Got 7 Min? Pretty Amazing Stuff

"How I Spent My Summer Vacation" Pt. 3

Ok, so I'm going to backtrack a little bit. My last post was about my last few weeks before becoming a college graduate. This post is about some trips that happened in that time period, but deserve their own post. Both trips were to Seattle and both were pretty amazing - albeit for very different reasons. First, my trip to the Sasquatch Music Festival, then my trip to Joe's Memorial Service. Westward, ho!

Rediscovered: Fela Kuti & Africa '70

Over the last year, as you may have noticed, I've become increasingly interested in rediscovering the music of our parents generation (basically anything made from around 1960 through the early 80's). Although commercial music has continuously been evolving, the wide varieties of styles that grew out of what was originally called rhythm & blues (which replaced the term "race music") during this era at least feels like one of the greatest shifts that music has ever experienced. For me, this is when popular music really started to be great. I'll be writing a few posts now and then about some of my favorites from my forays into the music past.

One great thing about discovering this era of music is that there is no shortage of lists and reviews to help you find something you like. However, even better is the fact that we can throw these lists out, and decide for ourselves what music is relevant to us now when looking it through the lens of our own culture, insulated from the culture that surrounded it. In retrospect, we may find that the best stuff was the stuff that wasn't popular at the time because it hasn't been recycled as much as so many of the hits have. This is a perfect example of what's happened to Fela Kuti over the years since his death.

Music Sampling Playlist

I been wanting to do another playlist post for a while. I was planning on doing a Christmas mix, but I didn't sit down and write a post before Christmas. Instead I'm going to do a list based on sampling.

Recently I've started paying a lot more attention to sampling in music recently, mostly because I've been getting into the soul and funk music from the 60's and 70's that gets most widely sampled. Sampling has become an ubiquitous part of our pop music/culture. Based on what I've learned--mostly from Wikipedia--the origin of sampling in American musical culture was the invention of breakbeats by DJ Kool Herc. Sampling certainly existed since at least as early as the 1960's, but it was Kool Herc's method of extending beats from funk and soul tracks that developed into hip-hop in the late 1970's. This made hip-hop the first musical genre to which sampling was an intrinsic part. And you know, at least generally, what happened after that.

So I've been collecting a playlist of some originals and songs that sample them. You might wonder, as I did, If there is a site that catalogs the use of samples in music. That site is whosampled.com. They have a large user generated database of samples, which helped me find a few of these.

Album Review!

link for Ted

Hello friends. My current state of funemployment lends itself to a plethora of free time. I find myself bored much of the time. Leads exist, but nothing solidified yet. Keep your fingers crossed.

That said, I haven't been able to find a topic to blog about lately. Nothing really has happened in my life of late. But, with the recent dearth of blogging (until the last few days), it became apparent that I had to blog about SOMETHING, or else this blog would be truly dead. So, the natural choice for blog content when there's no content to be had is... an album review!

My first though in the shower this morning was to review Kanye West's latest effort, "My Dark Twisted Fantasy". But, what's the fun in that? A lot of people are talking about it, everyone has an opinion, and I haven't listened enough to really say anything useful. But then, I realized that there's another album that I haven't really spoken to any of you about of which Kanye's new album truly reminds me (and I don't know why). The album we'll discuss today is a seminal effort within hip-hop, considered to be one of the best albums of all-time, a double platinum debut effort by the one-time candidate for the Haitian presidency... the album we'll discuss today is Wyclef Jean's 1997 record "The Carnival".

Let me preface this review by telling you that this album is my favorite, without question. I can be in the midst of a heavy musical boredom, on a multi-day road trip, and pop in The Carnival and suddenly feel renewed. I can sit at home and be sending out job applications while wondering what music I should be listening to, pop in The Carnival, and be set. This album is versatile - just as it could accompany job applications, you could play it at the right party and people would a) think it was the perfect music, and b) be surprised that they'd never heard half the songs before. It's a concept album - it follows a storyline and should actually be listened to in one go.

