Dan Nordquist writes on the internet.

If you get a chance, marry your best friend. Totally worth it.

Night Marchers - See You in Magic

I don’t know how it happened, but I suppose a lot of people reading this blog aren’t huge Rocket From the Crypt fans. It’s possible you never got into the phenomenally talented side-project of John Reis, Hot Snakes, or the really fun pure punk off-shoot, The Sultans. Here’s what I’m going to guarantee with the Night Marchers record: it will have RFTC front-man John Reis on vocals, it will have a Hot Snakes-like sound, you will find it about twice as accessible and mature as the other bands I’m writing about here, and it will make your summer about four times as fun as it would have otherwise been.

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Battles - Mirrored

This album was out earlier in 2007, but I kind of missed it. By September, I was saying something about Tomahawk to Cratchit, and he told me that the drummer from Helmet was in Battles, and had I heard it yet? Something about “electronic, unstructured, but with John Stanier from Helmet” hadn’t quite sold me yet. But fast forward beyond how mind-blowing I thought it was (guitars don’t sound like guitars, effects don’t sound like effect, vocals don’t sound like vocals): playing this in the car, Adam (then 4) started telling me which songs he liked, despite the fact that a lot of these tracks don’t have lyrics and switch tempos and take an approach to melody I would describe as, well, advanced beyond Jack’s Big Music Show. But anyway. My mom also demanded that I burn her a copy, so this is instrumental- sample-heavy- experimental- prog- metal with appeal for preschoolers and their grandmothers.

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Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R

Don’t get me wrong - I love new Queens of the Stone Age. Kind of. I mean, if you’re going to do modern hard rock, they are doing it about as well as anyone can. And they’re critically adored, draw great press, sell a ton of records, and put on a pretty mean show. But two albums in, they’d already shown that they could master anything they’d put their mind to. It’s just that they’d decided to master goofy psychedelic metal that was way too smart for its own good. I think there’s a ton to like in the three records they’ve put out since, but this is my absolute favorite.

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The Amps - Pacer

“So listen, baby. Listen. That new Breeders record? I don’t know. It was just aight, dawg. There were times that it was reminding me of when Kim Deal was really killin’ it, like on The Amps record from 1995.”

“Pacer” was all over the map: sloppy, uneven, but using that dreamy dynamic to somehow achieve punchy and fun. I never liked the Breeders as much as I liked this band, and when they finally reformed to put together their last two records at an Axl-like pace, it wasn’t the same.

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* This record doesn’t seem to be available on Amazon MP3s, but there are thousands of copies in used CD bins, since, apparently, they were anticipating Breeders-level interest in this, and buyers stayed away in droves.

We tried to get them into Dance Dance Revolution maybe two months ago, and they had no interest at all. I mean, interest, I suppose, but not the motivation to follow the rules or anything like that.

Becky’s DDR technique from Dan Nordquist on Vimeo.

Adam’s DDR technique from Dan Nordquist on Vimeo.

So they’re a little better at it now. Not good, but getting there.

Panic at the Disco - Pretty. