08 June 2009

the sunday superlative presents: make-up monday

I totally dropped the ball. I forgot yesterday was Sunday. This is slightly worrisome given the fact that my Sunday routine is notably distinct from anything I do on any other day of the week, but there we go. Just like missing a test and taking it one day late, please accept the slightly-delayed Monday Make-Up in place of what should have been yesterday's post.


"Now you f*cked up!" -- Abraham Lincoln


This Week: This Ain't Usually My Thing, But ...

Exceptions to rules are usually just happy accidents. If you're anything resembling a sensible human being, you tend to say away from music you know you don't like. Still, every once in a while an anomaly creeps onto your radar screen: something you like that you wouldn't normally. It makes you scratch your head. It makes you wonder why. It makes you delve deeper into that particular genre hoping to find more good stuff, then hit yourself because you're suddenly reminded, "Oh yeah, that's right. I hate this crap." Here are a few personal choices for allies living within enemy lines:

Linkin Park - "In the End" (mp3|4.45MB)
I like this song. I really have no idea why, especially because I hate Linkin Park. Hate Linkin Park. Hate everything about Linkin Park, right down to their wannabe-clever band name (which, really, is almost as bad of a name as The Beatles; the difference is, of course, that one of the aforementioned is the greatest pop band of all-time, while the other shares its collective molecular structure with that of raw sewage). But, uh, yeah. "In the End." I like it. There's no good reason for me to hold this opinion: it's just one of those "I liked it in middle school" songs that inexplicably stuck (and this in itself is weird, because in 7th grade I thought Electric Light Orchestra was the shit -- AND THEY ARE -- and really wasn't listening to, ya know, Linkin Park). You'll probably download it and think it's crap. I wouldn't blame you, either. But I've gotta be honest when I post these blogs, right? Right.
(from the 2000 album Hybrid Theory)

Electric Light Orchestra - "Don't Bring Me Down" (mp3|4.66MB)
Who the hell is Bruce?

Streetlight Manifesto - "A Moment of Silence" (mp3|7.17MB)
Back on track. I'm really not a fan of ska, which makes the fact that I'm really a fan of Streetlight Manifesto somewhat curious. But they're good. They're really good. Good enough, even, to convince me that getting trampled for two hours can actually be fun. "A Moment of Silence" is, in my humble opinion at least, the undisputed highlight of their 2003 debut Everything Goes Numb. It's one of the slower songs, to be sure, but melodically rich and highly satisfying. Of course, I'm depriving you of its considerably-sped-up counterpart "A Moment of Violence," but hey. You need something to keep digging for, right?
(from the 2003 album Everything Goes Numb)

Titus Andronicus - "Arms Against Atrophy" (mp3|9.72MB)
Anger. Despite (or, more likely, because of) my sarcastic disposition, it is honestly not something I experience very much of. As a result, the seething rage of this New Jersey-based punk band, named after Shakespeare's most notoriously brutal and bloody play, is likewise not something I've ever really been able to get into. The Airing of Grievances was far from my favorite album of '08, and the effect of listening to it as a piece yields the unfortunate effect of having all the songs smear together into one murky, pissed-off blur. Still, there's an exception to every rule. From my first listen, there was just something about "Arms Against Atrophy" that grabbed me. What is the secret ingredient that sets it aside from its admittedly similar counterparts? Is it the bleak, apocalyptic melody? The curiously enigmatic lyrics? The fact that, no shit, I listened to it for the first time ever on June 22 last year? Who knows? But I like it, enough even to say that not only will this likely be the only track from their debut I'll be returning to, but one I'll be returning to with some frequency.
(from the 2008 album The Airing of Grievances)

'Til next time, folks. Maybe I'll actually remember what day of the week it is.

As always, all email and ticking electronic packages related to the Sunday Superlative should be sent to fridayfiveradio@gmail.com. Responses are prompt, friendly, and therefore probably not written by either of us.

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