Dark Night of the Soul

It's been over a year since its completion, but Dark Night of the Soul is finally here in its finished package. It is a release that is soured by the passing of both Mark Linkous, known for his work as Sparklehorse and who musically contributed the bulk of the work on the album aside Dangermouse, and Vic Chesnutt who also added emotive vocals to the track "Grim Augury".

The album itself was an augury for those involved. The opening track sung by Flaming Lip's Wayne Coyne is little removed from the Lip's catalogue of work but would fit best on Embryonic released late last year. Similarly, "Little Girl" featuring The Strokes Julian Casablancas could be seen as the bridge gapping The Strokes third album First Impressions of Earth and Julian's solo album Phrazes for the Young.

DNOTS was also the meeting place for Dangermouse and The Shins front man James Mercer who earlier this year released an album together under the name Broken Bells. The track "Insane Lullaby" which the two collaborated on is a much rougher cut then most of the glossed pop material found on the Bells album but the pieces were here first, and are present in the form best fitting for this album.

The more rocking tracks are fronted back to back by Frank Black and Iggy Pop who lended their vocals best to tracks which Linkous did not feel comfortable performing himself. This appears to be a wise choice. Despite still being weaker tracks on the album, Frank Black and Iggy Pop's chalky vocals do truly fit the songs much better than the gentle cooing voice Linkous supplies on "Daddy's Gone".

David Lynch adds his vocal talent to the haunting "Star Eyes (I Can't Catch It)" and to the title track/album closer "Dark Night of the Soul". His surreal nightmarish dreamscapes are also the artwork that do well to accompany the overall feel that Sparklehorse and Dangermouse are trying to accomplish in the drudgery of music and lyrical content that has never felt so bad, yet still willing to offer comfort.

Most albums featuring numerous vocalists tend to fall apart when held up as a whole piece of work, but this is where DNOTS not only differs from the norm but shines. The overall sights and sounds remain the same while the myriad of vocalist breathes life into a work which is a year later still amazing to listen to and will most likely be the crowning piece of Linkous' career.

the like - fair game

we got our butts handed to us in softball tonight. just an all around poor performance on our parts. lots of beers afterwards to try to drown the sorrows. brewers lost as well, despite some dingers from prince and hart.

memorial weekend was well. got deathly ill on friday night after hanging out with stairs. recouped early on sat, and caught a great brewers game with brad. shot a very forgettable round at willow run on sun. nothing much to say about that other than i had a good time with friends and got sun burned. golf itself was piss poor though. mon was fun with bbq and family. killed at ladderball with my cousin. together in genero sports we are just about undefeated for lifes. always a good time.

back to softball. i pitched poorly. i hit poorish as well. drunken now. listening to fair game by the like on repeat. sounds like if spice girls made mod music. ridiculously catchy. not asking for forgiveness for liking it either.

misc reviews from the weekend. house of the devil fantastic despite retreading old territory. wrestling ernest hemingway was great. i thought the title and partial impotency theme was somewhat ironical. duvall slipped out of accent a couple times and the music was a bit dramatic throughout, but it was forgiveable. long and short of it, i want to watch the movie with my mom. she would enjoy it greatly. deeyes, she would.

how to destroy angels

trent reznor has returned with his wife in a project called "how to destroy angels". the band is releasing their first ep as a free download on june 1st and in physical form on june 6th. i have listened to the song the believers from the ep and as expected it is not too far removed from nin, but enough that it should not be categorized as such. this project should not come as too much of a surprise for nin fans who remember the talk of a project called "tapeworm" a number of years ago. you can pre-order the free download of the ep by signing up for the band's mailing list, and also receive an immediate download of the song "the believers". the album will be available in lossless file format on june 1st, for the low price of $2, and both on vinyl and cd on june 6th. i for one, am happy to hear new music coming from trent and am also grateful for the ways in which he is making it available to his fans.

the shivers - love is in the air

great playlist from the shivers, a wonderful 2 piece band out of nyc. one of my favorites from them is soho party.

watching gus van sant's psycho remake and getting sleepy.

tomorrow morning

i am pleased to hear that eels are set to release their third album in the past year and a half on august 24th. the album will be titled "tomorrow morning", and will be the final album of a trilogy that began with "hombre lobo" and "end times".

eels will also be touring the world in 2010 with an eels tour stop here at milwaukee's pabst theater on october 2nd. very much looking forward to new music and to seeing e and company live again.

i am listening to meet the beatles! and figuring out my work day. i think the album title is rather ironic today as it is almost impossible to first meet the beatles on this album. you're more likely to meet the beatles on a radio station, video game, or television commercial. it makes it really hard to hold a single song for what it's worth without bringing in the entire baggage that makes up the beatles. i think my favorite track off the album is "don't bother me". it's a simple song that i haven't heard a million times and for that reason it doesn't weigh me down with all the good and bad that encompasses THE BEATLES.

there is a light that never goes out

listening to sleigh bells and writing my first blog on blogger. setting up an account for a client soon so i thought i would give it a practice run for myself to work out the bugs. sleigh bells is good. not my favorite, but listenable. kind of like the ting tings, but i haven't figured out if it is more or less obnoxious at this point.

watching lost the past couple of weeks reminded me greatly of the smiths song, "there is a light that never goes out". both the title of the song and also the content, what with jin and sun biting it together a couple episodes ago. i am really enjoying where the show is heading coming into the final episode on sunday. i was all set to be let down, but now i think i will be pleasantly surprised.

the brewers need to do something soon, even if it is wrong. not sure that macha's head should be on the chopping block, but definitely for hoffman moving to a different role for the time being. it is embarrassing seeing the save count banner hanging in the stadium, each and every game i attend. one thing is for sure, that thing needs to go.