The Carnival starts with perhaps one of the best album intros of all the time, setting the story for the story to be told over the proceeding tracks. The story is simple: The Carnival is a trial pitting Wyclef Jean vs. The People to determine whether or not Wyclef is "a playa and a definite bad influence". Let me just say, what a baller for making that the theme for your DEBUT album. Anyway, the intro just rocks. It makes you wanna listen and it gets you so psyched to hear the rest of the tracks.

The intro builds, builds, and builds some more, and then breaks into some calm, chill notes for the intro of the first song "Apocalypse". This pattern is prevalent throughout the album - a contrast between strong, loud, intense sounds, cutting to calm, chill, light guitar, and then breaking into sweet flows of melodic rhyme.

Wyclef is a master of sampling, and uses this to his advantage. Tracks throughout the album take advantage of past tunes, everything from the Latin classic "Guantanamera" to the Beegee's "Stayin' Alive", and Willie Nelson's "To All The Girls I've Loved Before". This mix of classic hip-hop lyrics from Wyclef and the rest of the Refugee All-Stars is, for me, amazing.

Sprinkled throughout the album are Interludes that continue the trial concept of the album and pull the music together. In some albums that are meant to be listened to as one, the songs don't actually connect at all (obviously) and artists just say that because they're stuck-up and arrogant. This album is not one of those. The songs actually work, and serve as evidence within Wyclef's trial. Furthermore, the Interludes are hilarious and at times make fun of the Caribbean French accent. Good stuff.

Sticking to his Haitian roots, Wyclef even throws in a few songs in Haitian French. While I don't understand what he sings, they're great tracks that make you want to move. They certainly contribute to the album as a whole.

Bottom line, I think everyone needs to listen to this album. I know that all you Stadium dwellers will be able to appreciate it, and furthermore enjoy it. I still don't know how I've neglected to mention it until just now. It's truly a stable in anyone's listening "quiver", and definitely can serve as one of those trusty fallbacks that will solve any music-enjoyment ennui.

It's business time.

Enough with the jokes, friends. It's business time. Actually, it's stream-of-consciousness music review time, but that's just semantics (by using the aforementioned phrase, I am implying that the point is purely a verbal quibble and in fact, nothing more. In this case, it's not really a verbal quibble at all, but actually a correction of my explanation of the proper type of "time" that it now is, so in retrospect I'm not sure why I said 'that's just semantics' so nevermind! (p.s. if you haven't watched that whole video, do it now!))

Anyway, this post is to inform you all of my latest musical entertainment. I've recently begun listening to The xx. They're a pretty awesome indie/electro/minimalist band from the inner city of London. They've picked up some pretty big awards in the past year or so, so it seems like I'm not the only one that thinks they're kind of a big deal. Their debut album, eponymously titled "xx", is wicked awesome.

Many of their songs feature both a male and a female vocalist. They work incredibly well together, and the chill, smooth beats that they vocalize with just make you want to do nothing but melt into the moment. The single from the album is "Crystalised" (yes, British spelling). The album shifts from faster (but mellow) tunes to slower (but equally mellow) tunes, undulating in pace up and down like a sine function (that's a positive, since it makes for variety) but never really changing the overall feel of mellowness that emanates throughout the entire album (also a positive, since it makes for a unified sound).

Notable songs on the album include "Islands" and "Night Time", but in reality, listen to the whole effen thing because it's just that good. I would like to think that you all could appreciate this music.

P.S. They also have done some sweet remixes, including one of Florence and the Machine's "You've Got The Love"

2010 Summer Music Mix

So this summer I started realizing that a lot of the indie shit that I was listening to had a similar surf-pop feel to it. I thought it would make for a good summer mix, so I started putting together a playlist. I decided to include only music which was released this year (by this I mean it was on an album or single released this year). I included a good amount of other stuff besides the surf-pop, if you're not feeling that. I wanted to post this earlier (looks like I starting writing it a few weeks ago), but didn't get around to it until now. But hey, you can enjoy summer music anytime, maybe even more so once the weather starts turning cooler.

LMFAO rips off MSTRKRFT?

