A Shat New Year

http://www.livevideo.com

"It's still real to me, dammit"

Last night, #1 nephew thought he was boarding a bus with Evan, G, Lurch and The Kidd to go to a mall in Jersey to "buy hats and meet girls". Instead, he was surprised with an evening of the great sport:



Needless to say, nephew was a VERY happy young man and got very very into it!



It was just one of those great nights. Kudos to the men for coming along. My nephew had a blast, as did I. I'm glad he can see Ric Flair before Flair is barred from the ring forever. Jeff Jarrett phrased it perfectly in a History Channel Doc: “those who believe don’t need an explanation. And for those who don’t believe – no explanation will do”. For one night, we didn't need any explanation to enjoy it on the pureset level as we did when we were 8. It's fun watching it through the eyes of a kid. Happily, my nephew understands that this is all staged and that these guys are telling each other the moves and such and often asks if the wrestlers are nice or friends with each other "in real life". He also knows that he can't do these moves to anyone other than G. Thus, he will never be this:



Happy Holidays.

F

Dog of the year

The one that sticks his nose in my bandmate's ass every Saturday.

2006: The Year Of Jarvis

No, I'm not talking about the pantomime American Jarvis. The real one. Jarvis Cocker. The man who, four months ago, was not even a contender for this list because no one knew he had an album coming out. An album that turned out to be genius, contrary to the nonsense Pitchfork wrote. In a year when there was little to excite me, Jarvis pulled through with flying colors.

F has the zeitgeist spot-on when he describes 2006 as the "year of the disappointment," in music at least. A number of groups important in my life delivered albums that were not just dull... but disastrous, career-sinking abortions. The beloved Primals will never be the same in my eyes again, while The Killers (shepherded by Flood and Alan Moulder) became obese rock 'n' roll parodies. And Richard Ashcroft released a soundtrack for a dentist's office.

There was such a dearth of great new records this year that I could not name ten that I thought deserved to be on this list. Jarvis handily won the top spot, though Morrissey and TV On The Radio were close contenders. I should note that I really wanted Kasabian to land at or close to number one, but the initial rush of excitement I felt for their sophomore album dropped off considerably. Two of their three single choices have been appalling, more than half of the new songs aren't sticking with me, and while I still rate them highly, I miss the sound and style of the Chris Karloff era more and more. Let's hope this changes.

In contrast, so many classic records were reissued this year that I had difficulty paring my list to the ten best. But as I said before, the best of the best could not come within a mile of the three Pulp reissues curated by Jarvis. Even Robert Smith from The Cure couldn't touch these, and his own series of remastered box sets has been stellar in every respect.

Lastly, my glass is raised to Nick Rhodes and John Taylor of Duran Duran for curating the year's best compilation album.

BEST ALBUMS:
01. Jarvis Cocker — Jarvis (Rough Trade)
02. Morrissey — Ringleader Of The Tormentors (Attack/Sanctuary)
03. TV On The Radio — Return To Cookie Mountain (4AD)
04. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Show Your Bones (Interscope)
05. Kasabian — Empire (BMG)
06. Lamas, Gustavo — Mareo (Casa Del Puente Discos)
07. Twilight Singers, The — Powder Burns (One Little Indian)
08. Lily Allen: Alright, Still (EMI)

ALBUMS THAT NEARLY RUINED MY YEAR:
01. Primal Scream — Riot City Blues (Sony)
02. Gustavo Cerati — Ahi Vamos (BMG Argentina)
03. Killers, The — Sam's Town (Island)
04. Ashcroft, Richard — Keys To The World (Virgin)

BEST SINGLES:
01. Jarvis Cocker — "Running The World" (Rough Trade)
02. Delia Gonzalez And Gavin Russom — "Revelee" (DFA/Astralwerks)
03. Serena-Maneesh — "Drain Cosmetics" (Playlouder)
04. Morrissey — "You Have Killed Me" (Attack/Sanctuary)
05. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — "Gold Lion" (Interscope)
06. Shit Robot — "Wrong Galaxy/Triumph" (DFA/Astralwerks)
07. Knife, The — "Silent Shout" (Brille/Rabid)
08. Pet Shop Boys — "I'm With Stupid" (EMI)
09. Kasabian — "Shoot The Runner" (BMG)
10. Depeche Mode — "Suffer Well" (Mute)

