http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/ en Copyright 2009 Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:03:02 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss "Death of a Junky" and my own "At the Barbershop" from '01, I'll be drilling into Allmusic's vast archive to highlight various write-ups from across my proud three-year tenure there. I wrote about all kinds of shit at AMG. it was one of the awesome things about working there. Rock in all its forms. New age. Christian and CCM. Country and western, country gospel, bluegrass. Hip-hop. Writing from such a wide-open POV was fantastic, but it also allowed for some truly oddball moments. Writing about records, compilations, or one-off strangeoids that were deservedly part of AMG's database but were also the equivalent of discovering an entire record store consisting only of cut-out bins. On some days at AMG, it was if I worked at that record store, and it was my job to write up the index cards describing each release. And it was fantastic. Here are a few of those. Various Artists, Dallas Stars Greatest Hits Various Artists, The String Quartet Tribute to Sum-41 (hed) pe, Only in Amerika Various Artists, Rock On: Christian Loud "...However, the same wanking guitar solos and vocal histrionics that plague the non-believers can be found lurking amongst the ranks of the saved." Be sure also to check the Allmusic Blog and the Allmovie Blog for expanded content from the All Media editorial crew. JTL ]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0903/surrender_all_yr_dreams_to_me_1.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0903/surrender_all_yr_dreams_to_me_1.php Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:03:02 -0600 Late Night TV Junkie over at Detour. Also: Will I Love You, Man be a Juno for the dudebro set? JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0903/vitaman_the_adult_koolaid_spok.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0903/vitaman_the_adult_koolaid_spok.php Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:24:38 -0600 Black Lips writeup from this week's Voice. Oh yeah, and some thoughts on Jolie Holland, too. This past weekend was a whirlwind of rock 'n' roll and whips to the neck in the form of whiskey glasses. Thanks to Detroit City for a job well done. JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0903/inside_the_rafters_studio.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0903/inside_the_rafters_studio.php Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:41:03 -0600 it's TV Junkie time. Will run each Saturday. Some thoughts on Blowout's Friday night, too, if you weren't one of the people whose ears I yelled into last night. JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0903/make_decisions_at_third_base_1.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0903/make_decisions_at_third_base_1.php Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:39:31 -0600 My debut on Chicagoist. Ist! JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0902/gruff_rhys_v_young_mary_tyler.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0902/gruff_rhys_v_young_mary_tyler.php Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:20:18 -0600 Mims, "This is Why I'm Hot" Ghostface Killah, "Daytona 500" Portishead, "The Rip" Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Gold Lion" Flat Duo Jets, "Riot in Cell Block #9" Ernest Tubb, "Walkin the Floor Over You" Talk Talk, "Dum Dum Girl" Bryan Ferry, "Avalon" Darling Buds, "It Makes No Difference" ]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0902/the_heatz_is_on.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0902/the_heatz_is_on.php Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:28:56 -0600 Jennifer Aniston see it? Because that girl's hooking up with John Mayer, and all he does is croon shitty Robert Cray covers. What if Jen's always been down with 14 other pieces of flair during the dirty deed? Like Kool & the Gang? Mayer, for his part, probably uses the "I'll never hit your head without my hand behind it" bit way too much. Here are a few links. I have a lot of spare time these days, being underemployed like at least 10 of my close friends as well as hundreds of thousands of others. Thanks economy! Jerks. But it hasn't been a total loss: I've become a regular contributor to the Village Voice, namely blurb action in the calendar section. You got that straight, jack, I'm taking over the New York City media market 90 words at a time. Slipknot, Matthew Dear and Derek Plaslaiko, Dan Auerbach, Black Names and Hollerado, and The Hard Lessons can vouch. Natch. I've also been writing for Metromix Chicago. In case you missed it or are thirsty, here are my reviews of dive bars in the Loop and Bucktown. And of course, if you ever have a C-note to spend on a drinking adventure, I'll help you spend it. JTL ]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0902/trapped_in_a_basement_1.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0902/trapped_in_a_basement_1.php Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:47:59 -0600 Metro Times Music Blahg. But you can also bookmark this YouTube site for an archive of all episodes. Smoke Break: All Talk, No Action. JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0612/smoke_break.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0612/smoke_break.php Wed, 20 Dec 2006 11:07:32 -0600 Check out this week's Metro Times. It's my first Music Issue as music editor, and includes stories on Great Lakes Myth Society and John Speck of The Fags, as well as a bunch of Detroit music reviewed. All in all I think it went pretty well. Plus, check out the Music Blahg for the first installment of "Smoke Break," where Brian Smith and I chat no-fi about whatever we want, live from the St. Antoine gutter. JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0611/dudes_of_the_corn_etc.