So I was listening to some MSTRKRFT remixes on Sad Steve and in one of them I came across a beat that seemed very familiar. Take listen to the "Element of Danger" MSTRKRFT remix (2006) on Sad Steve and decide whether you think LMFAO's song "I'm in Miami" sounds like they just stripped down the beat added a few chirps and then rapped over it? This isn't really a horrible thing; there's been tons of sampling and recycling going on in hip-hop, rap, and electronic music for a long time. I think it just gets to the reason why I could never totally get into LMFAO. There's no originality; it's just catchy club beats with womanizing lyrics.

Anyway you should all check out MSTRKRFT on Sad Steve. I'm not a a huge fan of their original compositions (though "Heartbreaker" with John Legend is really good), but their remixes are generally original (not just the same song with a club beat) and catchy. The D.A.N.C.E. remix is great.

Goldfish Swallowing, Neon Indian, Washed Out, DFA, and all things funemployed!

I was originally going to write a post a week or two back about all these sweet bands I found through Wikipedia.  I did this by originally looking up Hot Chip and then clicking through on the "related acts" link to see a bunch of others.  I soon realized that all of them shared a common label, DFA (Death From Above), and consequently downloaded everything from that label.  Then I realized all these bands were supposedly popular freshman year and I was, once again, late to jump on the bandwagon.  But nonetheless, if you were too, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend Out Hud, The Rapture, The Juan MacLean, and Black Leotard Front if you like Hot Chip.  I would also recommend The Knife.  

After my original music idea, I was going to write about the phenomenon of goldfish swallowing (apparently a common frat-party activity) originally popularized in the 1930s by Harvard freshman Lothrop Withington.  I think this is absolutely hilarious/repulsive and I'm confused as to why it was so popular.

Once it became apparent that my thoughts about goldfish swallowing were limited, and thus so too was my ability to write anything about it, I sat here, funemployed and without pants, and waited.  Then, I discovered some new music.  This stuff is actually new.  I hope nobody has heard it yet.  

I was just recently encouraged to listen to Washed Out.  My source told me, "If you like Passion Pit, you may like this."  He then sent me the EP (which has yet to be released?!).  I must say, this stuff is great.  It's sort of MGMT, sort of Passion Pit, all chill.  iTunes calls it "Synth-Pop".  Other people call it "Chill Wave".  I'm not enough of an indie/hipster dude to really know what I'm talking about, but I know enough to like this music and enjoy it for what it is.  Find the "Life of Leisure" EP on a rapidshare feed at your convenience.  To give you an indication of its liveliness, I would not end a pre-game with this music.  I would begin a night with it, and maybe end a night with it, but definitely nothing in the middle.

My enjoyment of Washed Out led me to another artist.  Neon Indian actually came before Washed Out (according to Hipster Runoff), but who really cares?  It's a similar style (Chill Wave) and very enjoyable to listen to.  Both projects aren't quite as lively as Passion Pit or MGMT, but they exude similar musical styles and therefore are very enjoyable.  I loved MGMT but got sick of them fairly quickly.  I think the variety that these bands provide will be quite useful in avoiding such an illness again.  On the pre-game scale, I think Neon Indian would prove to be a good pre-game band throughout most of an entire pre-game session.  Again, snag the EP (Psychic Chasms) on a rapidshare feed.

Enjoy the music.  See you all in a week.

Since we all know it's never too early to plan a party...

...(except if it's Tuesday and your party is on Friday).. 

WE ALSO KNOW IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY TO PLAN A PRE-GAME!! YEEHAW.

Given that Ted mentioned pre-gaming in his post, and that I am currently "funemployed" (thanks Dave), Nonberg and I have decided that I am going to compile a pre-game playlist for Friday night of alumni weekend since, well, there's nothing else to do!

So, send suggestions via comment and I will SadSteve them and make everyone happy.  And I will also entertain myself while doing so. 

There's also plenty of new music I've been listening to in my new, funemployed state of being.  So, maybe I'll post about it sometime soon.

A couple good albums

I just turned in my first quantum homework set. It was a beast.

With that done I thought I'd take a little free time on a post.

There were a few music posts this summer, so I thought I'd contribute with two albums that I've been listening two quite a bit over the last month.