BEST ALBUM TRACKS/B-SIDES:
01. Jarvis Cocker — "Black Magic" (Rough Trade)
02. Kasabian — "Stuntman" (BMG)
03. Gustavo Cerati — "Lago En El Cielo" (BMG Argentina)
04. TV On The Radio — "Province" (4AD)
05. The Twilight Singers — "Bonnie Brae" (One Little Indian)
06. Morrissey — "To Me You Are A Work Of Art" (Attack/Sanctuary)
07. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — "Dudley" (Interscope)
08. Transmission — "Glade" (Malicious Damage)
09. Killing Joke — "This Tribal Antidote" (Cooking Vinyl)
10. New Order — "I Told You So" (Stuart Price Remix) (Warner)

BEST REISSUES/LIVE SETS/GREATEST HITS:
01. Pulp — His 'N' Hers/Different Class/This Is Hardcore (Island)
02. Comsat Angels, The — Fiction (Renascent)
03. Cure, The — The Head On The Door (Rhino/Fiction)
04. Various — Nick Rhodes And John Taylor Present Only After Dark (EMI)
05. Depeche Mode — Songs Of Faith And Devotion/Violator (Rhino/Mute)
06. Jam, The — Snap! (Special Edition) (Universal)
07. Manic Street Preachers — Everything Must Go (Sony/BMG)
08. Cale, John — Paris 1919 (WEA)
09. Tears For Fears — Songs From The Big Chair (Deluxe Edition) (Mercury)
10. Jesus And Mary Chain, The — Darklands (Rhino)

BEST GIGS OF 2006:
01. Jarvis Cocker — La Cigale (November)
02. !!! — Northsix (June)
03. TV On The Radio — Bowery Ballroom (April)
04. Maserati — Northsix (December)
05. Serena-Maneesh — Mercury Lounge (January)
06. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Bowery Ballroom (February)
07. Dead Meadow — McCarren Park Pool (July)
08. Kasabian — Webster Hall (September)

MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUMS OF 2007:
01. Brett Anderson — TBA (TBA)
02. Kraftwerk: Der Katalog (Astralwerks)
03. !!! — Myth Takes (Touch And Go)
04. Maserati — Inventions For The New Season (Temporary Residence)
05. LCD Soundsystem — Sound Of Silver (DFA/EMI)
06. Doves — TBA (TBA)
07. MIA — TBA (XL)
08. Johnny Marr And The Healers — TBA (TBA)
09. Modest Mouse — We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (Epic)
10. Chris Connelly — The Episodes (Durtro/Jnana)

Oh Six

Ok, so, it's time for the Year End business and I am sure my mates are having just as hard a time as I am trying to find a Best Of list to compile in regards to any new albums. 2006 will be seen as the Year of the Disappointment, and I'm not just talking about various cunts. I'm talking about new music. Some of the fucking GREATS came back this year and delivered underwhelming albums. Dickie in particular started off good and then went to total snooze mode and Cerati did an album that, if you started off a Soda Stereo fan, you'd love it, but if you, like us, started at Bocanada, this new album made little sense. And while I didn't hate the Primals album like Brandt did, I think we deserved something cutting edge and and not a retread. I actually go back to that album more than I do the other two. I mention these three albums in particular because they were on last years most anticipated list. My personal biggest disappointment was Razorlight which was limp as many peoples excuses. All these albums fall into the "there are three or four REALLY good songs and the rest is whatever". I can't tell you how many times I said that this year.

In the meantime, Jarvis wins in the re-issue department. Everyone who EVER does some kind of re-issue needs to check out what Jarvis did for Pulp and what Hussey did for The Mish. THOSE are fucking reissues. Anyhow, I have decided not to to a most anticpiated in 07 list simply to not jinx anything. As always I pick the top choice of the year and then everything else is just listed in no particular order:

ALBUMS:

*KASABIAN: Empire is ALBUM OF THE YEAR*

Honestly, it was a very close call with Jarvis. I ended up with Empire for one very simple reason: I fucking love it. It's a great album, but needed a few more tunes to back up the band's hyping it up as a classic. It's not, but it could have been, and in the year when a lot of stuff sucked, this stands out. I've sorta scaled back hyping Kasabian on this blog, but they ARE my favourite band and the only new band in recent memory that I feel have a long future. The Japanese ep releases help.

