Warner Bros., and the Steve Burns thing is actually pretty good, but still) Wayne!.... Jesus man, finally the punk rockers might want to cut back a bit on that acid. Or start up again if it's a cessation of chemical sensations thats leading to all of this madness. I've been standing behind you guys for a while, even backing up the Timberlake thing and spouting all the "it's just crazy fun, those wacky Lips" rhetoric, and it's becoming harder daily. Still love the music guys, but perhaps if more the craziness was directed in the way of bizarre Christmas on Mars film and Okie Noodling soundtrack projects, and less in the "This stunt is both off-the wall and likely to make a bunch of idiots who don't give a shit about our music buy our product because of association" direction, everyone would be a lot happier.
In other news, my thesis that bands featuring female bassists in a mixed gender line-up have a better than average shot at being good was improved this week. The body of evidence supporting this postulation includes such greats as My Bloody Valentine, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Pixies, Galaxie 500 (not the Canadian band who played the recent Montreal Pop Fest that claimed to have independently arrived at the same name as Dean Wareham's fantastic proto-shoegazers), and Sonic Youth. Now we can add the School of Rock. For those of you who have yet to see Jack Black's latest sweetly inclined rock movie with Joan Cusack in a supporting role (wait, do I detect a pattern here; the last decent movie he made also fit this description and was a little film called "High Fidelity"), School of Rock, besides being an actually watchable Jack Black film, features some highly questionable design choices (a Matador sticker next to a Slayer sticker?), the world's most racially diverse elite prep school, and a ten-year old incarnation of the new Kim Deal.
And now some requests:
First: Write us with suggestions for your favorite cover song of all time. My choice: In Heaven (the Lady in the Radiator song), Pixies version.
Second: Can you do any sort of graphics or web design at all? Can you write reasonably well about cultural or political issues? Would you like to be on the staff of a tiny internet magazine? Come one, you know you want to bask in the soft light of a fame so audience specific, generally insignificant, and fueled by grandiose visions of self-importance as to be rendered both somewhat sweetly naïve and ridiculous to the point of self-deprecation by the inherent irony of professional-posturing amidst the omnipresent knowledge of the absolutely amateur nature of your work. In other words, we'd love to have you onboard but don't expect any real benefits other than you and few friends seeing your name at the bottom of your stories.
That's about it for now. Send mail to bhs03@hampshire.edu or Zenigma141@aol.com. Have fun and drive home safely. And watch out for moose, especially in rural Nova Scotia at night.
-Ben Segal