The first is the album Manners by Passion Pit. I've got a feeling that they may be to 2010, what MGMT was to 2008. I mean this in the sense that MGMT's debut came out in 2007, then in 2008 they started gaining considerable popularity on college campuses. I could see the same thing happening with Passion Pit. There are some similarities musically between MGMT and PP also, but the other band that came to mind when I first heard them was Chromeo. They both seem to have the same 70's/80's pop sensibilities. That said, PP is quite unique from these bands as well.

The singles are: "Sleepyhead" and "Little Secrets." Little Secrets would be the better pre-gaming a party song, and I will say that this song should be played when I visit for the alumni meet. (I have my flight ticket now, so you can save your sharpies).

The other top album songs that won't be sinlges are: "The Reeling," "To Kingdom Come," and "Make Light."

The other album is Up From Below by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. iTunes says that they are a 10-piece band, and you can hear it in their sound. They're a little bit folksy, a little bit hippie-ish at times, and always pretty good.

The single are "40 Day Dream," and (probably) "Home." I listened to 40 Day Dream a few times before I realized that I was tapping along in 6/8 time. This prompted me to start looking through my music collection seeing how many other songs are written in 6/8 that I didn't realize. It wasn't all that rare, but this one may very well be my favorite.

The other top non-singles are: "Janglin," "Carries On," and "Up From Below."

On the subject of music. Just read a pretty funny review (if you can call it that) of the Beatles complete remastered collection last night.

Some New Music

The Norwegian I lived with last summer spent about an hour a few days ago constantly sending me links and band names I would be interested in.  I trust him with music taste - he's always on the cutting edge of his listening and picks up new stuff before other people.  This stuff basically continues in the RJD2-LCD Soundsystem-MGMT-Ratatat-Justice-Hot Chip fusion that I was into towards the end of the term.  I guess a lot of people say "electronic" but I don't really feel like that captures the essence of a lot of this stuff - it's a lot more dynamic than plain "electronic" music.

First, I direct you all to Flying Lotus.  Perhaps the best of Flying Lotus is shown in his 2 hour epic "BBC Essential Mix".  Highly recommended - it's a seamless mix that integrates a bunch of sweet tracks - makes great background music at the very least.

Second, I direct you all to Quetzal. Classified as "Latin/Rock/Alternative" on myspace, but classified as "Funk" in my iTunes, I'm really not sure what you'd described it as.  Maybe all of the above?  Anyway, decent, chill tracks.  Just sit back and relax.

Third, we're going to move into the "dance" side of "electronic" with our good friend Calvin Harris as our guide, confidant, and chaperone.  Recommended tracks: "This Is The Industry", "Acceptable in the 80s", "Neon Rocks", and "The Girls".  Fresh beatz, yo.

Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, I direct you all to Nosaj Thing.  This shit is dynamic, funky, electronic - it's the god damned cat's pajamas.  I can't say much more.  Start with "1685" and explore from there.

Lastly, I would like to put in a plug for Yael Naim.  Her cover of Britney Spears' smash hit "Toxic" is perhaps one of the most skillfully rendered covers that I've heard.  It captures her own style, while almost mocking Britney at the same time.  Find it.

Untitled.

The lack of original content over the past few weeks has brought this blog to a point of near death: we've got a pulse, we're just not breathing (too soon?).  I can only hope that my efforts at resuscitation prove more effective than those of the cardiologist Dr. Conrad Murray (too soon?).  

That being said, there are a number of very important issues that I would like to throw out on the electronic "table" for your consideration.  Many, if not all, have to do with what I have experienced since I arrived home late last Sunday night, the 21st of June.

I shall start by saying that as dogs age, they calm down.  I never thought this would ever happen with my dogs.  They are two of the most rambunctious, energetic, and neurotic creatures known to man.  They always have been.  I figured they always would be.  But now, at the ancient ages of 9 and 11, they are beginning to chill.  They sleep all the fucking time.  You used to not be able to enter or leave the house without a barrage of barks from both of the bitches.  Now, you can do either and hear nary a noise.  The best part is, if you enter the house while they've been sleeping, they wake up once the door opens and amble down the hallway towards you with these bleary-eyed looks on their faces, partially annoyed that you came home and thus woke them up, but also completely guilt-stricken since they know they weren't competently performing the only job they've been given - guarding the god damned house.