JARVIS COCKER: Jarvis
THE TWILIGHT SINGERS: Powder Burns
MORRISSEY: Ringleader Of The Tormentors
SAINTFACE: Apartment Stories (technically came out this year, so it makes the list)
GUSTAVO LAMAS: Mareo
MUSE: Black Holes And Revelations
MIDLAKE: The Trials of Van Occupanther
CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG: 5:55
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: Futuresex/Lovesounds
THE TWILIGHT SINGERS: A Stitch in Time EP
FLAVIUS E: Conjuncion EP

REISSUES:

*PULP: HIS N HERS, DIFFERENT CLASS, and THIS IS HARDCORE are REISSUES OF THE YEAR*

Everything from the packaging to the mastering to the bonus material to the liner notes is SICK SICK SICK. As I mentioned earlier, any band who EVER re-releases something needs to follow this. You can see why it took Jarvis 5 years to get a solo record out. He was doing this the whole time. Awesome.

THE MISSION: ANTHOLOGY
THE SISTERS OF MERCY: re-issues of the 3 albums
ELECTRONIC: Get the Message
TEARS FOR FEARS: Song From The Big Chair
MANIC STREET PREACHERS: Everything Must Go
JOHN CALE Paris 1919
OASIS: Stop the Clocks

GIGS:

*TWILIGHT SINGERS at Warsaw is GIG OF THE YEAR*
Just the best time I had with my mates all year.

KASABIAN at Webster Hall
EDITORS at Rothko
DICKIE at Webster
ELBOW at Webster
GORILLAZ at the Apollo
MASERATI at Northsix
MUSE at Hammerstien
GOLDFRAPP at Roseland


MOVIES:

*CASINO ROYALE is MOVIE OF THE YEAR*

It just rocked. All you idiot Daniel Craig haters who thought he would suck are morons. He owns your fat ass.

BORAT
THE DEPARTED
THE PROPOSITION
V FOR VENDETTA
EXILED
ELECTION 2
THE PRESTIGE
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN'S LABRYNTH
BABEL
VOLVER


TV:

*24 is TV SHOW OF THE YEAR*

Oh come on motherfucker, like you werent jumping off the couch screaming.

HEROES
MY NAME IS EARL
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM
SMALLVILLE (When GREEN ARROW was on)
SOUTH PARK
BOSTON LEGAL
STUDIO 60
ENTOURAGE

NEW CATEGORY: COMICS:

*GREEN LANTERN is COMIC OF THE YEAR*

I'm biased, but really there's no better super-hero comic out there, unless it's written by the same guy. There's no comic that is as satsifying a read each month. It's epic and cinematic.

ALL STAR SUPERMAN
INFINITE CRISIS
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
ASTONISHING X-MEN
BATMAN (both Robinson and Morrison runs)
ACTION COMICS
TEEN TITANS
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
52

Extra:

Hero of the Year was Oh My Lord
Videogame of the year was BULLY
Wrestler of the Year is CM Punk
Director of The Year: Johnnie To
Trip of the Year was San Diego
Man of the Year was Frank
Woman of the Year was Pat
Kid of the Year was my Nephew
Dog of the Yeat was my nephew's dog
Villian of the Year was some cunts

See you in 07, asshole!

F

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

To-Tastic

Yesterday, I went to the chiropractor. it was sweet. He cracked me like danny's ankle meeting the cold steel of an oncoming car, except with the opposite effect. I do worry when he cracks my neck, it feels weird, but then awesome. Then my mom gave me a brownie and a cup of tea.

