Hey, it’s half a month late, but at least it’s here. I’m back from Thailand (plenty to share, but I’ll get to that later), so here’s June’s playlist. It’s full of good old classic rock sounds and a few randoms from new releases and old favorites. And the Bruce/Wilco closers were what I played in the Land of Smiles when I was thinking about home.

1. Dr. Dog – “The Old Days” (Fate)
2. Paolo Nutini – “Keep Rolling” (Sunny Side Up)
3. Aesop Rock – “Nickel Plated Pockets” (Daylight EP)
4. M83 – “Gone” (Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts)
5. Radiohead – “Lucky” (OK Computer)
6. The Knife – “We Share Our Mothers’ Health (Trentemoller remix)” (We Share Our Mothers’ Health single)
7. Dirty Projectors – “Useful Chamber” (Bitte Orca)
8. The Hold Steady – “Citrus” (A Positive Rage)
9. edIT – “Artsy Remix (feat. The Grouch)” (Certified Air Raid Material)
10. The Gaslight Anthem – “The ‘59 Sound” (The ‘59 Sound)
11. Mathew Good – “Champions of Nothing” (Hospital Music)
12. Manchester Orchestra – “Colly Strings” (I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child)
13. Passion Pit – “Moth’s Wings” (Manners)
14. The Veils – “Sit Down by the Fire” (Sun Gangs)
15. mewithoutYou – “Allah, Allah, Allah” (it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright)
16. The Dear Hunter – “Mustard Gas” (Act III: Life and Death)
17. Bruce Springsteen – “Born to Run” (Born to Run)
18. Wilco – “I’m the Man Who Loves You” (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)

Regular posts return this week as I slowly collect my brains post-travel and try to spit them out for you to read. Meanwhile, enjoy the music!

Jeez, is it May already? April flew by real quick.

Of these twenty songs that made up the audio journey of April 2009, about half were highly Coachella-influenced. The rest are present thanks to my constant exploration the musical landscape. Same old, same old.

1. Glasvegas – “It’s My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry” (Glasvegas)
2. Eels – “Things the Grandchildren Should Know” (Blinking Lights and Other Revelations)
3. Los Campesinos! – “We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed” (We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed)
4. Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye” (Carnavas)
5. Okay – “Natural” (Huggable Dust)
6. Blitzen Trapper – “Furr” (Furr)
7. Grand Duchy – “Come On Over to My House” (Petits Fours)
8. TV on the Radio – “Stork & Owl (Gang Gang Dance remix)” (Read Silence EP)
9. Stone Temple Pilots – “Sour Girl” (No. 4)
10. My Brightest Diamond – “Feeling Good” (Dark Was the Night)
11. The Hold Steady – “Citrus” (Boys and Girls in America)
12. The Veils – “Sit Down by the Fire” (Sun Gangs)
13. Cage the Elephant – “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” (Cage the Elephant)
14. Fucked Up – “Crooked Head” (The Chemistry of Common Life)
15. Antony and the Johnsons – “Kiss My Name” (The Crying Light)
16. Radiohead – “I Am Citizen Insane” (Go to Sleep)
17. The Hold Steady – “Stuck Between Stations” (Boys and Girls in America)
18. Camera Obscura – “French Navy” (My Maudlin Career)
19. Silversun Pickups – “Growing Old is Getting Old” (Swoon)
20. Radiohead – “Let Down” (OK Computer)

And for those interested, I made an imeem playlist so you can check the whole thing out. Enjoy.

Or just listen to it here.

A while back I read Francis Schaeffer’s book Art and the Bible. As I have let his words sink in, the significance of his ideas have become clearer to me. Obviously, based on the amount of attention I give the two subjects here, art and faith are two things I believe must be reconciled, and the way the modern church often approaches art is not healthy for either camp.

One of the major themes Schaeffer discusses in the book, which I’ll outline here, is the criteria which he feels Christians should use to develop their perspective of art. I felt that he not only addressed problems with Christian culture’s take on art, but also helped to build a healthier perspective for me as well. I mean, hey, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m just as imperfect as the people of the Church.

