MOG - Regina Toowomba's Posts

Bassment Party

Regina Toowomba — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 03:54:04 GMT

I think I might take a couple weeks off my radio show. I had last week off but I just haven't been into any music for a while now and it's not fun, just stressful. The only song I've been obsessed with lately is Bassment Party by The Cool Kids. Today I looked for the radio station's copy of Bake Sale so I could play it and I couldn't find it, of course. Bah!

The Teeth

Regina Toowomba — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 03:22:42 GMT

The Teeth have broken up, apparently. This is very sad.

I don't know why - they wrote about it on their myspace, which I read, and I still don't know why.

They put out their first full-length album last year - You're My Lover Now - I haven't even heard it yet. They put out an EP a few years ago - Carry The Wood - it's great.

The Teeth were from Philadelphia; they were on Park The Van Records; they were going on a short tour with Bishop Allen; they were friends with Dr. Dog; they had a whistle solo in one of their songs; the band contained brothers - twins even, I think; they were funny, so deadpan funny it kind of seemed like maybe they were serious. Maybe they were, I don't know.

I discovered The Teeth inadvertently a few years ago when they played at the High Dive in Fremont. I liked to get to shows stupid early in order to see the opening acts, which were sometimes better than the headliners, as was the case with The Teeth. The Teeth were fabulous and I don't even remember who the headlining band was.

They said they'd just gotten to town and needed a place to crash, and if anyone would let them sleep on their floor to come talk to them after their set. A couple girls did - I was listening - but the girls said they wanted free CDs in exchange. The Teeth didn't seem very interested in the deal. I don't know what happened.

The Teeth - "So Long":

The Teeth, man, I was looking forward to so much more.

Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy

Regina Toowomba — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:15:38 GMT

I am so obsessed with Of Montreal's cover of this:

which is M.I.A.'s cover of this:

which is Parvati Khan from the movie Disco Dancer.

Actually I'm obsessed with all of them. I want to listen to them all in a row, over and over. I wanted to play them all on my radio show today - instead I decided to calm down and just play the original. Next week, though, Of Montreal.

i can't say

Regina Toowomba — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 02:33:26 GMT

sorry that i could never love you back i could never care enough in these last days

her tears fell on her pages found me out on her words i don't know what to do or say

wading through warm canals and pools clear blue Tuscarawas flow into the great lake

riding back where the highway met dead end tracks the ground is now cement and glass so far away

heal her soul and carry her my angel ohio

green green youth what about the sweetness we knew what about what's good what's true from those days

can't count to all the lovers i've burned through so why do i still burn for you i can't say

sorry that i could never love you back i could never care enough in these last days

heal her soul carry her my angel ohio

children blessed gather round the home she will rest so poor and cold in their midwest moon and sun

flashes bringing on my open eyes to lightning storms the touch of mist felt soft felt warm on my face

graving dreams a million miles ago you seem the star that i just don't see anymore

words long gone lost on journeys we walked on lost her voice is heard along the way

sorry for never going by your door never feeling love like that anymore

heal her soul carry her my angel ohio

Sun Kil Moon _ Mark Kozelek _ Red House Painters

(lyrics from songmeanings.net)

not a record review

Regina Toowomba — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:45:21 GMT

I am hearing In Rainbows right now for the first time - I know it's been out for a couple months and I could have owned it myself for very little money (or no money) but I am and have always been profoundly ambivalent about Radiohead - they are one of those bands that you always hear about that you're supposed to like, everyone likes them. I like Radiohead just fine but remain profoundly ambivalent - perhaps because too often I insist on obstinateness (although I prefer the term 'obstinance', which apparently I made up) and if everyone else likes something I refuse to like it regardless of its merits (which I realize is just as bad as liking something just because everyone else does). No, I do like Radiohead just fine but have never really liked them.

These days my sources for new music are limited to the occasional free mp3 (I don't have the energy or the wiles to get onto one of those fancy newfangled illegal download thingies) or what we get at the radio station. The radio station doesn't have In Rainbows. Some (probably many or most) of the DJs do and have been playing it, but I don't listen to the station much when I'm not there, so I haven't heard it.

But I'm listening to In Rainbows now because my sister bought the box set for herself for Christmas. The packaging is impressive - I love packaging.

I was in the middle of listening to my dad's old 45s - some of them my grandpa's - and I appreciate Radiohead's song structures. I don't know why two or three minute songs got to be such a staple. Radio, I guess. But when I'm doing my radio show I appreciate longer songs - I get to take care of business while a long song plays, like figuring out what I'm going to play next, or putting away albums I've played, or looking for albums people have requested, or running to the bathroom. Two minute songs suck.

It's a nice album. It's fine, whatever. It sounds like Radiohead.

Jake E. Lee shreds

Regina Toowomba — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 07:41:29 GMT

These shredding youtubes have been making me cry for hours.