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0611/dudes_of_the_corn_etc.php Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:30:25 -0600 Rob T. and I, inspired by Rumsfeld's retirement. Dude can't leave our pop culture radar; please, not yet. (He can leave the gov't, though; we have no problem with that.) As Rob says below, Rummy is one of the modern era's finest existential poets. WWRD? Well, Rob and I offer a few suggestions, from starring in the "Surreal Life" to overtaking some of our most obvs blogs. A few detours into cable news election coverage, too. Read on... rob: this day could possibly not get any better 1:49 PM me: I vote Rummy for "Surreal Life 2007" rob: nope. he's going to go play golf with satan. 1:50 PM me: I say he starts a podcast where he delivers all his thoughts on celebrity in 2006. rob: hahahahhaaha me: Defamer? no - Rummyfied. rob: DataRum me: Motor City Rum rob: Rumevs me: Stereofeld rob: Music For Rumsfelds 1:51 PM me: Pitchfeld Rumsfork me: Skeet on Rumsfeld rob: fuck Fluxfeld me: Perfect Feld for Rumsever 1:52 PM rob: Rummyism me: Rumsfeldian Apparel rob: McRummy's me: Best Rumsfeld Ever rob: Donaldcrombie and Rummy me: Rummy is the new blog 1:53 PM Last Night's Rumsfeld rob: Donald Rumfseld is Overrated Donaldist me: The Cobrafeld rob: DeadDon 1:54 PM Melody Rumsfeld.com me: Miss Modernrums rob: Seven Inches of Rumsfeld me: Luke Walton's Rumsfeld rob: Donald Are Pretty 1:55 PM me: Gurgling Rummy rob: Donaldesko Largehearted Don me: Access Rumsfeld rob: what say Fox and Friends retool and have Pat O Brien, Ted Haggar d and Rummy as hosts? that'd be a hell of a morning show. 1:56 PM me: Dude, Rummy as a host would fucking rule. It'd be like McLaughlin Group in the heyday. ISSUE TWO! Did you see Kondrake and Barnes hemming and hawing all over Fox News last night? rob: oh yeah. I enjoyed the Brit Hume waffling and gurgling more than some of the results those baritone "errr,,uhhh" me: Hume. Such a horse face. 1:57 PM rob: he looks like one of those cartoon dogs that always had the barrel around their necks me: And they had that crazy map that looked like Cosmic Ark rob: like his skin is about to slide off the bone any minute me: With the boxes moving around all over it. rob: did you watch any of olbermann having fun? 1:58 PM me: Yeah he was pretty great, but I find him insufferable after awhile. And I always resort to SportsCenter jokes. I'd like to see a knife fight between Olbs, Patrick, and Craig Kilborn. rob: that'd be great to hear after Rummy's resignation speech. That famliar "DAH-nah-NAH...DAH-nah-NAH" rob: i went to cracker barrell for lunch me: Was Chris Rock's mom there? rob: i went to cracker barrel and apparently there's a new format of music called "positive alternative" you heard of it? me: Yeah, it's like Hot AC for Christians. Jars of Clay rob: at first i was like "cool. new andrew wk record. but it's weird nickelback sounding shit for christians" me: New Newsboys tries to cash on it, too. Jeremy Camp's another big one. rob: so it's just clear channel selling CCM a new way? me: Yep. rob: maybe that's what rummy can do next. crank out some CCM jams with TobyMac for the troops sort of like a breakdown in songs ala vincent price in "thriller" me: Rowdy Roddy Rummy 2:04 PM rob: Donald The Giant me: Hacksaw Don Rumsfeld. rob: Junkyard Don me: The Feldsdertaker rob: Koko B. Rumsfeld 2:05 PM me: Supereld Snuka rob: Donald "The Brain" Heenan me: Karl Rove and Rums as the British Bulldogs. Bush is Stephanie. rob: You think Rove's gonna resign next? 2:06 PM me: No fucking way. rob: he COULD yknow. he's gotta retool the party for 08 who else can do that? ed gillespie? ken mehlman? dick "seven nation" armey? 2:07 PM me: Armey was making the rounds of cable news last night and sounded like a confused old man sending soup back in a deli. "Answer that phone!" two Seinfeld refs in one chat post. rob: Ron Popeil? Rumsfeld signs on as new spokesperson for RonCO me: Rumsfeld slipped in Snapple once. He broke his hip. rob: "there are products we know and products we don't know" me: I predict a "Chuck Norris" string of Rumsfeld jokes. 2:09 PM rob: oh of course. there has to be some sort of fitting tribute to this century's greatest existential poet me: Word to that. Cantankerous motherfuckers unite. TEAM RUMMY. (As long as he's nowhere near the guv.) JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0611/rumsfeld_to_star_in_surreal_li.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0611/rumsfeld_to_star_in_surreal_li.php Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:21:29 -0600 "A Different Kind of Tension: Trajectory, meaning and discovery in Detroit's noise music scene": Noise music gets a bad rap as being too volatile and oppressive. It's often maligned as an out-there genre pursued only by those lost souls who've completely forsaken conventional rock 'n' roll in favor of routinely locking their heads inside an autoclave, or envisioned as some horrible, scary cauldron that boils with the bloody discharge of 10,000 ruptured eardrums. Lou Reed can probably be blamed for some of that. In 1975 he released Metal Machine Music, a clanging run-on sentence of feedback that can still trigger mortal thoughts if listened to in its entirety. But while the noise scene definitely has its proponents of the extreme — Japanese noise legend Merzbow has never issued anything that wasn't singularly focused on destroying your senses — that doesn't mean there's only darkness at its core, or that all noise is meant to breed fear alone. It might not ever be warm and fuzzy, and what's at its core can be mysterious. But noise can definitely excite on a visceral level, and lately it's been offering some of the most creative music in Detroit. Obscura from the fringe of modern music? Only for those that haven't discovered it yet. ............... PLUS: Check out the Noise Toolkit on the Music Blahg. ............... JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0609/a_different_kind_of_tension.