Album, Dear Science an Instant Classic

By nature I’m a very cynical person. It really takes a lot to move, compel, or inspire me in any extraordinary way. This jaded thinking has turned me into somewhat of a music snob, there I said it. But please, keep in mind that I don’t wear it on my sleeve. You’re not going to find me wearing tight jeans and thrift store clothing. I won’t be talking about how Death Cab was the best band since the Velvet Underground until they “sold out”. I have no trouble embracing mainstream music if it’s good. If you’re too pretentious to see that bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tool are fucking awesome then you’re hopeless.

Vaguely known “indie rock” band TV on the Radio’s latest album “Dear Science” has a reached a higher plateau. The album is genre breaking, it’s unclassifiable, and it’s genius! While the band’s other albums were good, Dear Science is quite simply the best thing to come out in five years. Virtually all music fans will get something from this instant classic. The melodies are infectious, the beats make you want to shake your ass, and the harmony will sink right into your bones. The piano driven “Family Tree” is ambient, beautifully written, and mysteriously introspective. Kyp Malone softly sings /Were laying in the shadow of your family tree. Your haunted heart and me /as each new listen unearths new sounds hidden within the thick organic flow of harmounous layers. There are plenty of upbeat tracks too. “Shout Me Out” is a raw pop song with raucous buzzing guitars that are guaranteed to melt your face off! This album is something special, so do yourself a favor and pick it up.

Idiocy in Ohio

Behold many angry insensitive bigots congregating at a John McCain rally not too far from my humble abode. I’m really surprised they didn’t get a “Drill Baby, Drill!” chant going. I have to say, this rally was absolutely nothing like the Obama rally I was at in Akron, Ohio earlier this year – what a bunch of xenophobic fuck tards.

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(part 2)

***EDIT***: Oh, I just found this classic from a McCain rally in Pennsylvania… this one might be even better. MASS INSANITY I TELL YA!!!!

Through Nihilism and Beyond

I was never indoctrinated into a faith, so it comes as no surprise that I, even at a very young age, have always understood the absurdity of organized religion. Living my entire life as an atheist also led me down a path of nihilism. This isn’t the dreary jet black path that so many people make it out to be. Heck, it’s not even a path really. It is more or less an innate and fundamental understanding that the only absolute value that a concept, being, or object has is the value that the assignee grants to it. You don’t have to be very intelligent to come across this conclusion, you just have to be somewhat pragmatic, strong-willed, and have had the good fortune of never being initiated into some sort of religious thought control; because then it becomes much harder to “break” through the inconsistencies of your non-logical paradigm.

That being said one fateful evening my somewhat shallow and pseudo-nihilistic world view came to a climax. Without getting into the boring technicalities I had an awakening of sorts; albeit this awakening did not pull me away from my nihilistic tendencies -it did however illuminate an entirely new concept that I had previously never fathomed. You see, words are merely abstractions that inadequately attempt to explain experience. Yeah, you can read about a fiery romance, but unless you’ve ever actually experienced the wrath of love, then you can never fully understand the pleasant (or terrifying) delusions of such an emotion. The same can be said for ego-loss, or loss of self.

At first it was terrifying. Every last strand of my being was attempting to pull itself back together- to assimilate as one again. But it was no use. The self I had known was gone. All that was left were hollow details. It was like reading the biography of a long deceased friend. I was then thrust into an abyss of sorts – a dazzling “bottomless pit” where everything really is everything and the individual goes to perish. It is here that you became me, and I became you. It was so surreal that it became cinematic. It was so cinematic that it became surreal. It was beauty defined. And then, it was over. I was myself again – now the only thing that’s left nearly two years later is a reminder of the day I went to pieces without falling apart.

Before that realization I took an astronomy class in college that was taught in a fairly large planetarium. Each day upon leaving the class I’d gaze up into the sky with the understanding that I was an ant… no I was smaller; I was a grain of sand lost in the vastness of an infinite universe. I am now aware that “I” was wrong. I am not a grain of sand. I’m merely the reflection of an idea. I am nothing… and yet… I am everything. I bet this whole thing sounds absurd. Don’t worry, it is.