I quickly ran back to the city to FINALLY get rid of the goddamn glass coffee table. I was aided in this by EVAN, who was awesome, despite showing up 4 minutes late ;-) Irene and I had decided that if no one took the goddamn glass coffee table, we would donate it to our favourite charity, Housing Works, which is a charity dealing with homeless people with AIDS, and conveniently located within a few blocks of the apt. We donate stuff there often. So then, straight out of "buddy cop movie" we created in college, Evan and I, with only 20 minutes left till the place closed, ran down the block with this VERY heavy table. We tried to sell it to people as we went, and we almost had a few takers, but anyhow, the table is now with the nice people at Housing Works. Evan gets props and got a free meal in Chinatown

Evan and I were beat, and Irene was working late and Brandt was already back in Chicago. Lurch bailed and he made a mistake cause Ev and I watched the new Johnnie To movie EXILED and honestly, it fucked OWNED and might be my favourite HK movie this year. I think one review I read described it as "Johnnie To's Greatest Hits" combined into one movie. Literally every Johnnie To regular is in this movie, even Simon Yam, who I love and had no idea was the bad guy. Its a difficult movie to explain, but it starts off with two hit men arriving at an apartment in Macau to off a guy. They are followed by two other guys determined to stop the hit, and it turns out they are all, including the target, childhood friends. It then becomes this wonderful action drama, sprinkled with lots of laughs and masculine bonding and tons of soul. What a movie. Everyone is so awesome in this, especially Anthony Wong, who is the de facto leader of the group. The only thing I could think of was that this was the gangster movie equivalent of the MOGpac. Some will get that, others won't. Massive movie. Awesome. See it.

And now we prepare. Nephew, his dog, and his mother arrive today. And I need my rest!

F

What about Reg?

From: dan_hamill@______.com
Subject: Out of Office AutoReply:
Date: December 21, 2006 7:28:14 PM EST
To: fjd@hypefactor.com

I am out of the office, returning Tuesday Jan. 2nd. For immediate inquiries on Dec. 21st and 22nd please contact Roni Kersey. Otherwise I will speak to you in the new year.

A holidays surprise for the ladies!!

The Truth about the last few days.

It was a Jerry-less weekend. Or was it? Danny and I went to chinatown and Sizzled some rice and ate pork chops we never should have ordered. As you can see above, this weekend B and I worked on the title track from the forthcoming HF album. He played some sweet guitars. it was fun. Then Allison Brown made cookies and let me eat them. Later, Irene and I drank with a famous comic book writer in Soho. The following day, The Kidd made pot roast for men in Queens and it fucking rocked so hard. We also ate cookies and Men's Pocky. Then we realized they didn't have cable and totally realized that Family Guy is as stupid as the South Park guys claimed, so the four of us (me, lurch, g and kidd) gathered around G's laptop and watched THIS:



Repeatedly. A great moment in our young lives.

Anyway, as you know we are funny people. Much funnier than most people you know (thats not sarcasm like "my friends think I'm cool", its just a fact, and even Brandt said to his girlfriend that others aspire to be as funny as I am), so then we updated the newer Lurch created blog, which I had nothing to do with the creation of, but thought was hilarious and thus earned a spot as a poster on this blog:

http://veracitybz.blogspot.com/

You can see our handiwork there. It's about the truth. I especially enjoy the Truth about Dan Hamill. then I watched the Oasis movie, which was really good, especially when Liam yells at Noel in japan about how he should stop talking to the fucking NME cause they will make shit up anyway and then talk shit about their albums. Awesome.

Nephew on Friday. Then Christmas begins.

F

I've seen the future....

This might be my favourite shit ever:




EVER.

RE:

From: "Douchee, Ashley"
To: "Undisclosed Recipients"

*NOTE FROM BOSS MOG: I had too many complaints about this fucking thing, and Matt had even suggested pulling it, so what I have done is copied and pasted into into the comment section if you want to see this dumb fucking thing Ash sent. I don't see Jerry's name on there, but I'm sure he was copied*

Start The Countdown, Murray!

I'll Call My Guy

It's been very difficult to sit and actually type to you and I apologize for that. It's been busy, as I'm sure you can imagine. What is usually my quietest time of year has become the busiest. It's been a regular madhouse of work, screenings, gigs and forward momentum on the Hypefactor front.

Last week, we checked out a few screenings. The first was PAN's LABYRINTH, directed by the massively fucking awesome Guillermo del Toro. Man, this guy is so talented. I loved HELLBOY and I just think this is a guy who has it. PAN's is his original idea and it's a very scary, violent adult fairy tale. This is certainly on my top 10 of the year. It's a post WWII fantasy about a young girl coming to grips with a violent world that she has been thrusted into. This movie is so smart, so moving. I loved every second of it. del Toro is a very unique and special talent.

