No Filter

 I

Last night I only slept three hours. I took the max dose of pepperoni and two relaxane but it did next to nothing. I’m a little worried but hopefully we can have a relaxed day and see what happens tonight. I still have jetlag and we did a lot yesterday out in the sun. We went to the boardwalk near Pike Place Market and walked along the seafront. Then we went to the market and then to the crumpet shop. The crumpet was very nice, with maple butter on it. Then we went to the map store nextdoor which even had maps from Switzerland and Shetland. I lived the first few years of my life in Shetland. I don’t remember anything but it was interesting to hear about my time there from my father, while I helped him write his memoirs. I notice that this blog hasn’t really touched upon the past in a systematic way. 

I think that’s actually a good thing. There is the tendency when looking at the past to be either rosy or the opposite eyed about things and it’s important to keep it in perspective. The present is all we have. I’ve already talked about recording as a way of catching the moment but I want to delve deeper into this idea. I take very few photos. I’m just not a visual person. I’m much more interested in recording the moment with writing or recorded talking or music. I had an idea, while I was recording music about 10 years ago that everything had to be no filter. It became a bit extreme as I am wont to be but the general idea is not so bad. No filter music is just the idea that you need to remain authentic. My last single 2064 was recorded in a proper studio but i think it retains the lo-fi authentic aesthetic that I pride myself on. I don’t ever want to make a big record. I prefer music that sounds small. The perfect example is Either/Or by Elliot Smith or Starlite Walker by the Silver Jews. These are small records. Big records are about big production techniques and aesthetic. They can be really good, I just prefer small for myself that’s all. 

II

I am going to pick my favourite album from my favourite eight bands, as discussed in the World Cup of Music. It will be hard but here we go. The criteria will be going through each song and saying hit or filler for each and then counting up in some way and hey presto. Let’s start with Pavement. 

Slanted

Hits: Summer Babe, Trigger Cut, In the Mouth a Desert. Zurich is Stained, Here, Two States

6/14

Crooked Rain

Hits: Silence Kid, Stop Breathin, Cut your Hair, Unfair, Gold Soundz, Range Life, Heaven is a Truck, Fillmore Jive

8/12

Wowee Zowee

Hits: We Dance, Rattled by the Rush, Black Out, Brinx Job, Grounded, Father to a Sister of Thought, Best Friend’s Arm, Grave Architecture, AT&T, Fight This Generation, Pueblo

11/18

So clearly it’s either CRCR or Wowee Zowee. CRCR has less filler but Wowee Zowee has more songs. In terms of stone-cold classics and focus I just give it to CRCR, but ask me another day… I will continue with another band at some point but that’s enough for now.