I am a sheep.

I've been recently asked (by the one person that actually reads [some of] this blog) about the origins of this blogs's name ("i am cow..." in case you were to lazy to scroll up the page to check). As a result, with this post I've decided to "shine some light" upon the mysterious inspiration behind the title of "i am cow..."

The title of this blog is taken directly from a song by Canadian comedy band, the Arrogant Worms, simply called I Am Cow. I thought the line "i am cow..." fit the witty, interesting, and semi-original frame that bog title's (in general) seem to fit. Plus, my first choice for a blog name ("I Am Not Afraid of You, and I Will Whoop Your Ass") didn't quite roll off the tongue in the way I originally expected.

I could write a biography of the Arrogant Worms for you, but that's what Wikipedia's for, right?

Back to the song. It's strange, no denying that. It can be described as an anthem for the cattle population of the world. With lines like, "I am cow/ eating grass/ methane gas comes out my ass/ and out my muzzle when I belch/ Oh, the ozone layer is thinner/ From the outcome of my dinner", it can also be considered a very informative and...umm...pleasant song.

At 1:59 it is just short enough to be funny (any longer and it'd start to lose it's humor, and would seem more weird...), yet long enough to be considered a "real song" (do you know what I mean? Thought not.)

For your listening experience and pleasure (hopefully you'll find some entertainment in this song):

Arrogant Worms - I Am Cow


This song can be found on their album Dirt! or their greatest hits compilation Gift Wrapped. (Amazon)


ps. I'm working on trying to make these posts shorter to help encourage people to actually read the content instead of just browsing the page for links...

A plane takes off from Baltimore, and touches down on Burbon Street.

Just another one-hit wonder band from the nineties. That may be one way to describe the Primitive Radio Gods, but that would imply that this band can be clumped in with a group of ordinary bands who had a "lucky streak". The problem then, would be that the Primitive Radio Gods should not be in such a group, because they are not an "ordinary nineties band".

There is no denying that the music on their career-launching album Rocket contains the qualities that are overly apparent in the popular rock music of the nineties (catchy choruses, driving guitars, witty lyrics, falsettos. umm....maybe not-so-much on the last one.) And yet, even within their most popular song with mainstream audiences, Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand, the abstract heavily overrules the familiar.

The song starts off with the sound of a phone being dialed. Simple-yes; inventive - yes; clever - kinda; cool sounding - definently. And as fast as you can blink the song suddenly launches into a hip-hop style beat, and B.B. King's howling voice preaching to the listener" "I've been downhearted baby, ever since the day we met." (a sample taken from the song How Blue Can You Get?)

With a vast array of sounds and styles, the Primitive Radio Gods show that they are not a one-trick pony, and instead are a prize-winning stallion.

Primitive Radio Gods - Motherfucker

Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand

Primitive Radio Gods - Who Say

(all three of these songs are off their album Rocket)

The Primitive Radio Gods fourth (and most recent) album Sweet Venus (along with their other albums) are available for purchase on their website.

A Pleasant Surprise...

Thanks to the blog Bag of Songs (which I've just started reading again) I have just been informed of one of the greatest discoveries of the summer: in honor of the 1 year anniversary of the release of their album Dog Problems, The Format (starting on June 25th (tomorrow), and ending on July 15th) will be hosting the entire album on their website to download for free.

No DRM. (in short: DRM=not fun.)

No strings attached.

Are you happy? I know I am.

Bag of Songs' Original Post (which also has links to two songs to download, I highly recommend the song "Dog Problems")

The article on The Format's website: Click on "Summer Tour Dates and Your Dogs for Free"

Just a little "Dad Rock"

As I mentioned previously (check 2 posts down), I won tickets to see one of my favorite bands live: Wilco. As this was my first time seeing said band, I was excited, but unsure of what I was going to experience. It was amazing.

If you've never seen Wilco live, you have no idea what you're missing.

I went into Merriweather with high hopes. I came out speechless.

As soon as the sound check started, I knew it was going to be a special night. As we walked down the pavilion stairs to our seats, the band was performing a little jam. (at that time Jeff Tweedy was nowhere to been seen, but what did we care....alright, we cared, but still...) After 5, 10 minutes he appeared from backstage. After playing a song or two, he put the muti-instrumentalist Pat on the spotlight, informing us that it was Pat's 26th birthday; to which one of the audience members replied saying that it was her birthday. Tweedy asked her if there was a song she wanted to be played, and after he denied her first choice (he told her that they'd play it later in the show for sure, and that they didn't want us being bored by hearing repeat songs), she settled on the new album-opener, Either Way (to which Tweedy said "How'd you know we needed to practice this song? You must have been there when we played it the other day?") After taking a few more requests (Muzzle of Bees, Hell is Chrome, and a few songs I don't remember), the band announced that they were going to go take a nap in preparation for the actual show later that night.

After we were escorted out of the amphitheatre, we had a few hours to kill before gates opened, and in that time we: walked through the entire mall; walked back to Merriweather to find out that despite what our tickets claimed, the gates opened at 6 not 5; got rained on, a lot; walked back to Merriweather around 6:30 to realize we still had an hour until Low came on.

Previous to this concert I had no idea who Low were. While I would like to say that they blew me away with their set, I would be lying (and judging by the reaction of the people in the audience, I wasn't alone in feeling this). Don't get me wrong, they were good; just not great. I do have to say that they had their moments, especially when Nels Cline joined them for a song (or two?) on a slide-guitar thingie.

And finally, 5 hours and 40 minutes after I originally arrived at Merriweather for the sound check, Wilco took stage (for real), to a sizable crowd.

They started their set with energy, and an aura of pure joy [to be there], and they ended the night the exact same way, not once showing any sign of waning energy. Nels Cline was amazing (no surprises there). While he acted subdued during the sound check, he was a mad man during their set, never letting the audience down.