Thanks to these and Ghostigital, I've been laughing for two days.

Dear John

Regina Toowomba — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 03:46:44 GMT

Dear MOG,

Perhaps after tonight we will part ways forevermore. I'm sure Rhapsody is great but I'm unpersuaded, unwilling to start another account at another online thingy (especially one I have to pay for) (yes I know you don't have to pay for it). Bleh, meh.

This week's find is Ghostigital, the awesomest stupidest best thing ever. I imagine Einar Orn goes around dressed up like a clown, all the time.

"Give me a break, it's alive!" Hilarious, the entire album. Just the names of the songs make me laugh: Good Morning. Not Clean. Totally Confused. Crackers.

Also, just by listening to songs sung in English by Icelanders, you could almost write a paper about Icelandic phonology. Or maybe that's just one of the perils of being a linguist... where other people hear music, I hear the lack of voiced stops.

Good stuff.

when your stereo breaks at the wrong time of the month

Regina Toowomba — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:50:12 GMT

Nothing bad ever happens to me - I'm an incredibly lucky person.

I was reminded of this last week when I turned my stereo on and the speakers gave a loud pop and then a long low fizz and nothing else.

My receiver is broken. This means nothing, really. It's just equipment, a possession, something I lug around with me every time I move. It's easily replaceable and more than likely easily reparable. It doesn't matter that it's broken - it means nothing, it's not a life tragedy.

But the loss of my stereo threw me for a loop. I was being overemotional and I overreacted. I flung myself into a self-dug pit of despair.

Almost five years ago (five years!), splitting up with my husband, dividing our stuff, all I wanted was the stereo and the music. Weeks later, unpacking at my parents' house, moving back into my old room, the first thing I unpacked was the stereo system. I was so happy - I set it up exactly how I wanted it, in my aunt's old record stand turned on its side. I could listen to whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

That summer I listened to Sonic Youth and Modest Mouse and Idlewild in the dark, unable to cry, unable to sleep, writing for miles every day. I wasn't eating. It was such a great summer. (I'm not being sarcastic about that.)

Months later, when I got back from a few months traveling around Australia, where I'd listened to my little mp3 player and radio tuner with tiny earbuds, I saw my huge stereo system with its huge speakers and my huge collection of CDs - "Wow," I thought, "is this all mine?" (I thought the same thing about my underwear drawer.)

I spent much of the next year listening to the 6ths, Hyacinths and Thistles, awake in the early morning hours, no longer flirting with anorexia but still dealing with insomnia.

When I moved to Seattle and had to do the roommate thing for the first time, I worried about whether to set up my stereo in my bedroom or in the living room. Wisely, I opted for my bedroom.

Shortly after moving there I discovered KEXP and I'd listen to that at night when I went to bed to drown out the noises of my new roommate, a filthy filthy whore. After a month I found a new place to live.

I found out about a thousand new bands listening to KEXP, and when I discovered Sonic Boom and Easy Street I bought as many albums as I could afford. I was sleeping better by this time but I still sometimes listened to music when I went to bed.

I found a music partner - someone whose music collection overlapped mine enough to give us something in common but diverged enough to make it interesting. We shared music with each other and I found out about a thousand other bands.

When I left Seattle and moved here, into my own house in an alley, I put my stereo in my living room because there were no obnoxious roommates to avoid. I could turn up the volume really loud. I jumped around my living room last fall listening to My Morning Jacket and Two Gallants and Cloud Cult and whoever else I was listening to then. Probably lots of sad music. M. Ward, always.

And then I started DJing and have found out about another thousand bands. I listen to my stereo every day. I check out albums from the station, I listen to recordings of my own show, I listen to other DJs on the radio, I listen to NPR (the televisionless person's television). I've developed this strange and obnoxious habit of listening to two things at once - something on my stereo and something on my computer at the same time.

I've been getting into electronic and hiphop and dirty garage and zydeco and all this other stuff and NOW I CAN'T LISTEN TO ANYTHING ON MY BIG SPEAKERS.

My receiver is broken and what the fuck am I doing with my life? - This was where my overemotional reaction led me. My stereo is broken and that doesn't really mean anything, I knew that, but it had me wondering again what the fuck I'm doing with my life. Why am I still here? I always leave, it's the one thing I'm good at. Why haven't I left this town, where I can't get a goddamn job and can't afford to get my most important possession fixed when it breaks.

When I was home for Thanksgiving I got a bunch of my grandpa's old 45s to play on my radio show but now I can't preview them. I have no idea, maybe Perry Como says 'shit' and 'fuck' a lot. Bah humbug.