So since I got home, I really haven't done a ton.  I've been searching for jobs, talking to alumni, doing a little bit of research work for a small renewable energy start-up, playing Frisbee twice a week, and eating ice cream while watching movies.  I've been "out" 3 times.  The first time I went "out", I went to Bray's Brewpub in Naples, ME.  I played horseshoes in the dark as I drank their "Stanley Steamer UnCommon Ale".  I eventually was driven home by a friend.  We drove through Windham, ME instead of taking the shorter route because we (I) wanted food.  We went to Burger King and enjoyed some chicken fingers.  We realized that you can get four piece tenders from the dollar menu, but an eight piece for 2.69.  So, needless to say, we got two four piece orders and saved $.69.  Just remember, whatever you do, don't go to bed before the King.

After Burger King (which I must add, we went to partially because I had just seen those commercials linked above), we went to Tim Horton's and got an Iced Cappuccino and a sour-cream-glazed donut.  Hell yeah.  Given that none of you Stadium dwellers have a Tim Horton's in your state, I will be courteous enough to give you some background information.

So this brings me to the second time I went out.  If I recall correctly, it was actually the first time I went out, but since I didn't play horseshoes and drink "Stanley Steamer's UnCommon Ale", it wasn't as memorable, so I'm mentioning it now.  I went to the Dogfish Bar and Grille on Free Street in Portland, ME, where I met my sister for a few beers.  The Dogfish is the sponsor of my adopted summer league frisbee team, and is a place where my sister once worked.  It's probably one of the best restaurants in Portland (if you ever decide to visit), as it provides a great atmosphere, a low cost, and pretty much kick ass food.  We discussed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, drank two Rogue Dead Guy Ales each, and then I went home to bed.

The third time I went out was last night, a Monday.  I met my brother, sister, and a friend of theirs at The Snug, another bar in Portland.  It's an Irish Pub, and let me tell you, they don't fuck around in there.  I'd never been 'til last night, but apparently over Christmas my brother went in, wearing an argyle sweater.  He paid with an orange debit card, and the bartender, when taking his card, looked at him and said, "Look at you with your orange card, ya fancy fuck!"  The Snug was decent, but we got bored, so we went to Brian Boru.  While Brian Boru is the name of an Irish king, it is also another Irish pub in the quaint city of Portland, ME.  It's also probably the only place that had anything going on last night.  There was a one-man gig going, a dude with a guitar, singing some sweet tunes.  I will get to this more in a second.  

But first, I'm going to make a comment on drink prices.  Last night's special: PBR tall boys, $2.00.  First off, that's a deal.  No place in Northfield would ever come close to 16 oz. of beer for $2.00.  After that, I ordered a black and tan.  A black and tan at the cow costs $6.50.  At Brian Boru it cost me $4.75.  For Little Orphan and Nonberg, that adds up to $1.75 saved!  Bottom line: prices in Northfield are terrible.  That's the one single reason I can find that makes me happy to have left the place.

So, we're sitting in Brian Boru, listening to this dude play some music.  After playing, "The Weight" (Take a load off Annie, take a load for free), he said he was done.  Then he started playing Stairway to Heaven, and improvised all the lyrics.  He talked about the bar, the bartenders ("His name is Jim, because that's what his motherfucking Mom named him"), and used the refrain "Now I'm drunk" and also the line "It's not close to closing time so buy more beer".  I wish I had a recording, because it was hilarious.  Unreal.  It will never happen again.  But it was all to the tune of Stairway to Heaven.  He played the whole damned song, and improvised all of the lyrics.

Completely switching gears now.  You may or may not recall that I woke up Sunday morning of sixth weekend and could not move my right leg.  My knee cap was swollen much larger than it should have been.  This was the result of an unfortunate stumble I took while running with broken sandals.  I ended up essentially laying out onto the concrete in front of Brooks House.  But, as I did not bleed anywhere, I kept telling everyone I was superhuman.  I did not know that my knee was incredibly, incredibly hurt.  So, I woke up the next morning and my first words were "Fuck, I can't move my knee.  That hurts so much."  So, the pain subsided and I could walk again.  I figured everything was fine.  But, after seven weeks, I still can't kneel on it and there seems to be an indentation in my patella with a bunch of chunks of something moving around.  So, I called the doctor, explained, and he didn't even bother seeing me.  He just said, "We're referring you to the orthopedist.  You'll get x-rays."  Tight.

