Hip Displeasure: June 2006

jasmine » Music » d.l.t.t.j.!

Doesn't really have the same charm as FT's acronyms, now does it? One of my contributions to HD will be... drumroll, please... "Don't listen to that, Jasmine!" I'm going to go on a downloading spree and get all sorts of music that I wouldn't normally listen to. You know, current Top 40 singles, extreme right wing country, hate rock, contemporary jazz, stuff like that. I'll listen to it and tell you how horrible or delightful it is. Word.

And yes, I did steal my title from "Don't eat that, Steve!", a popular blog which features, well, Steve and his sometimes nasty eating habits.

I'm off to find some gems.

xo-jasmine

FT » Music » Donald Fagen - "Rhymes"

I've been a huge Steely Dan fan for decades (yeah, I'm old), but while I've gleaned some mild enjoyment from the 21st Century Dan, they seem to be stuck in too mellow of a groove. And although the vast majority of the latest solo album from Donald Fagen -- Morph the Cat -- remains comfortably ensconsed in aural velvet, the album's closing track packs an unexpected wallop straight from the glory days of Stax. If I didn't know any better (and I'm too lazy to look up the liner notes), I'd swear this was a Staple Singers song with Fagen sitting in for Pops. It's nice to be able to respect myself again and openly admit that Steely makes me happy. Yeah, I know this is officially solo Fagen, but I need to come up with some forced references to keep all of my forced acronyms company.

FT » Music » The Long Winters - "Putting the Days to Bed"

This superb Summer soundtrack is pristine power pop played perfectly. As I discovered last night, it is particularly ideal for listening to in the car after dropping your mother-in-law off at the airport. What really sets these guys apart from the rest is that their fantastic arrangements are matched by their deft lyrical touch. Whether it's a former groupie's cautionary tale to her daughter ("Honest") or what very well could be (but most certainly isn't) an ode to George Costanza's unborn daughter ("Seven"), this is their most complete work to date. When the time comes to put this year to bed, this album just might be on top of all the rest.

FT » General » W.T.F.? L.O.L.!

If T.A.T.U. taught us anything, it's that America loves Russian teen lesbians. But those sapphic commies also provided us with a valuable bonus lesson: America loves forced acronyms. From M*A*S*H to S.W.A.T. to S.N.U.H., we just can't get enough of those clumsily-formed abbreviations. And since our mission here at Hip-D is to unapologetically pander to our most coveted of all target demographics, the Lowest Common Denominator (or, should I say, L.C.D.), we'd like to introduce a pair of painfully constructed acronyms of our own into the blog lexicon...

A.T.O.M.
Whenever there's an album I end up listening to on the iPod equivalent of endless loop, I will make a point of bestowing A.T.O.M., or Album That Owns Me, status upon it. This will typically include a half-assed blurb that no respectable publication would rightly consider a review.

S.I.C.K.
Whether during the course of listening to an entire album or simply letting the iPod randomize individual tracks from my entire collection, I often become overly enamored with a specific tune. So, every time I can't get one out of my head, you'll get S.I.C.K., which stands for Song I Can't Kick.

Well, that about wraps up our little anagram discussion for today. I hope you found this to be scintillating. If not, go "Van Halen's 9th album" yourself!

FT » General » Back in Blog

Somebody cue Brian Johnson, because I'm back, baby!

It's not really like I've got any more free time than I did when I decided to put Hip-D on hiatus, but I really miss having this outlet for my nonsensical rambling, so here I am. I'll probably hold off on writing any reviews until my year-end "Best Of" list, but will still try to post here fairly regularly. I doubt it will be every day, but I'm pretty sure I'll slap something up here at least once per week.

OK, now that I've resurrected this rotting corpse, I guess I'd better start coming up with some type of content...I'll go shake the cobwebs out of my gray matter and see if I can't channel the narcotically-enhanced ghost of Hunter S.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

jasmine » Music » d.l.t.t.j.!

FT » Music » Donald Fagen - "Rhymes"

FT » Music » The Long Winters - "Putting the Days to Bed"

FT » General » W.T.F.? L.O.L.!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

FT » General » Back in Blog