Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

PJ Harvey

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Proving that a general public of music fans don’t have to be tone-deaf idiots, Village Voice has released their top 40 albums and singles of the year as voted on by subscribers. Singles really aren’t too entertaining to me, but i was very entertained to see PJ Harvey edge out Radiohead by barely 30 votes for the #2 slot of the year. The PJ album beats Kid A hands down any day, but Radiohead seems to win on every list because of more promotion and a bigger American fan base. Isn’t it sad when the popular unpopular rock bands drown out all the good ones? Anyhow, my faith in music has been reaffirmed by the fact that enough people ignored the knee-jerk reaction of voting for Radiohead to nominate PJ Harvey for praise. Otherwise, i was happy to see Aimee Mann win over Madonna, but frowned when i saw U2’s massive failure All That You Can’t Leave Behind garner more votes than the two ladies got combined. Finally, hip-hop favourites Jurassic5 found a spot on the countdown only one vote higher than Philly’s own Marah, whose album might not be amazing – but it’s definitely Philly. Like i said … this just proved that there are some actual music fans out there. And, with this year booked with releases from Ani, Weezer, Garbage, and Tori Amos so far, it looks like us music lovers are in for quite a ride :p

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2001/03/2669581/

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I’m long overdue on commenting on the best music of 2000, aren’t i? To be fair, i got some of my favourite albums of last year in a post-christmas shopping spree, so i needed some time to adjust to them. However, i think i might have a top five ready to go – only, it’s not so much a top five as it is five #1’s in different categories. Here we go…

Stories From the City, Stories from the Sea, PJ Harvey – Albums this good aren’t made all that often. Crunchy rock songs, flowing earthy ballads, and the ability to turn love into a tangible wavelength of sound for three minutes at a time. Hardly a single song misfires, and standouts like “Good Fortune” and “You Said Something” are easily some of the best songs to have been released all year. A must have.

The Trouble With Poets, Peter Mulvey – It’s hard to be objective about this album, because i’ve known it for so long. The live album that preceded it featured its title track, and i had seen Peter play over half of the album live in 1999 and early 2000. But, the album’s release was anything but anticlimatic; Peter’s sparse live acoustic sound is something totally different than the textured mix found on his album, complete with sighing backing vocals and drums that just emphasize the incredible rhythms he establishes with his guitar. Every song is good, but the title track is perfection itself.

You Were Here, Sarah Harmer – I would have never bought this album, except that i came into work early one day and heard it played straight through on our local folk station. Of course, i was busy making lattés and hardly could pay the sort of attention Ms. Harmer warrants, but i definitely was intrigued by her sound. On a whim i picked up her disc in my post Christmas shopping spree, and i have to say that it’s the best whim i’ve had in years. The album as a whole resides somewhere in the vast expanse between Ani DiFranco and Sarah McLachlan, but individual songs like “HideOut” and “Lodestar” defy such easy categorization as much as they defy you to not like them. Album opener “Around This Corner” is almost too catchy to even recommend to you for fear you might never listen to another first track the same way again, the wailing “Weakened State” conjures up more angst then any Limp Bizcuit song i’ve ever suffered through while still sounding great, and “Basement Apartment” definitely deserves to hit it big on college or AC radio. This album has something for almost any fan of female folk or pop music, so i suggest you listen.

The other two albums of the year are still in flux. Do i sell out and pick Madonna’s Music just because it’s Madonna and surpassed my wildest expectations. Can i really place indy-rock Death Cab for Cutie’s We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes amongst some of my musical idols without a flinch? Or, is Veruca Salt’s first post-humus effort deserving of the best of recognition for it’s shining moments even when there are terrible ones mixed in… I’m altogether unsure. I’ll tell you as soon as i figure it out…

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2001/02/2426773/

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She stared with these awful cow eyes, huge and nearly rimmed with tears welling up out of the dread obese depths of her neck. She didn’t seem to be able to breathe – not at all.

She kept looking up and fidgeting with that tiny air-vent as if it actually blows anything more than the most nothing little ebb down at you which just fades away four inches from the vent which is surely above your head (cow-like or otherwise).

All through the flight she alternately fidgeted and rested her huge cow-like face against the window. I could see the Philly skyscrapers peeking through the wisps of her bovine hair for a second before she reached up (yes, again) to fiddle with her air vent.

It was aimed at me the whole time, but i didn’t have the heart to tell her. Smoothest flight ever. We landed to PJ Harvey screaming “Kamikaze!” at the shrillest top of her lungs.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2000/12/1755675/

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PJ Harvey rocked my ass on Thursday night, by the way. The show was short because she was fighting off a nasty cold, but she rocked pretty hard despite various amounts of sinus problems and equipment failure. Her rhythm guitarist’s amp died halfway through the show. Died. PJ explained what was going on to the audience and then plugged him in to her own amp. Her more gadget ridden guitarist had one guitar tuned to open E that she beat with a drum stick. No lie. Hopefully PJ comes back around when she’s feeling a bit better. The highlight was definitely “Dry” with Ms. Harvey on the slide guitar solo. Rawk.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2000/12/1608528/

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I find this rather patronizing….

“Long paragraphs are easier to read online with occasional line breaks. Your opinion will be enhanced by pressing “Enter” twice after every third or fourth sentence. “

That was encountered as Epinions comment on my sparkling pj harvey review. While one can occasionally get lost in thick paragraphs of prose, i shudder to think that the rules for web-authoring include the phrase “Press enter twice after every third or fourth sentence.” >sigh

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2000/11/1470396/