The Decemberists June 3rd, 2009 Atlanta, GA

The Decemeberists are an anomaly in today’s rock culture, a band that submits concept albums and then performs those albums at their shows. What is even more impressive is the accuracy and energy the band brings to the show, and that is what stood out most to me, when the band is at their peak it is during the first set of the show. The Hazards Of Love was performed in its entirety last night, and it was nothing short of epic. I found myself consistently getting goose bumps and this lingering feeling of being overwhelmed by what I was seeing unfold before my eyes. The album was played flawlessly live, and the added effect of costumes and lights only heightened the experience. For me, I feel like art rock is an outlier in music today, but the Decemberists bring new hope to this fading genre.

After the Hazards Of Love set was performed, a set break occurred. The Decemberists reemerged and launched through a number of tracks from their remaining albums. This is where the show lost momentum for me. To see songs from the other albums was fun, and entertaining, but it lacked the mind blowing quality of the first set. Add to it, I felt like the second set lacked flow, as the band seemed to meander through slower numbers for most of the set. I was also perturbed by the crowd itself. They seemed to be engulfed in their own indulging conversations at times during the show, which I found to be highly rude to the band. Overall, the Decemberists are a band that is on their collective “A” game in concert.

-Sophist

Relativism and Legality

It seems the latest argument against Judge Sotomayor is a comment made by her,

“…that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

The first thing that comes to mind is the context of this comment. Seeing as it was delivered as part of a speech on law and multicultural diversity, the point rings crystal clear to me. That in today’s evolving legal society, the context and background of the accused helps to explain the sociological faults for which the crime was committed. I think her point is simple; Latino women can and will empathize and understand better than a white male where and how another Latino person might have reached the conclusion to possibly commit a crime. This isn’t an argument of what race or gender combination has superior legal knowledge, this is an argument of understanding. I think Chapman is completely missing the point here.  Chapman asserts:

“What is clear from the full text is that her claim to superior insight was not a casual aside or an exercise in devil’s advocacy. On the contrary, it fit neatly into her overall argument, which was that the law can only benefit from the experiences and biases that female and minority judges bring with them.”

This isn’t the argument at all, this is a distortion of what Chapman perceives to be the argument.  The issue at hand is one of culture and its impact on social values and norms.  It’s about tracing the root of the problem and using a methodology to eventually solve the problem of diversity based crime If we are honest, we can see that minorities are more prevalent in prison than Caucasians. This is an issue that needs to be addressed.

What we have is Randian virtues being applied at the looter level of the economic chain. Ironically, I would think the right would be for  this sort of ideological thinking as theives are fulfilling their own self interest.  While it is theft of property, it is none the less some form of Social Darwinism, those that can take, will take, thus abusing the weaker of the species.  The only difference with top-down economic theft is it is legal and renamed “Capitalism”.

Crime has a direct impact on community, and this concept seems to be missed by many people of all economic statuses. The root of a good community is their inherent value of each other, not the economic well being of the community. A good community is built from the base level, and operates in a manner that actually benefits the community as a whole. Victim based crimes are the result of the self, and are ego driven at heart. What society needs at whole is a new grasp of how connected we really are to each other. I am going to provide a simplified model to prove my point.

Let’s say we have a ten person community.
1 Banker
1 Grocery Store Owner
1 Cop
1 Electrician
1 Supply Store Owner
1 Energy Plant Operator
1 water Plant Operator
2 Homeless People
1 School Teacher

So this is a tight knit community. Let’s focus on theft too. For the sake of argument, let’s say the government decides to raise taxes. The raised taxes directly impact the amount of possible charity to the homeless people, and less charity equates to a die or survive dichotomy for the two homeless people. If they choose to survive, they are left with theft as a means to acquire what they need to survive. So they raid the grocery store. The grocery store owner will most likely have to act in some manner to avoid having his store broken into again (some means of security). Thus he might have to raise his food prices to cover the new fixed cost, and that fixed cost directly impacts the remaining consumers of the community. So the point I am getting at here is this: jail isn’t a means to solve crime, it is a deterrent, but the real solution to crime is through social change, and through social awareness.

Now to get back to the “arguments” with Judge Sotomayor, the context is just that, she’s advocating that we need to understand the why behind the crime in order to prevent the how of the crime. I think it’s a valid point and one that needs to be addressed. It is also a complicated issue and one that will never be fixed overnight. Social evolution is a slow process, so the seeds have to be planted and as a society we must be patient and wait for those seeds to evolve.

-Sophist

Akron/Family: Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free

Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free

Shortly after the release of their 2007 release, Love Is Simple, Akron/Family faced the amicable departure of a founding band member, which, for a four-piece band whose music features striking bouts of improvisation, could have been the end of the group. However, after tours that incorporated Megafaun and Greg Davis (both as openers and onstage with Akron/Family), the remaining trio slipped into the studio to record their followup release, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free. In doing so, they have concocted another bold work of psychedelic freak-folk that is a treat for fans everywhere.

Opener, “Everyone Is Guilty”, picks up where the last record left off, opening with an afrobeat groove, chant-like vocals and a swirl of keys and strings, and charging guitars. I’d swear one of the breaks could be from a YES album except that YES albums never had looseness of the band. “The River” sounds very much as if it could have been on the previous album (which, if you’ve read my review, you’ll know that to be a high compliment.)

