Sunday Boredom

After waking up from a fun night with friends, I spent my Sunday lounging around and being utterly useless. I spent some of my day trying to track down a amp for my sound system only to realize the kick ass amp and speakers I got on craigslist are too modern for a record player. After reading ont he web, today I need to go to Radio shack and purchase a pre-amp. Essentially a record player gives off a low level signal not significant enough for my amp to pick it up unless the amp is cranked up to the max. Even then its very very low. Digital signals (CD, TV, Digital TV) produce a high level signal. A preamp work allows low signal to get jacked up at a level the new age amp can register.....essentially I have to go to radio shack and drop 20 bucks to get my badass sound system operational.....then phase 2 will involved getting my record collection sent to cali.

Another thing I found online and enjoy was a documentary about the pixies called "loudQUIETloud." It follows the pixies in their 2004 reunion tour. This band and their sound has been highly influential in my life. I got into them mid-college and never really put them down. The "Doolittle" album was the album to first hook me and progressively the noisier "Surfer Rosa" then the their First EP "Come on Pilgrim." The albums after Doolittle are enjoyable but lack the sonic ferociousness and guitar hooks that make their first 3 releases so perfect. The lyrical content Black Francis conveys are written in a vague fury of sex, violence, love, Catholic guilt, mythology and longing. The lack of specifics while being so catchy leave you guessing what in gods name hes referring to.

I always find myself listening to these albums because I still have 2 or 3 songs stuck in my head. Once these songs die in my head, the others come to mind. Ive listening to this band for a long time and I never get tired of it. Its just timeless.

After Doolittle the band really got tired of one another with tension rising between the bassist Kim Deal and lead singer Black Francis/ Frank Black the band called it quits in 1994. It wasn't until 2004 that they got together and decided to tour again. Things werent really resolved between Deal and Black but they all wanted to tour again and that this point they can be adults . A big reason to tour was for financial reasons. While the band was originally active, they didn't not make much money. After 10 years and everyone realizing the extreme impact this band made on alternative rock, the bands reunion tour sold out in every show they performed.


While watching the documentary it was interesting to see how each member interacts. I think in general no one really thinks about how band member interact to make such music. Im of the mind that there needs to be a level of communication for progress to be made (even just a little it). What was eerie was how quiet and passive aggressive each member was. If something bothered them, they jsut brushed it off and moved on. I can see how tensions can rise for a band like this.

This documentary was well done. It did not overly dip into their history as a band but really jsut followed the band for the reunion picking up the drama of that tour. I enjoyed it but then again I have a mild gay crush for this band.