So I was listening to a little John Vanderslice this afternoon, and while I have been enamored with his album "Death of an American Four Tracker" for some time now, I just had a chance to listen to a little bit of his latest album "Emerald City" and he does something that has become a bit of a trend: he is simulating overdriven tape distortion as a musical device. I don't know why this is such an emerging sound, but there are a number of indie bands moving in that direction. When it is successful it can be divine, as in Tapes 'n Tapes' latest album Walk it Off. However, it can also be blatantly over done. Vanderslice doesn't quite cross the line that extremely in his latest effort, but both Sleater Kinney's The Trees and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's sophomore album Some Loud Thunder both do this ad nauseum. I'm not critiquing the bands, just the technique. Hell, even all time favorites like Spoon and The Pixies have slipped in a couple instances of the technique that grates on my ears. I wish I could figure out why people do it, and moreover, I wish those folks would stop. Please - I love a little lo-fi edge to warm up a recording, but let's keep it under control.
Now on to the exciting (at least I sure as hell hope it is as exciting as it could be) news: they are making a sequel do Donnie Darko. Titled S. Darko, it is supposed to document Donnie's younger sister, Samantha, who is troubled with visions of her own. I'm curious because it's an almost real-time depiction of the time that has passed between the present day and when they made the original movie. Sounds fascinating but I hope with all my heart that they don't screw this one up.
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