Dincision

I am trying to figure out if this one section in Stylus Magz CMJ overview-thing is midwest-sneering condescension or if it's just my eternal paranoia... hard to tell from it these days...

At the Rapture show on Tuesday night, we met two kids from WVLP, which broadcasts out of Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana. Naturally, they couldn’t have been more excited to be at CMJ; the school bought them badges, train tickets, and a week in a hotel room. But when we asked them whom they were most excited to see, we didn’t hear established bands like The Shins or the Rapture. “Definitely Bound Stems!” they enthused. “And Chin Up Chin Up.”

Ten years ago, there’s no way these Midwest college kids would have even heard of these bands, much less come across the country to see them. Now, apparently, these were some of the marquee acts at CMJ.

Wait... isn't Chin Up Chin Up from the midwest?

Not that I care. I've never heard 'em. Or that other band. And I'm certainly no webmusicnews muckraker, I shall leave that to Gerard (thanx Hastings [sheeshy-shit, am I showing the crossmarketing blogpollination love and semicoherence today... re-up on my meds, you ask? {Now I understand why all the DFW-style footnotery is sometimes necessary}]). But dammit, I am a midwestern-bred backwoods fucker, and I know me some bands. Because of the internet these days, perhaps... but even in my ultra-secluded bohunk/podunk/mojunk Peninsula of Origins (to be explained in issues #1-5 of the autobiographical miniseries I'm in negotiations w/ Vertigo to produce) we found some copies of Flipside and Maximum Rock 'n Roll at certain tobacconists of high standing. All the internet's gwan done is made me drop significant finances on crazy-ass Japanese psych box sets. I know me some fuckin' bands, chump.

Alright, I should name my shit. In fact, mebbe it was way close a parallel existence to Wounded Galaxy dude's amazing mixtape experience, right down to the Archers of Loaf decimating and reconstructing my conceptions of how to get a paper route done right. I bought Speed of Cattle, too-- in Wisconsin fucking Rapids. My mixtape didn't have any Total Chaos on it, but my friends were into that shit. I avoided it, knowing full well it would never score the pussy I craved, which is not to say I ran out and bought all that damn Fat/Epitaph stuff either, ok? (I'm actually digressing here because reading that post freaked the hell outta me the same way my batshit soft post on the graphic novel Blankets describes that terrifying book experience. And looking for the link to that post I noticed that I linked an Archers of Loaf song there... I am sweaty-trembly amidst the synchronicity.) Butanyways, butanyways... so these things still filtered up to the nether reaches, and from what I've heard about certain areas of Indiana (okay, just Bloomington) somebody in that state stayed hip to certain thangs in the apparent total void of pre-web midwest.

Yeah, I'm kinda blowing that two-paragraph section outta proportion for an article on how excited some dude from Poughkeepsie was to go to CMJ. I usually blog while drinking, which helps me keep things mercifully brief, unintelligible, and not-over-considered. Tonight I blog on a random evening binge of coffee drinking, which apparently is all that separates me from the stale-clove action I took so much glee in observing only yesterday. I shall take note of this and make sure to consume only barbiturates and their ilk prior to future posting.

That said, I meant to leave you with proof yesterday of my dubstep name theory, but in my stout I neglected to do so. Take this and forgive.

Hatcha & Benga - Progression - from the Science Faction: Dubstep comp (YouSendIt link)

I can't be sure, but these dudes likely have like awesome W)taps jackets or something.