Then, Irene and I checked out BLOOD DIAMOND, which I went into with very low expectations. I was mildly surprised how it didn't suck. It's way too fucking long, and at the end it's way too preachy, but it's the first DiCaprio movie I ever watched with Irene where she didn't complain about him, so I think that means he's good in this (not as good as THE DEPARTED obviously), but its my man Djmon Honsou who owns this movie and brings it to a level it probably never should have reached. Awesome work from an extremely talented actor. This is very good commercial filmmaking. It's not going on my best of or anything, but it was certainly a satisfying movie.

I am hard pressed to remember some of the events of the week. I know I had dinner with Lurch, the feminine awesomeness of his friend Adrienne and even more feminine awesomeness of Doug Menin, who introduced us a sweet Afghan place right near my apartment. A great pick up line was invented: "IF YOU CHARM ME, I WILL SPARE YOU". I think Adrienne said this, but knowing Lurch, he will claim it as his own. He has a habit of doing that.

The weekend saw me visit my stylist, yes I look good even though I fell asleep in the chair, and then we went on to do an insane amount of Christmas shopping with Irene. It was hard work but mostly done. Saturday night was the one night I wanted to stay home and do nothing. We were both falling alseep on the couch. But we had previous plans, which included my younger cousin, so there were out boozing till the wee hours, which was a terrible idea in retrospect as we had to have brunch with my folks that next morning. Oh, and I don't apologize to doucheface for my opinions of him and his music, I do apologize to my bandmate Brandt for my texting him nonstop about said encounter and opinion. Oh well. A little piss and vinegar from your hero every now and then is a good thing. I think. I mean, they suck. Truly. I don't deal well with assholes claiming to have previously been in my favourite band in NYC. No.

Sunday was band day, but honestly, your hero went to Brooklyn, ate dounuts, and rested his head on the desk while Brandt made some beats and Charles laid down some bassy goodness. I was useless though I occasionally put forth an idea or two. Good work all around, mostly because I was in pain, but awesome work nonetheless. Progress is good. The tunes are solid and galaxies better than any shit band pretending to be Oasis and claiming to have been in Saintface. Then we were joined by the 4th Levellers of Ash and Justin and we had a nice group dinner at that Korean/Japanese place that I keep forgetting the name of even though Brandt posts it in the responses every time I say that. Anyhow, Ash and I split the table grill and I cooked for him. Irene's mom would be so proud of me.

Then we drove to somewhere who the fuck knows in some industrial section of Greenpoint to see Maserati yet again. I was told incorrectly that they were headlining and playing a longer set than last week, but instead they were opening and playing in a an empty diner. I loved the location, cause it was just a band set up in a diner, not a real venue per se and of course you can stick these guys anywhere and they'll rock your ass to the ground, which they did again. JERRY IS SO FUCKING AWESOME YOU CANT BELIEVE IT. I'm not making that up either. However, the gig was wrecked when some dumb fucking cunt boys who were moshing (who the fuck moshes other than teenagers) FELL THROUGH THE GEAR! THROUGH JERRYS GEAR! and the gig was over on a shit note. We hung around and drank crap beer in a deserted diner while Ash chatted his boy Jerry. And then that was it. While I was exhausted and didn't want to go, I do enjoy the company of the guys and Ash made a point after in that it felt like the old days, work on music, go see a band everyone is into, be inspired and then go and make more awesome music that is better than the britpop bullshit some guy with a bad combover who thinks he is Noel Gallagher when he actually writes songs on the level of the magician Gallagher. Thats what we do, thats how we roll. Thats why HF is going to give you favourite album of 07 soon.

Special kudos to Matt Gentile for getting the historical videos rolling again. I hope this becomes a regular thing! He's got the editing talent to make this fucking sweet ass.

F

it's like that time we were in russia when...

WORST NEWS EVER:

"Unfortunately the restaurant will be temporary closed due to an electric fire. We will keep you updated. We presume it will take at least a month to repair the damage. Thank you for your patronage. Ca'Brea Restaurant"

Man, I am really glad I am not in LA this week.

