Happy Anniversary, Crap Bag

Today is the 20th anniversary of Rush Limbaugh's radio broadcast being on air. I honestly can't figure out anything more appropriate to say about this than what Tom Tomorrow said on his blog:

"Most of us try to make our mark, in some small way. But it’s a rare group of human beings who can look themselves in the mirror and know, beyond any doubt, that the world is a far worse place for their having lived in it.

It’s quite an achievement!"

What an ass. Rush, that is, not Tom. Happy Anniversary, ass.

OhNoesBama ALIENS!?!?!?!

Thanks to Wonkette I just saw this redonkulous piece of campaign interview footage. Obama, what kind of answer is that? It isn't even funny. He smiles like he thinks he's making a funny, but really his answer is just plain strange.

Now, granted, this has got to be the most silly question I've seen put to Obama since Georgie Stephanop-o-pop-o-lupus asked, "Does Jeremia Wright love America, Jesus and Apple Pie as much as Harry Carey loves the sun?" Watch the super quick and silly clip below and be amazed. Hooray for Friday Video Rediculousness!

New QTip... Maybe For Real This Time

So it has now been 9 years since the last release from Q-Tip, but that album, his solo debut, Amplified, is still great. Along the way between then and now there have been many indicators that something new would be released. Kamaal the Abstract was previewed to radio stations back in 2001 when I was still music director at my college's radio station, but while the initial tracks for that were tantalizing and intriguing it never surfaced. Today I read on Pitchfork that a whole new Q-Tip album is tentatively set for release in October. It sounds like this one may actually become real. Check out a stream of the first single.

Listening Notes Take 1

Nobuzaku Takemura: Scope
This has been one of the better rediscoveries on my iPod. I got this album sometime during college, and vividly remember driving back from the record store with my friend chuck, listening to the first track. It was about 20 minutes long and consisted mostly of silence broken by atonal, arrhythmic electronic noises. It was intriguing but hard to get into. The rest of the album is more accessible, and I am particularly fond of a track called “Icefall” which has been a regular feature on my playlist. It sounds like someone recorded a little synth riff, burned it onto CD and then scratched the hell out of it. It doesn’t sound like the recipe for gorgeous music, but it is—utterly gorgeous and utterly alien. In fact, in places, it reminds me somehow of Bach. Definitely worth listening to when you’re wearing headphones, alone in your room, or—as a study in contrasts—when you’re wandering through the woods early in the morning.