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0609/a_different_kind_of_tension.php Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:24:53 -0600 The Music Blahg Read about it in today's issue: "Blah Blah Blahg" There are also some reviews today: Deadsy, Phantasmagore (Archives: "Deadsy Poets Society," Glorious Noise, 6/14/2002) V/A, Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys ................. There is no smoke in the sky over those trees. JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0608/it_covers_the_hillsides.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0608/it_covers_the_hillsides.php Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:24:05 -0600 Bittersweet Symphony - J Dilla's final word is too profound for just one review "It sounds unfinished, and I guess that's the saddest thing. You get engrossed in the brassy, funky "Love Jones" and then it's over, a minute of inspiration left looking for an emcee." In the Flesh: Fiona Apple, Aug. 9, 2006, State Theatre, Detroit "Voyeuristic is right on, particularly because she doesn't hesitate to writhe. I couldn't help but smirk a little at times, because we've been conditioned to think that, when performers make moves like that, they're usually the goofy theater-major performance-art types. You know —"I'm so into this, watch me urinate on my shoe and dance a jig." But with Fiona I felt like that's truly her live style, and she doesn't give a shit — or maybe even know — what people think of it." Scavenger Quartet - We Live on Land (Acidsoxx) "[Scavenger Quartet] are interested in the shifty place where instruments meet what were formerly non-instruments; they like to exist between description." ............... JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0608/bust_the_deal_face_the_wheel.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0608/bust_the_deal_face_the_wheel.php Fri, 18 Aug 2006 09:48:16 -0600 Sleater-Kinney's set at Lollapalooza '06 ("Lolla Lolla Lollapalooza, Please - The crapness, the greatness, and the hammered, ball-grabbing Wolfmotherness of it all" ). They're such a great band, and I think it's really a shame that their pet issues or the fact that they're women too often overshadow how sick-awesome of songwriters and performers they really are. In my Lollapalooza recap I give props to Queens of the Stone Age, who surprised me with (at least half) a set of truly powerful, even scary rock 'n' roll. I honestly didn't think that much of them before their set. But if I had been able to catch S-K, I know they would've gotten the nod for sheer badasness over QOTSA. I just looked at their Web site, and it seems the final Sleater-Kinney shows ever will take place this weekend in Portland. According to Travelocity it would cost me $660 to fly there. That's about $546 more than I have to spend. Well, I'm sure it's sold out, anyway. So at this point all I have to look forward to are the S-K vet solo projects. I hope Carrie Brownstein starts a band with Joe Lally and Brendan Canty. ................... A Pop Cherub Gets His Wings From Snowhite to Love Arcade, this singer's confidence is flying "It's time for him to go. The sun has shifted, and it's threatening the porcelain sheen of his complexion. Christian has bigger things to worry about — like Love Arcade's upcoming tour and promoting a record that's so clean and tidy it burps like Rubbermaid. But he probably isn't worrying about those things." ....................... Keep it bustin' like a bubble. JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0608/craig_finn_is_checking_his_ema.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0608/craig_finn_is_checking_his_ema.php Wed, 09 Aug 2006 14:55:35 -0600 Shellac is touring this August and September, which is cool. I hope Weston does a question and answer session, and that everyone wears grey coveralls. But wait a minute, no Detroit date? And instead of a Detroit date, there's a show scheduled for Grand Rapids? It's at a place that didn't exist when I lived in Grand Rapids. But I wish I could say it was happening at The Reptile House. Shellac would just seem to fit in such a place, with the Skull beer and grimy vinyl. (Pants, not records.) ............................. Who doesn't love Journey? "From “Open Arms” to “Faithfully,” it was as if the switch everyone has nowadays, that switch that turns off empathy, community, or even humanity in a rabid quest for self-preservation, suddenly shorted out." .......... Marvelous one? Butch Walker mines the niche between celebrity, cynic, and songwriter "Today Walker exists in two worlds. He's a well-paid hired gun, having recently signed on to co-write and produce whatever results from the icky four-way marriage of a reality contestant vocalist to Tommy Lee, Jason Newstead and Gilby Clarke on CBS' midsummer laugher Rock Star: Supernova. But he's also released his third solo album, and it represents again his ability to write durable, personal pop songs that also knowingly skewer the glam bubbles of Hollywood, celebrity and the music industry." ................... Hold on to that fee-ye-ye-yeel-eel-ling. JTL]]> http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0607/for_a_smile_they_can_share_the.php http://johnny.gloriousnoise.com/0607/for_a_smile_they_can_share_the.php Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:24:39 -0600