“Creatures” strikes, at first, as more of a departure, sounding a bit like a stripped down Animal Collective number but it is followed directly by the straight acoustic guitar/vocal dreamscape of “The Alps & Their Orange Evergreen”.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1l2CYWpfqo[/youtube]

“Set ‘Em Free”, whose lyrics lend the album its name, is simply a gorgeous cascade of acoustic and steel guitars backing a simple vocal. This leads to the ragged horns of the intro to the album’s longest number, “Gravelly Mountains Of The Moon”. This one evokes the abandon of the group’s live shows with wild electric guitars manic drums and vocals. This might be the true test. If you put on this album and are willing to listen beyond this song, you may be a true fan.

Once you’ve passed the test, you’re set enjoy the pleasant melodies and harmonies of “Many Ghosts” and the ripping, instrumental, power-trio attack of “MBF” (complete with appropriate screams and laser chaos noises.)

From the wreckage of “MBF”, comes the slow chanting intro of “They Will Appear” which breaks into an exuberant, galloping, climax.

“Sun Will Shine” follows with a simple, repeated lyric, “Sun will shine but I won’t hide” that is carried by an almost gospel tinged positivity before lifting into more typical stratospheric terrain and finding itself in the midst of a drunken Salvation Army rendition of Auld Lang Syne. This followed by a single piano accompanying the groups vocal harmonies on the brief, slightly sad yet optimistic number, “Last Year”.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVMaUP0Ca3E[/youtube]

Ending an album on a “downbeat” song is, I suppose, a risk for some bands but Akron/Family clearly is not “some bands”.  Both live and via LP they set out to lead you on a journey from here, to who-knows-where and back again and this record accomplishes the mission beautifully. By all means, pick it up and go see them live.

Here’s a recent in-store performance from Amoeba Records:

-rj

http://www.akronfamily.com

Phish: New Single Drops, Tour Set to Begin

If you are any kind of Phish fan, you already know about the new 13 minute single released this week via iTunes, “Time Turns Elastic”.  (It’s also streaming on their myspace if you do not mess with iTunes.)  The band announced it the same way they announce anything these days- with a video on their website:

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/4838833[/vimeo]

I have to confess, the video makes it sound pretty rockin’ and awesome. But, isn’t this the same piece that Trey composed with a classical conductor and debuted with Orchestra Nashville?

Of course, it is.

But it has been craftily re-arranged for the quartet. Just do yourself a favor; don’t go expecting this to be “You Enjoy Myself”.  What we have here is an epic piece with some pretty cool music and, honestly, painfully heartfelt lyrics that often do not make any sense (except, hopefully, to Anastasio, himself.) I suspect that much of this is about the journey Trey has been on over the past few years since he broke up the band, got arrested, went to jail and got sober. I further suspect that this is song that is very dear to Trey and will figure prominently throughout the upcoming Summer Tour. But, that being said, the vocals are mixed too far out in front of the band. Trey’s voice is not better than it was when they recorded Billy Breathes and couched the warm, half-spoken, vocals neatly within the mix. The lyrics aren’t better either. So why must they be thrust out in front with almost cringe-inducing effect?

I’ll stop bashing it now… It’s not a complete loss. Many of the sequences feature very promising music that I hope will expand nicely onstage.

Speaking of which, do you realize that leg one of Phish’s Summer tour starts this weekend? It all kicks off at Boston’s Fenway Park on Sunday.  It’ll be another week before I get to see them, but I hope to bring you guys some first-hand commentary from the road as soon as possible. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll see you there!

A New Kid In Town 

Editor's Note: And now, the first of our guest contributors
-a southern gentleman and a scholar- please welcome Sophist.

As my first official post on Row Knows, I would like to take a moment to thank my gracious host for having me on as a contributor to his site, so thank you, Rowjimmy.

A few (most likely none of you) will recognize my handle from week4paug.net.  I will spare the introduction and get to the heart of the matter at hand:  American Idol really screwed the pooch this season.

Actually, the usual bout of chaos seems to be present on the political front.  The Republicans are up in arms about Obama’s nomination for Supreme Court Judge.  My favorite blog: Obsidian Wings, has several links containing detailed information about the nominee, which includes detailed summaries of her positions on various issues.  Credit should be given to Hilzoy for bringing this information forward, and posting it.

From my readings of the above links, I have no concerns about this choice for Supreme Court Judge.  To me, the points made against her are rampant with Straw Man Arguments.  Surprisingly, I have yet to see the usual Ad Hominem arguments by the right, in turn; the right has been focusing on the usual issues: abortion, gun rights, and gay marriage.  The standard “threats” to America, the type of shit that will drown this country.

What concerns me with the left is the steadfast appeal in which this nominee was absorbed.  She was instantly a champion of the left, and as history tells us, I see this as dangerous.  We need to be objective, and we need to question everything with regards to government.  The use of government is good, and brings about the completed tasks that we require to function as a society, but I feel like we are slowly derailing ourselves due to the comfort of this administration.  It’s an aphorism I use frequently, and will continue to repeat, so it needs to be said:  The absence of doubt is the emergence of institutional oppression.

We as a society need to be objective and choose what is best for the country not for a particular party.  These are crucial times, and to me, it feels like both sides forget this, and resort to playing politics.  It does concern me, that right off the bat we see the same partisan talking points from the same people, I didn’t expect a new administration to change Washington, but I did expect the politicians to listen to the people for once, and heed our want for change.

So I ask of you, to read up on this nominee and voice your thoughts to your politicians, friends, family, pets, or whatever the hell else you find comfort in conversing with.

-Sophist