Here are the perspectives Schaeffer defines to help build a healthy attitude toward a piece of art (and art as a whole):

Read the rest of this entry »

Oh no! A meme on my blog? It’s all downhill from here. But really, did you expect me to pass up a music-themed post, especially when I’m not feeling my best and have a hard time finding inspiration?

Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.

I couldn’t even begin to put these in order of preference. They’ve all been number one in my heart at some point or another. So, in true Rob Gordon fashion, I put them in autobiographical order, all the way from high school up to now.

I won’t even begin to try and explain each album or even the general progression of my music habits. If you are curious, that’s kind of what comments are for.

1. Jimi Hendrix – Woodstock
2. Project 86 – Drawing Black Lines
3. Incubus – Make Yourself
4. Radiohead – OK Computer
5. Tool – Aenema
6. A Perfect Circle – Thirteenth Step
7. Sigur Rós – Ágætis byrjun
8. Extol – Undeceived
9. Sufjan Stevens – Michigan
10. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
11. The Mars Volta – De-loused in the Comatorium
12. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
13. Radiohead – Amnesiac
14. He Is Legend – I Am Hollywood
15. Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache
16. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Irony is a Dead Scene
17. Explosions in the Sky – The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place
18. mewithoutYou – Catch for Us the Foxes
19. The Appleseed Cast – Low Level Owl: Volume 1
20. mewithoutYou – Brother, Sister
21. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
22. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
23. Sigur Rós – Takk
24. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
25. This Will Destroy You – This Will Destroy You

Much to the dismay of many an anti-hipster, I am thoroughly enjoying Animal Collective’s new album Merriweather Post Pavilion. The song “My Girls” especially is ridiculously catchy and ingenious.

This morning I watched the music video for “My Girls” and a sense of inspiration hit. All of a sudden there was an itch to be creating music. Something about the song touched the creative nerve in my brain (however dormant the action of creation may be). It reminded me of something Bob Boilen of NPR’s All Songs Considered said about a Radiohead show (that I was at!):

These guys write great songs, and sometimes you can even sing along to them, but what they do better than any band is create a sonic adventure — a soundscape which, at its best, stretches time and allows the mind to wander and rejuvenate. I think of it as resetting the synapses. Creativity breeds creativity. When the music was over, I felt unboxed and changed and pretty darn happy. Drugs are overrated; music is underrated.

Resetting the synapses. I like that. Everyone should make a list of songs (or any kind of art, for that matter) that resets their synapses, where its creativity inspires your creativity. Here are eight songs that inspire me to create:

1. Radiohead – “15 Step” (In Rainbows)
2. Black Moth Super Rainbow – “Forever Heavy” (Dandelion Gum)
3. Animal Collective – “My Girls” (Merriweather Post Pavilion)
4. Eightball – “Drama In My Life (feat. Psycho Drama)” (Lost – Chopped and Screwed)
5. Burial – “Archangel” (Untrue)
6. Radiohead – “House of Cards” (In Rainbows)
7. Ryan Adams – “The Shadowlands” (Love Is Hell)
8. M83 – “Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun” (Before the Dawn Heals Us)

And an iLike playlist if you want to listen to the songs:

Read the rest of this entry »

I just got this link from Sir Cameron Ingall’s Twitter and had to check it out, what with it relating to Radiohead and all. You can now “direct” a video of Radiohead playing “15 Step” live. I was going to show off my sad attempt at it, but the widget/link thing on their site isn’t working. It’s probably for the best. (In case it gets fixed, here’s a handy link.)

Isn’t technology wonderful? Radiohead has such a great grasp on how to publish content in the Internet age, and not just because they gave away In Rainbows for free. They’ve been pushing out all sorts of remix contests, video webcasts, and countless other things since the album’s release.

I think all of this has helped them keep fans and grow new ones in big ways over the past year. Of course, they have a budget that allows them to innovate and create these new ideas. Someone else just needs to take these ideas and make tools to do the same thing cheaply and easily for artists just getting their start.

Yep. Fall is here. Gone are the sunny pop songs of spring and summer. In come the introspective, calm-but-questioning sounds of autumn.

Change is afoot.