Lost Time

Hello friends:

I am exhausted but feel the need to write you. It was a productive weekend. I had colleagues in town from Tokyo and this occupied me 24/7. I also made the horrible mistake of drinking 127 proof bourbon with them on Thursday night, which effectively wrecked me for a day and a half. I did however, have a productive time with B in the studio both yesterday and today. We each took turns working on Ashworld (the album hidden track) and added our various trademark sounds. It was a lot of fun.

But things got even more fun when I found myself being brought along with B, Ash, Charles and Laura for a laugh filled sushi dinner in Brooklyn. This was a good time and somehow during this meal, I was coerced (read: they had an extra ticket) into checking out the band MASERATI from ATHENS GA (I wrote that for Chad who is from there). I had heard these guys before and actually had originally been asked to attend this gig, but declined. I didn't really like what I had heard, but hey, I was in Brooklyn already, Irene was working late, and I was feeling pretty handsome, so why not? Also, they were all singing the praises of the drummer JERRY FUCHS, who Brandt told me was better than Kasabian's drummer, so this was certainly something I had to see. I was getting strange stalker love vibes from my friends about this man very quickly, the kind that usualy happen with women towards Matt Gentile, so I figure I should check this out.



So we went to Northsix, which I believe I once saw Saintface at, and Maserati took to the stage. Oh, did I mention they were instrumental half asses, just like the cobra? Half ass by the way, is a term of endearment, so don't read it as an insult, sometimes I have to "insert wise ass gimmick here". As I get older I am revealling my secrets. Anyhow, these guys, a 4 piece of two guitars, bass and drums (DRUMS PLACED UP FRONT, which is not happening in my band) came on and quite frankly, they were fucking awesome. Great tunes (though I wish some had vocals) and they wisely rocked hard. A bit on the long time, but thats what instrumental half asses do (though the cobras even more wisely understand song length, maybe because the guitarist was in a pop band before this). And yes, Jerry is a SICK SICK SICK drummer, and I will gladly admit he is better than Kasabian's drummer, and EVERYONE LOVES HIM AND STALKS HIM. EVERYONE LOVES HIM SO MUCH I WILL PUT MULTIPLE PICTURES UP OF HIM HERE. EVERYONE WANTS TO TALK TO HIM. EVERYONE. Charles pranced to the stage to say hello, ash debated even talking to this man, and Brandt supposedly watched him break up with a girl at some Sushi place. I wasn't even this bad when I lived across the street from John Cale, but then again, John Cale was a scary fuck. Happily the only sane one



Anyhow, the set was too short, but the songs were good and I would buy their new album knowing JERRY played on it. I will now refer to JERRY in all caps because I have never seen (allegedly) grown men act like mildy retarded schoolgirls when discussing another grown man. I mean, I don't even talk about George Michael or Kasabian like that. Right?

Anyhow, sure enough to make the night even that much better, we were blessed with a cameo appearance from ROBIN EMMET, she formerly of the aggression and she currently of all things MOGpac. So finally, after years of trying, the gang was together for a few drinks before Ash lost his car and Robin and I couldn't get back to the city, but for those few hours, everything was right in the world, but I put that mostly on JERRY, whom everyone LOVES. Even me. He's gonna be my friend on Myspace soon. Fingers (phingers) crossed.

F

The Music Dies

My city and youth are rapidly being stripped from yet again, as my beloved Music Palace, the last great Chinatown movie theatre, has finally been demolished. Yes, it's been closed for like 6 years but to now see it just gone is too much for me to bear. I have so many memories of going to this place. I used to sneak down there when I was 12/13 and just watch whatever was playing at the time. Back then, you had no internet, no way of knowing when the next Jackie movie would play. It was all about timing. Weather meant nothing to me. Snow, rain, I didn't give a shit. All I needed was some pork buns and a hot bowl of soup from Wanton Garden and I was set for the day. My two favourite memories being there are 1. Watching DRUNKEN MASTER 2 with a packed house that went insane for every move Jackie made and 2. Watching Stephen Chow's KING OF COMEDY in an empty house with Lurch and G and just crying laughing the entire time. I saw hundreds of movies in this place and I will miss it like a lost friend.

This is an excellent tribute to it as well as the other Chinatown movie theatres (its where I cribbed the photo from):

http://subwaycinema.com/frames/musicpalace2.htm