2009 Year-in-review Part II

April
Not a terribly eventful month. My iPod had stopped working after only 3 years of service in March and I took it to the Apple store. They said I would have to buy a replacement and it wasn't able to be repaired. Well, about a week later (in April, which is why this story is here), I was online looking how to open up an iPod and replace the battery and hard-drive, in one of the two concerns was the issue. Guess what. Just happened that a connector had come a little bit loose and a little un-plugging and re-plugging took care of it. Hmm...now, you mean to tell me that the representatives at Apple that they call "geniuses" could not have done the same thing? I think I was just told some crap in order for me to buy something.

May
One phrase sums this month up: New Car Month!!

That's right. I finally ditched the old money-guzzler car for something a little more reliable and somewhat newer; and did I mention a whole hell of a lot more fun to drive. This was my first experience actually buying a new car under my name. I think I got a bit "taken" on the loan, but I got it down where it was at my affordability. Anyway, the car is a 2003 Acura RSX Type-S. I don't imagine I'll be buying a Ford ever again. Also, the dealership where I purchased the car just-so-happens to not be in business any longer. I suppose the economy claimed another victim.

June
June. June. June....for the life of me, I can't recall anything major that happened in June. I usually have another blog to refer back to in times like these. However, it is empty for the month of June, because I don't write in it as much as I used to. Oh well, July, August, and September were pretty big. So, I'll have a pretty "meaty" entry next time.

2009: A Year-in-Review: Part 1 - By the Months

I know what you're thinking to yourself: "What the hell happened to the album reviews?!" Well, don't fret. They shall return. I wanted to deviate from them, due to two factors. 1. I like to do my year-in-review post prior to the turning of the next year as a way to cap it off. 2. I got a few more 2009 albums on Christmas that need a little more "sinking-in" time before I can properly do a review of them.

So, without further ado, I bring you Craig's Year-in-Review 2009 Edition: Part 1

January
New job. New Craig. New lifestyle. That about says it all. I began a new job on January 5 that basically turned my life around. I had grown so incredibly frustrated with my previous job, I could no longer function in my personal life without bringing the job-stress with me. Everything fell into place perfectly for this new career move. I feel as though I owe a huge debt of gratitude to those who helped make it happen. Granted, I still feel as though this job is somewhat of a stepping-stone to greater things. However, this is it. Life with a full-time job; and not a bad job either. I would go into a few of the details, but I feel as though it may bore some. Don't get me wrong, it's not a boring job, for the most part. It's about what I would want from an entry-level, full-time position. There were also some unforeseen growing pains of adjusting to a full-time schedule that I really didn't see coming and have finally, in the past couple months, got myself comfortable with. The things I keep in mind: Evenings are short and sweet; Sleep isn't as important to my daily life as I once thought; Weekends should be used to the fullest extent as they are the highlight of the week and really quite amazing.

February
More of the same. Holy crap it was cold this month! Probably have to endure similar conditions this coming year. The heating bill sky-rocketed. (I have the gas-company's asses kicked whenever the next budget re-evaluation is though. I was prepared this time!) I was offered an official position in the company where I work. Should have mentioned I started through a temp agency. I honestly can't recall much else happening during this month...just that it was cold and pretty shitty because of that. This may have been the month in which I had to enter my car through the trunk for about a week; because a whole team of dumbasses must have designed my car. The driver's-side door handle busted and the passenger's side doesn't have a key-hole. Genius!! I see so many benefits to that! *side note: most likely never buying a Ford again the rest of my life.

March
I think the weather got so bad early this month, that work closed down halfway through the day one day. My Mustang made it home, so nobody had the right to complain that day. The new U2 album also came out this month. It was a lot of excitement and a little bit of disappointment. I have gone over it so much in my weblogs that I don't think it's worth ranting about again. The biggest benefit of this month is that I can start running outside again by the end of it. Otherwise, I'm not a huge fan of Spring. I think that was everything of note that happened in March.

Well, looks like I'm going to do this in quarters, because just coming up with three months took me about an hour. So, more to come! Stay Tuned!