Lastly, I highly recommend working Reunion to any underclassmen that read this.  I cannot publish the reasons why.  

The 12 Steps to the Best Spring Term Ever™

I have been thinking over this spring break and I have come up with The 12 Steps to the Best Spring Term Ever™.  These are guidelines we may choose to follow that will help us along in having the best spring term that anybody at Carleton has ever experienced.  If we follow these guidelines, I'm confident of our success.  This is a living document, much like the U.S. Constitution, and we may make changes and interpretations as needed.  Thankfully, it will be the men of the Ocho (and any acquaintances lucky enough to be invited to join us) that will experience this Best Spring Term Ever™ as outlined.

The Best Spring Term Ever™ consists of the following:

1. Good music.  We will enjoy good music at all times.

2. Outdoor cooking.  We will cook outdoors as much as possible.  We have the grill, which is great, but we can also cook other ways outdoors.  I'm not sure how, but it is imperative that we take advantage of this. Alfie has already been thinking in the right way with his carne asada BBQ.  This is absolutely necessary. 

3. Outdoor sports.  Remember vortex football in the fall?  We must do that again, and this time our feet won't freeze off.  We will also play stick ball. And every other possible outdoor sport.  Whenever we can.  Barefoot.  As much as possible.

4. Minimal studying.  Winter term is for studying.  Spring term is for the opposite.  So, if we don't study, our fun factor will inevitably increase, and after all, that's why we're at college.

5. Good weather.  Given that we are omnipotent in the Ocho, we will control the weather.  It will always be 70+ and sunny.  This is as much about mindset as it is about the actual weather.

6. Rotblatt.  We will do our best to be in the running for the Rotblatt All-Star Team.

7. Spring Concert.  Enough said.

8. Baseball Challenge.  I don't know how many of you know about this, but Alfredo and I discussed it and both agreed it was necessary for some Friday or Saturday night this Spring.  It consists of the following: Watch a baseball game.  Drink a beer and eat a hot dog for each and every inning that passes.  Do this until you are unable to.  Follow #2 when preparing hot dogs.

9. Plenty of Ocho parties.  These are a given, but will definitely contribute to our fun factor as well.  See Stadium 110 whiteboard for ideas. Party over here!

10. Live blogging.  This has been discussed.

11.  No inhibitions.  If we throw ourselves fully into everything, we will enjoy it more. Don't hold back.  We're only here for ten more weeks.

12. Beer (or other booze).  We must do everything that is listed on this, uh, list, with the accompaniment of some type of refreshing beverage.

Album Review: Dr. Dog - Fate

I'm going to begin this post wondering why I am even beginning this post (does that make sense?), since I'd rather that nobody else knew about the indie music I am enjoying and about which I am planning to write.  Furthermore, I will respectfully request of all you loyal readers that you do not tell anyone about the indie music I am writing about, since I'd prefer to continue to listen to it, and if everybody knows about it it becomes uncool, I will be forced to delete it from my iTunes, and therefore will no longer be able to enjoy it (but I wouldn't enjoy it anyway, at that point, because it would be uncool).  

iTunes tells me that the genre of Dr. Dog's album entitled "Fate" is "indie".  I try not to pay too much attention to the genre of a specific group - I prefer to listen to music that I truly like.  However, as we all know, I'm a pretty indie guy so I think that the simple fact I am now listening to this "indie" album helps with the personal image that I am trying to project to the world.  I'll probably end up playing this album on my radio show, wearing my Waldo glasses everywhere, and feeling elite about this music (and other stuff that nobody else knows about).

I know that Dr. Dog came to Carleton during a previous spring concert, and to be quite honest, I don't really remember much of it at all.  In fact, when my friend mentioned Dr. Dog to me, I thought he was talking about a rap group.  Nobody knew about Dr. Dog, and maybe that was better for the few people who did know about Dr. Dog, because they were probably infinitely cooler when they were even more indie and nobody knew about them.

