Little Dragon - Klapp Klapp

I'm not sure what I'll think of this song or band in a year, but for right now, it's in hot rotation on all the music sources I use. I've watched the concert video 3 or 4 times by now, too.

I first became aware of Little Dragon as part of the Gorillaz track called Empire Ants. The music could be attributed to Gorillaz, but with the context I now have, it certainly sounds like a bigger Little Dragon influence. There's no mistaking Yukimi's vocals here, and I remember thinking that she could probably hold down a record of her own.



And sure enough, a few years later I got a notice on Spotify that Little Dragon had a new album on their service. I had heard a few earlier tracks on the Hiatus Kaiyote-based Spotify station, but none had piqued my interest. Then I heard Klapp Klapp.

There's a musical device where a song starts with limited instrumentation and establishes the theme, then the rest of the band kicks in later to great effect. This song has that build and catharsis in a big way, and every time it arrives, I want to crank whatever speakers I'm listening through at the time. Beyond that, I'm not sure I can explain exactly why this song grabs me - it's funky, it's melodic, it's bad ass.



Dig in, friends. Turns out they have lots of music to discover and it'll get your toes a-tappin'.

High On Fire - Devilution

I've always liked heavy music. The Who were the start of it, I think, and later on the Jesus Lizard and Melvins kind of took over my attention. Clutch was there all along, too, but I think there was a lull in the early aughts. Then, B-rad played me some High On Fire. This was the first song I heard by them, and you can maybe see why I was smitten:



The album version is better than the live versions or even the chopped up official video version. The extended intro is pretty crucial. And it's worth noting that at a live show, he plays drums like that the whole time. I'm breaking a sweat just thinking about it.

Felt Pilotes - Never Satisfied

This took me by surprise, although I'm not sure why I didn't look for it before - Bandcamp is awesome for this exact purpose.

This EP represents the first trip I ever made to a recording studio. The Felt Pilotes were a band helmed by John Porcellino, normally featuring legit drummer Don Ogilvie (forgive me if the spelling is off - it's been a few years). For this EP, I had the feeling that John needed to get it out and done but didn't have the resources to connect with Don in Colorado.

It was a short project from beginning to end, but pretty magical. The studio was in a well-traveled section of Schaumburg, but cloaked in trees. Even in the leafless winter, it wasn't easy to find. Once inside, it was like a flophouse, but the whole main floor was wired up as a studio. No real furniture to speak of, but I'm not sure the engineers lived there.

We did a few takes of each song, mostly burning off my nervousness. John was not interested in perfection, but rather in capturing the essence of each song, which was perfect for me. Not too much pressure. I learned a lot that day.

Anyhow, I will always remember this record fondly. Check it out for yourself:

Taking Applications for a Backup Team

The Chicago Bears might end up being what I hoped they would not be after all. Maybe they are what the pundits thought they were. I've been letting them off the hook. I've been crowning them. But, that hopefulness was as on paper as the upside of the 2014 Chicago Bears.

I expected to see some excellence, or at least improvement, during training camp. They say that they don't play those games to win, but rather to determine the ultimate composition of the team. They might try a few new plays, but they go vanilla and worry more about avoiding injury. That said, they were 2 for 4 in the pre-season and only scored more than 20 points once.

Yesterday against the Bills, they came out strong in the very first drive, and I thought it was going to be a quick, decisive win where the biggest concern was how much the defense could keep the Bills from scoring. Turned out to be a struggle through the end of regulation. From there, it was the opposite of the Lovie Smith era, where he'd defer on the coin toss and let his defense get the ball back in OT. Mentally, that had to be crushing for the opponent when it worked.

Unfortunately, when the Marc Trestman offense gets the ball, it's less of a sure thing that they'll drive enough to hit a field goal. And even if that was the outcome, the new rule would allow the Bills a chance to match. Based on what we saw yesterday, I'm fairly certain they would have scored.

Lovie's old coaching philosophy seemed to be "don't let their offense beat us" and the new Trestman philosophy appears to be: "we're playing to not lose". This has to become more mercenary if the Bears are going to get into the playoffs at all. The offense has to be able to score at will. There need to be more plays like the first drive. If it worked once, they should keep doing it until the other team can stop it.

Overall, I know it's just the first game and probably a little early to panic, but the next seven games should be more difficult than the one they just lost at home, at noon. They fly to SF for a Sunday night game this week, to NY for a Monday night game the following week, then they face the Packers, Panthers, and Falcons before facing the Dolphins (the next game they should be able to win). Then back to NE to face the Pats before the bye. Tough stuff.

Just to leave on a positive note, I saw some great stuff from Willie Young on defense and the replacements on the o-line. No real drop in production there after the starters went out with injuries. And, as usual, Matt Forte was consistent and excellent.