Drummer Glenn Kotche was simply incredible, especially during his solo(s) in Via Chicago (after which, he took a well deserved "breather").

Pat the previously mention birthday boy, and keyboardist/rhythm guitarist/various other intrumentist , caused an uproar of applause when he started doing windmills during I'm a Wheel.

While the others in the band (Tweedy, pianist Mikael Jorgensen, and bassist (and other ex-Uncle Tupelo member) John Stirratt) never let up, pat Gleen and Nels showed that they "came to play."

Unfortunately they didn't play my favorite song of theirs (Radio Cure), but that just gives me an excuse to keep going see them live until they play it, right?

Might I add just one more thank you to the folks over at Wtmd for assisting me embarking (where do I get these words?) on this wonderful opportunity.

Setlist:

A Shot in the Arm
Side with the Seeds
You Are My Face
I am Trying to Break Your Heart
Kamera
Handshake Drugs
Via Chicago
Shake It Off
War on War
Sky Blue Sky
Impossible Germany
Jesus, etc.
Hate It Here
Walken
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Hummingbird

[Encore 1:]
California Stars
Poor Places [which faded directly into:)]
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
[Happy Birthday (for Pat)]

[Encore 2:]
Heavy Metal Drummer
The Late Greats
I'm Always In Love
Outtamind (Outtasite)
I'm A Wheel

[Encore 3:]
What Light

All in all, I don't think I would have preferred to be anywhere else in the world that, as it will be a night that will be remembered for all the right reasons, and none of the [few] wrong ones.

Upon the tapers' requests if these people are willing to tape these shows and make them available to us, I'm willing to follow their requests) I won't post "lossy" format (mp3, wma, etc.) version of this show on the blog, but here's the link to the entire set of Wilco's in .flac (this is a bittorrent link, I'm gonna try and find alternate links (in .flac) for those less tech savvy fans...): http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=507604

(most media players (such as iTunes) and mp3 players (such as the iPod) are compatible with .flac files, so I recommend googling "flac converter" and converting the files for yourself)

And finally, one last thanks should go out to the band, for permitting people to tape their shows.

Also, see my previous Wilco posts (1 & 2) for some mp3's and links to buy the albums...

ps. Have any macrame lying around your house? (don't lie, I bet you do), Wilco would love it if you to send it to them.

It's only the first [half] day of summer, and I've already bought two new cd's...

What better way to celebrate the end of the school year, then going out and buying not one, but TWO cd's...? As soon as I entered Borders' Music section (there are no "local" music stores within a reasonable distance from where I live, unfortunately), I knew I had one hard decision on my mind.

After sweeping through the "Bargain" racks, and the "New Releases", I had a stack of eight cd's to choose from, ranging from Zappa's Sheik Yerbouti to Imogen Heap's Speak For Yourself, Elliott Smith's (fairly) new New Moon to the Replacement's Tim; I settled on the White Stripe's brand new Icky Thump and Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy: Deluxe Edition (it contains both BSB and BSB Appendix).

Of the two I was already familiar with the Later in its entirety (as I know a friend who as both albums...), and the purchase of that was more for the sake of having the cd than for new music. I highly recommend this album.

Next comes Icky Thump, The White Stripes' new masterpiece, and Jack White's first album under the title of the White Stripes, since he took a break to work on his side project, The Raconteurs.

First off, I refused to "illegally download" this album before it was released: I felt I owed that to myself (plus I didn't want jack White knocking at my door bringing a lawsuit (or at least a barrage of harsh criticism of my moral character)). So, up until today I had only every heard the title track, and a snippet of You Don't Know What Love Is... After finally getting my hands on the album, and listening to it in its entirety numerous times, I can only come up with one conclusion. Whatever expectations I had for this album, Jack and Meg out-did them ten times over. This masterpiece is just that, a musical masterpiece by arguably the best rock band of modern times.

Whatever I try and say about this album could never do it justice, so I won't try. Instead, listen to these, then go buy the album and experience the genius for yourself:

The White Stripes - Icky Thump
The White Stripes - Rag & Bone
The White Stripes - Little Cream Soda

Like the songs, buy the album (duh!): Amazon

I need a kamera, to my eye.

So, to my shock, today I got a call from an certain intern from the lovely radio station WTMD. Basically this phone call consisted of me sounding really dumbfounded, and the intern informing me that I was runner up in a contest to win Wilco tickets and cd's.

So, I won two tickets to see Wilco in concert on Thursday at none-other than Merriweather Post Pavilion. I was ecstatic. I AM ecstatic. I love this band, and was planning on going anyways( I hadn't gotten my tickets yet), but now I get to see the sound check too! (how geeky did that sound?)

So, in honor of my good fortune, here's a few of my all-time favorite Wilco songs for you to enjoy:

Wilco - The Lonely 1
Wilco - Hummingbird
Wilco - Radio Cure (My favorite Wilco song, coincidentally it was the song that introduced me to Wilco.)

Like the songs? Buy the albums: Amazon

It's just a bad movie, where there is no crying...

...is the opening line to Okkervil River's new single Our Life Is A Movie or Maybe from their upcoming album Stage Names.

Let me say, this album can't come out soon enough. Will Sheff and his cohorts have yet to let me down once, and I don't think Stage Names will be any exception.

If this song is anything to show for their new album, I can guarantee you, it won't disappoint. With palm mutes, a backing choir, and just about any other thing you could ask for in a song, this song is a perfect example of what music should be.

Only one conclusion needs to be made from this song, and that is: Okkervil River is where it's at.

Okkervil River - Our Life is a Movie Or Maybe


Get more Mp3's and buy the albums from their Label's Website: Jagjaguwar