Silver Jacket

Category: Music

  • Embedded Music Journalism

    FistYesterday I was reading interviews with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and I came across what I think is the most tricky and yet correct and clear sentence by a rockstar in an interview that I have ever seen, containing about four levels of embedded clauses:

    "When I look at people that I would like to feel have been a mentor or an inspiring kind of archetype of what I’d love to see my career eventually be mentioned as a footnote for in the same paragraph, it would be, like, Bowie."

    And it’s finished with a flourish of "like."

    I emailed the linguist Mark Liberman at Language Log about it, and he promptly established "the Trent Reznor Prize for Tricky Embedding, to be awarded intermittently." As a sidenote, Mark also commented that "Reznor seems to be a bit confused about where footnotes go." But then, Trent didn’t get where he is today by properly formatting term papers.

    I also read an interview where Trent discusses his participation in Hurricane Katrina benefit concerts this past weekend, and it closes with the understatement of the week:

    "I don’t know that we’re the ultimate feel-good, everything-is-going-to-be-OK band. But hey, we’re doing what we can."

    I wonder if they played Fistfuck.

  • An “a-ha” Moment

    Only_clipMTV is finally playing the Nine Inch Nails video for "Only." (It’s been on NIN’s website since July.) And boy is it Mactastic!

    But seriously, do the VMA’s have an award for best use of iTunes and the desktop accessory lineup of Spencer Gifts in a metal/industrial video?

    Imagine "Take on Me", but instead of comic book panels you have one of those pin grid thingies that takes an impression of your hand. (Apparently it’s called a "pinpression." Who knew?) You can hear Trent thinking, "Help! I was at the mall and somehow I got trapped in a pinpression! Let me out! Must! Get! 80’s chick!"

    Shut up. He’s still more goth than you.

    More on the making of the video here and here. (It’s mostly CGI.) The director, David Fincher, is of course known for directing the films Fight Club and Alien3 and the video for Paula Abdul’s "Forever Your Girl."

    And in case you haven’t heard, Fincher and Reznor are currently developing a musical based on Fight Club. So badass.

  • At the Heart of it All

    NinNine Inch Nails kicked off their fall tour–their first large-venue tour in 6 years–last night here in San Diego. And they fucking kicked ass, at least for 43 minutes, until the drummer Jerome Dillon ran off stage with chest pains and heart palpitations. Twenty minutes later they canceled the show, and today canceled tonight’s show in Tuscon. Here‘s a pretty accurate summary of events.

    (more…)

  • Diamonds are Harder than Iron(y)

    KanyeThe latest Kanye West video, for his song "Diamonds (From Sierra Leone)," has played pretty heavily on TV of late, and it confused me, until now. You see, the song is truly a tribute to himself and his record label, Roc-A-Fella Records. The chorus goes "diamonds are forever" because the Rocafella associates rep their label by putting their hands together to form a diamond-shaped gap in the middle. (Thus the lyrics "Throw your diamonds in the sky if you feel the vibe," echoing Big Poppa‘s "Throw your hands in the air if you’s a true player.") Why diamonds? Conspicuous Consumption Rules Everything Around Them.

    Now why would a self-congratulatory song about a label that glorifies the diamond trade have "From Sierra Leone" in the title? Seems an afterthought to me, as there is no mention of conflict diamonds at all in the lyrics. And why would the video dramatically portray children slaving away in African diamond mines, possibly indicting members of the Roca fam for their fashion choices? Seems an arrestingly self-ravaging afterthought, actually. Has irony reached a new apogee?

    It’s as though Kanye produced the song, then heard about the diamond situation in Africa, and suddenly felt bad about the whole affair. Not bad enough to change the song, mind you, just bad enough to wrap what he had in a public service message and put it out there. I never bothered to research my suspicion, but yesterday Kelefa Sanneh confirmed it in the Times:

    After he had recorded "Diamonds," he learned about the conditions of diamond workers in Sierra Leone and elsewhere. He went back and retitled the track "Diamonds (From Sierra Leone)," and flew to Prague to shoot an apocalyptic video (with conflict diamonds a central, if mysterious, plot point).

    But to Kanye’s half-hearted credit:

    Then the images in the video didn’t match the lyrics, so Mr. West recorded a new version of the track, with a verse from Jay-Z; now the popular remix doesn’t match the music in the video. A few days ago, Mr. West said he still wasn’t sure which version would wind up on the album.

  • Full Circle

    OnomatopoeiaMonday night I was on the phone with my friend Jamie. At the end of the conversation he told me to brush my teeth. I instinctively quoted Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (the movie I have, due to youthful indiscretion, seen more than any other movie ever) by singing "brush brush brush, brush brush brush." Jamie told me that the way I said it I sounded like I was brushing my teeth. I said, "Like an onomatopoeia, but different. Wait, there’s a word for this, and I read about this word THIS VERY DAY." Fucking incredible. Here is what I read. The word is phonestheme and it describes a type of sound-meaning association.

