THere was a minor fuss when the first Suede album came out, BTW, at the fact that they left so many of their best tracks (The Birds, Where The Pigs Don't Fly and My Insatiable One which was always rated as their best song of all) off in favour of some mildly lame tracks.

R.I.P., Robert Moog

Dr Moog built his first electronic instrument - a theremin - aged 14 and made the MiniMoog, "the first compact, easy-to-use synthesiser", in 1964.

Was just coming here to post that.

I had the honor of meeting him on several occasions and even had Friday night Sabbath dinner at his house once. He was not only an innovator but a kind and generous man.

There's lots more information, and many tributes, here: [link]

And a more thorough article via the AP is here: [link]

U2's "The Ground Beneath Her Feet"

God, Kate put that on her Buffistamix CD, and I just LOVE it.

Yay! It's such a great song. I agree that the Rushdie book isn't all that great--I enjoyed it well enough at the time, but I barely remember anything about it now--but Midnight's Children is in another category altogether. It's one of my most favoritest books.

In other news, my brother played me some Sufjan Stevens and some Iron & Wine last night, and I liked them both quite a bit. Will have to put them on the list of to-buy-if-I-ever-have-money-again. (Although in the category of most-sought-after literate-indie-rock, the Decemberists are still ahead of both of them.)

Also, Lyra Jane is spot on with her suggestion of the Sugarcubes' "Birthday" as the quintessential birthday party song, though it's gotta be the version with that awesome bass line. You know, the something-something 7" mix. Or something. I dismember.

Long, good article on the Pixies reunion: [link]

In other news, my brother played me some Sufjan Stevens

I'm listening to Sufjan Stevens right now !

That Pixies article is really great. And they all refer to Frank Black as "Charles" - which is odd to read and very funny.

but the three Pixies began a tentative rerun of their back catalogue. "Monkey Gone To Heaven, Bone Machine, Isla de Encanta ... and it sounded pretty good," says Deal.

::chills::

"It was definitely not your standard stuff," says Santiago. "I think it might have been Levitate Me that I heard first - he came up with this riffy thing.

I had no idea "Levitate Me" was the first song Black wrote. Holy crap. It's one of my absolute favorites.

"I remember I wrote the lyric to this song called Break My Body a few hours before, on the steps outside a pizza place in Harvard Square.

Again, I say holy crap.

Frank Black on his "new attitude" toward Kim Deal:

The thing is, what I didn't understand at the time was how charismatic Kim Deal is. And how attracted to her people are. On stage, when she's just standing there smoking a cigarette, she's not even playing, and people are going bananas. At the time that just played into the whole everything-rubbing-me-up-the-wrong-way thing. Now I recognise what an asset it is. I'm older and I'm, like, OK, I get it. There's some sort of star quality thing going on over there."

Oh, Frank, no f-ing shit, dude. Thank god you kind of grew up.

Deal has also been credited as "producer" on a number of records, from Guided By Voices to Brainiac, though she is quick to dismiss her involvement with most of these. "One time," she says, "I came to buy pot and the band credited me with production."

Heh.

On the drummer (who became a magician, was an opening act for the Breeders and broke at the time of the reunion):

when I sat down to rehearse for the Pixies, I couldn't believe that I had given up something that I loved. Now I hold the drum at night and I want to go to bed with it."

Awww!!

Sad news about Dr. Moog.

Hec, any chance of trading, oh, a kidney, for a copy of that Soul box?

Oh, I think it'll make a dandy belated wedding present for you and the Mrs. Jim. I need to reload on blank CDs and get JZ to work designing some covers, but I'll get it out to you. Send me a mailing address to my profile addy email.

I love this:

Black's distinctive singing style was already established: legend holds that, while working in a flower shop, his employer's cousin, a minor Thai rock star, imparted the wisdom, "Scream it like you hate that bitch", which Black took to heart.