But, let me tell you, their album "Fate" is currently just about the only thing I'm listening to.  It's a really enjoyable album, and I would recommend it to anyone that has any interest in any type of music at all (but only if you can truly appreciate it, and if you won't tell anyone else so it stays cool).

The album starts with a delightfully mellow song "The Breeze", where Dr. Dog ponders the movement of time, asking the listener if we think we're moving too fast, or if we're stuck in time.  Then, Dr. Dog encourages us to make a snow angel and freeze.  Maybe that's the solution to controlling time.  Snow angels.  Finally, Dr. Dog gets quite deep and recognizes that, in the end, it's the breeze.  And the breeze, ahh, it will blow us all away.  This song ponders a lot; time, renewal, weather patterns, and eventually (I believe) death and the afterlife.  I see "the breeze" as a clear metaphor of somehow moving on.

In the second track on "Fate", called "Hang On", Dr. Dog grapples with some identity issues that he himself is feeling.  This is a common indie theme, but he examines it from a new perspective.  He tells us he is not a stranger, and that we both get it wrong.  It is unclear whether "we" refers to the listener and the Dr., or another unknown subject.  But after this, Dr. Dog explains that he needs his heart mended, but in doing so, he belittles his own profession by explaining that he "don't need no doctor to tear [him] all apart" but rather just needs "you, to mend his heart".  Again, who "you" is is rather unclear: listener? unknown subject?  It's up for interpretation.  Lastly, Dr. Dog once again weaves the subject of varying weather patterns into this track, mentioning how our unknown subject (or the listener, "you"?) thought that a hurricane was just the "rustling of the wind".  Maybe we need a now-discredited Dr. to examine "your" nervous system?  Are "you" feeling numb, and unable to differentiate between varying degrees of wind speed?

Perhaps the best song on the album is the third track, entitled (quite nostalgically), "The Old Days".  This song is catchy, has a lot of repetition, longs for the old days, and does not mention any weather patterns in the lyrics.  I find all of this rather refreshing, like a breeze or the rustling of the wind (but not a hurricane).  The Dr. gets rather prophetic in this song, telling us that "down down down, the moon's going to fall down, thump thump thump, the house is going to fall down", and therefore we must go "back back back, back to the old days".  Finally, as we go back to the old days, we must "wrap up the money, and save it for a sunny day day day".  We are strongly encouraged to both save money with an eye toward the future, but at the same time go back back back to the old days.  Once again, the theme of the speed of time, and even time-travel, is explored in this epic tune (and it's only the third track!).  There are 8 more!

As the album continues, Dr. Dog wrestles with a variety of themes, conquering them all in his own unique, doctorly way.  The sixth track, "The Ark" is evidence of a valiant attempt by Dr. Dog to tackle weather patterns (again!), war, love, religion, and human existence as a whole.  All of these themes are discussed with the back of a rather chill guitar riff that helps the listener to understand these heavy, heavy themes.  After explaining his how he built an ark and rain didn't come, how he built a gun but was unsure about war, how he tried to give more to his love but made her poor, he finally asks the question "what does it mean to be here?".  I can't answer that, but he repeatedly tries, telling us "well, I know, because I can and I will".  However inspiring this lyric is, it still doesn't really tell us what it means to "be here".  But maybe that implied uncertainty is the essence of what he's getting at.

The second-to-last track, "The Beach" discusses weather patterns (again!), alcoholism, fate, marijuana, and memories.  This is some heavy-hitting shit; the ominous and dark guitar that plays in the background as the Dr. examines these themes makes them seem ever more serious.  It works quite well.  With each successive verse, the Dr. explains a situation, such as running aground in a beach during a rainstorm as rain pours through the roof of a boat (how terrible), and then explains how "fate has a funny way of coming around".  It's all deep, as previously recognized, but the Dr. does a good job of linking the themes and creating a bold and profound, yet easily enjoyed, track.

Overall, the album exemplifies the versatility of both Dr. Dog, but also the indie genre as a whole.  I would highly recommend this album to anybody (but don't tell anybody else!).

Alright, I'm off to take photos of my feet and strum my guitar before I hop on my fixed-gear to go buy a new (old?) sweater at the vintage clothing store.