Excepter "If I Were You (Live)"
Thursday, August 24, 2006
“I’d like to introduce our machines to you, but I forgot their names. I’d like to shake hands with each and every one of you, but I’m on stage.” As a live prelude to a song, it’s not exactly “Kick out the jams, muthafuckaz!” But as a modest introduction to the live recording of “If I Were You” (mp3), it couldn’t be more appropriate. Across the span of that first clipped sentence, John Fell Ryan fails to effectively personify the unsettled electronics surrounding him, but only because he knows full well that they’d already taken that duty upon themselves; they’re waking up and preparing to perform as he’s speaking. And Excepter’s machines are in a chronic state of restlessness—constantly percolating and gurgling—and it’s up to the band to wrangle them and best control their output. Once Ryan stops talking, the machines want to take off, but are quickly lassoed into submission. Every so often, one of them will arc out of control, spraying a fan of noise everywhere that quickly dissipates. It all adds up to the term Alternation being the perfect album title for Excepter’s music—like an alternating current, there’s a constant back-and-forth motion that can be altered if run through some intermediary thing. It’s always “on,” so to speak, always humming but controllable. As for the “but I’m on stage” part of the introduction? He was probably being coy.
Buy Alternation from 5RC here, and then go read this thoroughly enjoyable and nuanced Riff on the group, their record release party last April, Margaritas, and riddle-telling cats.
AND YOU REALLY JUST NEED TO WATCH THIS: Apparently the executives at
CBS and Survivor were placed in the position of not having enough “minority applicants” for the show. Their solution? Divide the “tribes” by race. Honestly. White, Black, Asian and Hispanic. I can’t make this up. This clip has host Jeff Probst actually (actually) trying to explain, with a straight face, how this is a good idea and not a recipe to further stereotypes and ethnic division by simulating racial conflict. It’s foul, and fuck CBS for pandering to the basest instincts of its viewership. The more I think about its timing, the more I suspect the involvement of Karl Rove.AND I KNOW I TALK ABOUT HIM A LOT, but you should really check out Pete’s new thing over at the Anchor Center. He’s taken the single track review to the realm of the visual, and in effect out-popped Pop-Up Video.
This is not about Excepter, but I just wanted to point out a brilliant podcast to you. Maybe you’ve heard of it–it’s Beatlegs by John Winn (a Beatles bootlegs author and Yahoo group owner). Anyway, the most recent episode contains all backwards Beatles music, including I’m Only Sleeping which is even more beautiful backwards than forwards for some reason. Anyway, you definitely need to check out John’s podcasts–every week is 25 minutes of rare Beatle delights.
I just read a story about Survivor. Are they kidding? I can’t believe they’re leaving out a tribe of half-Jew/half-Irish contestants. Me and Bill Maher would kick some ass on that island.
How come no one complained about furthering stereotypes and simulating gender conflicts when the tribes on Survivor were divided by sex? Should people have complained? And if not, how is this any different?
Well, “Battle of the Sexes” is a little more acceptable and much less inflammatory than “Battle of the Races.” I get the continuum, but there’s a line that needs to be drawn in the realm of reality here. And not TV reality.