1. Jakob – “Pneumonic” (Solace)
2. The Velvet Underground – “Who Loves the Sun” (Loaded)
3. Radiohead – “There There” (Hail to the Thief)
4. M83 – “Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun” (Before the Dawn Heals Us)
5. The New Pornographers – “These Are the Fables” (Twin Cinema)
6. Joshua James – “Today” (The Sun Is Always Brighter)
7. dan le sac vs. Scroobius Pip – “Letter from God to Man” (Angles)
8. Neko Case – “Look For Me (I’ll Be Around)” (Blacklisted)
9. Joshua James – “Winter Storm” (The Sun Is Always Brighter)
10. Neko Case – “I Wish I Was the Moon” (Blacklisted)
11. mewithoutYou – “Carousels” (Catch For Us the Foxes)
12. TV On the Radio – “Crying” (Dear Science)
13. Jay-Z – “Renegade” (The Blueprint)
14. Hammock – “We Will Say Goodbye to Everyone” (Maybe They Will Sing For Us Tomorrow)
15. Ingrid Michaelson – “The Way I Am” (Girls and Boys)
16. Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile – “The Farmer and the Duck” (Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile)

P.S. If you get a chance to, go see Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile live. I saw them last weekend in Irvine and was thoroughly impressed. It’s a beautiful thing to see modern legends collaborate so well with each other. And if you don’t get a chance, at least pick up a copy of the album.

Sample of Radiohead’s Planet Telex? Check.
Catchy glitch-pop melody? Check.
Social/religious commentary? Check.
Cute kid in a dinosaur costume? Check.

I think we’ve got all the bases covered.

Tonight is the night I see Radiohead. (And Liars!) It’s also the night I get to hang out with Leah and commemorate what would be the birthday of JD Rhea. We’ll both have goosebumps and tears for more reasons than can be counted.

The best part of all this, aside from having the potential to be the most memorable night in recent years, is that there’s a rumor buzzing that video of the show is going to be broadcast online. That means that, by next week, I’ll be able to find a professionally-shot video of the most significant concert I’ve ever attended that I’ll be able to keep forever. Now that’s cool.

If you care to get a play-by-play, you can be watching my Twitter for updates.

This is shaping up to be a wonderful day.

Oh hey, it’s April. Time flies when you’re having… a busy month. Or something.

So for those of you that don’t read Buzzgrinder — which, according to my highly-detailed traffic metrics, is 100% of all two of you — it might be worth noting that I didn’t get Radiohead tickets despite staying up all night for that sole reason. Still looking for an outlet for my anger. Someone buy me a punching bag. Or, even better, Radiohead tickets. (Preferably ones where I can actually, you know, see the band without binoculars.)

March was more dub, a few ambient discoveries and rediscoveries (Stars of the Lid and Brian Eno, respectively) and remembering a bunch of stuff was good that I hadn’t listened to in a while. Oh, and sometimes watching TV influences my music listening, oddly enough. That’s where Yael Naïm and José Gonzalez came from.

1. Marilyn Manson – “The Reflecting God” (Antichrist Superstar)
2. Dub Trio – “Awakening Dub” (Exploring the Dangers Of)
3. Envy – “A Will Remains In The Ashes” (A Dead Sinking Story)
4. Brian Eno – “1/1″ (Ambient 1: Music for Airports)
5. Bloc Party – “Banquet” (Silent Alarm)
6. Gorillaz – “Dracula” (Gorillaz)
7. Boys Like Girls – “The Great Escape” (Boys Like Girls)
8. Nickel Creek – “Doubting Thomas” (Why Should the Fire Die?)
9. He Is Legend – “(((louds” (Suck Out the Poison)
10. Public Enemy – “Son of a Bush” (Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran)
11. Bright Eyes – “When the President Talks To God” (Body Of War: Songs That Inspired An Iraq War Veteran)
12. Yael Naïm – “New Soul” (Yael Naïm)
13. Rogue Wave – “California” (Descended Like Vultures)
14. Stars of the Lid – “Even If You’re Never Awake” (and Their Refinement of the Decline)
15. José Gonzalez – “Killing For Love” (In Our Nature)
16. José Gonzalez – “Teardrop” (In Our Nature)