2009 Album Review #8: Porcupine Tree - The Incident

Even on their tenth studio album, Porcupine Tree shows no signs of growing stale with age. This is a band who has taken the progressive style to a new level. "The Incident" was an album that took a little while to grow on me. Don't get me wrong, I liked it from the start; but it got so much better upon each listen. When it was announced the album would be one 55-minute song cycle, I didn't know how to feel. I figured it would be too difficult for the casual listener and that they wouldn't gain too many new fans this time around. Once you get a good listen to the album, however, you realize that the case is not that it is one long song; rather 14 songs or "bits and pieces" that are fitted together so they flow together as a complete album. This means it's actually quite easy to pick out your favorite tracks and just go back and listen to those without missing anything, if you're that type of listener. After seeing the band perform the entire first disc (yes, there's a second disc that I haven't mentioned yet) on stage, I realized just how great these songs are as a whole, rather than just in their individual forms. To get the full picture, you really need to go through this album start to finish at least a few times. To give you a little more of the idea, the album's title, "The Incident", comes from the notion of an occurrence in a person's life in which they know nothing will ever be the same again going forward (in the case of this album, a car-wreck seems to be the "incident" of choice). It's a beautiful work full of very talented musicians creating music that has power, drive, and feeling.

When talking about Porcupine Tree, it is difficult not to mention their drummer, Gavin Harrison; who is so good at what he does, I don't know if he ever falls into a pattern. It's as if he makes each phrase unique; and in some of the more interesting time signatures that the band plays in, this is no easy task.

Okay, I will mention the second disc of "The Incident", which seems to be the leftover tracks that didn't quite fit into the grand scheme of things. Two of these tracks are great; "Bonnie the Cat" and "Remember me Lover". The other two are good, but don't really leave a lasting impression. Still, I am a firm believer that if you're even considering throwing in some extra material, there's just no reason not to; and that this second disc was worth the extra effort.

Overall, the album is among the band's best.

2009 Album Review # 7: Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Kasabian is a band that plays outside of the lines of any style, simply by defining their own. There is a definite "Kasabian sound" that has formed over the band's three albums, though. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing as a band that maintains certain signature sounds is still capable of using them in new and interesting ways. This album is example of such. As with all Kasabian albums, there are high points and low points; and this one is about a 70/30 split in favor of the former. I don't want to say that Kasabian doesn't quite know how to put together a good slower-paced tune, but they miss the mark on almost every down-beat, slower-tempo song on the album, with the exception of "Thick as Thieves" and the odd "West Ryder Silver Bullet" (unless we're counting "Secret Alphabets" in that category, because that is a great song). Needless to say, the fast-paced rockers are where it's at on this album. "Fast Fuse", "Vlad the Impaler", and "Fire" all amazing songs; even despite "Fire" following a similar formula to "Empire" from the band's previous album. On "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum" (which I believe could use one less word in the title), Kasabian does not push the boundaries of their own sound, but remain in their own realm of creativity; and they have come up with some of their best material in the process.

2009 Album Review #6: The Adrian Belew Power Trio - e

Adrian Belew - the man has redefined guitar playing, as far as I'm concerned. He is more than just a guitar player, however. He has a rather large catalog of solo work and collaborations with other artists and has played just about every instrument you could imagine in doing so...either that, or he has figured out how to make his guitar sound like every instrument (or animal) imaginable. The most recent release from Belew, titled "e", is more than a solo piece. It is a work by three musicians; the other two of which are equally as skilled as Adrian himself (you have to be in order to keep up with the man). The other two musicians are Eric Slick on drums and his sister Julie Slick on the bass. What the three of them have put together musically for this release is nothing short of impressive. This music is not for everyone, that's for sure. This is somewhere in the instrumental-progressive category. The piece, which breaks into 5 smaller parts (a,b,c,d, and of course e) is a frantic, frenzied venture. It is all apparently based off the chromatic e-scale, which is played in different variations by Belew, usually as a loop, to act as sort of the rhythm guitar of any given part of the music; which he'll then play more melodic guitar lines over-top of. The Slick siblings provide a terrific rhythm section to all this, in order to keep it all in whatever-the-hell kind of ridiculous time signature it happens to be in at any given moment. "e" works best when listened to all the way through start to finish, and rarely lets up. The weakest section is right in the middle; the piece entitled "c" seems to resemble more of a three-piece group warming up by playing scales, yet it still helps tie it all together and there is a decent drum-beat going for that section (you'll also hear the only vocals in the entire album during the playing of "c", when Adrian yells out "Yeah!" in the background because of how excited and impressed he is by his fellow musicians.). As much as I immensely enjoy the work known as "e", I do hope that Adrian gets back a little more into some "songs"; by which, I mean I hope there are some more of those Beatle-esque pop-rock tunes he's created in the past to come. Don't get me wrong, these are never the "dime-a-dozen" pop songs we hear on radio. They are done only the way Adrian can do them; with a strong dose of originality and a style all his own.