I know, it's fine and everything will work out. But my stereo, my old friend, is broken. In the last five years I've been crushed, treated lightly by assholes I thought better of than I should have, I've moved here and there, applied for jobs and quit jobs, had crazy fun nights in the starlight and sad tear-filled nights in the rain. Made friends, lost friends, done things I never thought I would. And always music.

For Christmas I guess I will ask for a gift certificate to a repair shop.

vast indie rock conspiracy

Regina Toowomba — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 03:37:57 GMT

Sometimes I get really sick of music and hate everything I listen to. This happens occasionally and is soon gotten over, but it's kind of a problem when you have a radio show to do. Bleh, music, bleh - that's where my head is right now. There is nothing good to play, I don't know any good music.

So you can imagine how my radio show went today. Even at my most inspired I put on a pretty sad show, but today it was a struggle to even stand up. I was floundering, I couldn't get any flow, I played some slow songs all in a row and got incredibly bored with everything.

You'd think I would be happy to be back in the studio this week - last week I had to do a live remote broadcast, which was unfun - I couldn't hear anything, couldn't tell how loud anything was, didn't have walls lined with CDs to pick from - I've had nightmares about similar situations.

But I wish I'd recorded last week's show. For all I know it was my best show yet. This week certainly wasn't any better.

(I'm listening to this week's show right now. I hope I never talk ever again.)

(Actually it doesn't sound that bad. It seemed bad while it was happening, though, really.)

Anyway. My whole point is that I'm experiencing musical malaise. Music annoys me - I do not want to be tapping my feet right now. Tell that to Sam Beam, though. The guy needs to be stopped. This shouldn't be legal:

How dare he intrude on my malaise with incredible awesomeness.

That whole label, in fact, that Sub Pop or whatever it is they're calling themselves - they should all be stopped. Let me be crotchety in peace!

And speaking of jealousy...

Regina Toowomba — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 05:35:11 GMT

I was in love with the demo of this song that Sara Lov had on her myspace page forever - so simple and homemade. It's barely been fancied up for this EP version, and I can play along on my guitar, so that means I still like it.

Listen to Mr. Brightside when you want to make yourself sick. Listen to Touched when you're just fucking sad.

I could post songs exclusively about jealousy. But I won't. Let's move on.

Current obsession

Regina Toowomba — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:08:51 GMT

I've put off writing about this one - I don't really listen to this kind of music much, whatever "this kind of music" is (I think it has something to do with the image it puts in my head of wearing uniforms and marching in place, and honestly, what's that supposed to mean? I don't know) - but this obsession is going on its second week, and, in the interest of honesty, I must post it here.

The Killers, Mr. Brightside. Can't stop listening.

Jealousy. Nice.

The Killers played at the first show I went to in Seattle a few days after I moved there and I liked them fine, although you couldn't tell that from the review of them that I wrote a couple days later, which went thusly:

The Killers: They all had on matching suits. The lead singer was flamboyant and was flittering his fingers and had the shiniest shoes you've ever seen. They opened with Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine, and I was glad about that because I thought they'd open with Somebody Told Me That You Had A Boyfriend Who Looked Like A Girlfriend That I Had In February Of Last Year, and I'm not too keen on that song.

I saw them at that show almost three years ago, liked them fine, never listened to them and apparently wasn't even aware of the existence of this terribly wonderful song known as Mr. Brightside until a couple weeks ago, and I haven't been able to stop listening to it since then. I do not march in place while listening, though.

Summertime

Regina Toowomba — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:40:12 GMT

The end of August. For some poor suckers today is the first day of school. Me, I'm vacationing.

I've been living in flipflops and shorts for months, I'm as tan as I'm going to get this year, some days my swimsuit stays on all day.

I haven't been boating this year yet - am going tonight - but for the past couple days I've had this song stuck in my head.

My Morning Jacket: like Jimmy Buffet, except not. And always good for dancing around the house and singing along to during the colder months. But let's not think about that yet.

Current obsession

Regina Toowomba — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 04:01:00 GMT

Periodically - every week or two - I become obsessed with a new song. This week the song I'm obsessed with is "Tonight I Have To Leave It" by the Shout Out Louds. The percussion! The warbling*! The percussion! Oh.

But it's not even just this song - I'm obsessed with the video. I watch it over and over. It incites my wanderlust - a dangerous thing, because I have been known to get up and leave the place I'm at and go somewhere else at the slightest provocation. Watching this video is painful, actually - I can't get up and leave right now because I just finished my stinking education and am unemployed and in debt. But I am a masochist, and so I watch, over and over, and I wish I were sailing around the world with an awesome broken heart.

(*Please note: I looked up 'warbling' and it doesn't mean what I wanted it to mean. I wanted it to mean, you know, warbly, which probably doesn't mean what I want it to mean either.)

Regina Toowomba — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 05:16:12 GMT

Honestly, I'd never heard of MOG until 5 minutes ago. I still don't know what it is.