    To top it off, Jamie, under the moniker Jonny 5, has an album called Onomatopoeia!

    To top it off EVEN MORE, I googled the "brush brush brush" quote and immediately found a blog comment on this page. The VERY NEXT comment (also quoting Pee-wee) goes:

    I often say to people who are whispering behind my back "Is this something you can share with the rest of us, Amazing Larry?"

    What’s the significance? My conversation with Jamie BEGAN WITH A DISCUSSION OF THE YING YANG TWINS’ WHISPER SONG. What is the world coming to? [Now checking outside for locusts.]

  • Hot in Herre. No, Seriously, I’m on Fire.

    DdiWell there is now a game out called "Dance Dance Immolation!" You put on a fireproof silver jacket, dance around like a spazz, and get flames shot at you. Sounds familiar:

    If only I had the fireproof facemask then (January 1997) that I have now. But at least I didn’t have any facial hair to singe off.

    [P.S. If you are pop-culture-deficient, a band named The Prodigy made a b&w music video in 1996 where a strange man dances around in a big tunnel and screams in a British accent, "I’m the firestarter! Twisted firestarter!" You can watch it here. My friends Ken and Glen and I decided that was a bad message to send to the kids, so we created "Twisted Firefighter" for their public access TV show, "The Ken and Glen Show." The more you know, kiddies…]

  • Knocking White Boyz Out

    Well I’ve been neglecting good ol’ SilverJacket because I went on a long trip back East (Boston, New York, Providence) but I’m back.

    FreestyleeventflyerOne spectacle I caught in the Big Apple was the DVD release party for a documentary called "Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme." The party/show featured several key people in the film, including Bobbito, Supernatural, Craig G, DJ Organic, and Lord Finesse. The movie’s climax is probably the meeting of two legendary grandmaster freestyle MC’s, Supernat and Craig G. These dudes can freestyle better than most cats can rap on album. And here on stage they met again for the first time in 8 years. Someone else at the party actually recorded and posted some footage here.

    I must say Supernat (spitting image of Forest Whitaker) stole the show on this occasion. One of his stunts was to ask the audience to pull random shit from their pockets and hold it up. He swept from one side of the audience to the other, grabbing items from people’s hands and spitting rhymes about them. My favorites: a blunt, which he tried to light; and the complete Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, single volume, hardcover. No one could trip him up.

    An awkward moment came later in the show when Lord Finesse began calling out a rhyme from "Juice (Know the Ledge)", the 1992 track by Rakim. He yelled "Knocking niggaz off!" and then held the mic out toward us, at which point I instinctively threw my arm in the air and continued the line by yelling at top volume "Knocking niggaz out!" He then paused and looked at us. "I know some of you white dudes in the audience were looking around, wondering if you could yell that shit." The audience laughs. "Well I give you permission." The audience laughs again. I’m thinking, yeah, I guess it’s weird for white people to yell rap lyrics. And then I realize what I was yelling. Shit, I just yelled "niggaz" in a crowded theater. Suddenly I felt self-conscious and for the rest of the song called back to Finesse, "Knocking [mumble] out."

  • Break It Up Already!

    Carl_lewis_bubblesWacky Weblink Wednesday…

    When I was growing up, Carl Lewis was perhaps my favorite athlete. Something about the sprint and long jump just seemed so sleek and dynamic and pure. So graceful, so fleeting, so intense. And winning the gold in long jump in 4 consecutive Olympics? That’s FUCKING NUTS. To me, Carl Lewis was untouchable.

    Apparently I had forgotten a few things.

    Click on FUN WITH CARL and you will be treated to a self-mocking chronological retrospective of Carl’s hair (including The Hood Ornament, The Dead Beaver, and The Gumby); Carl’s clothes; and a forgettable pop song ("Goin’ For Gold"), including a mix with brain-deadening rap interlude.

    (more…)

  • Right Said Wha?

    me: [coming out of a club, billowing my shirt] "So hot…"

    friend: "Are you gonna take your shirt off?"

    m:"Totally. I’m too sexy for this shirt."

    f:"Haha. Did you know that was a song?"

    m:"No. That’s a song? Are you serious?"

    f:"Totally. Wait, are you serious?"

    m:"…"

  • Hedged Bets

    Trillville1Sunday I tuned in to part of a video countdown on BET and witnessed two consecutive videos that, respectively, epitomized what I hate about rap music today, and what I fell in love with about it 15 or 20 years ago. First, there was "Some Cut" by Trillville from the ATL. Flashing their gold teeth, they informed an imaginary female in the listenership that if she would only shut up and let them stick their dicks in her ass and come on her face she would receive jewelry. I am not exercising much creative interpretation here. See for yourself:

    (more…)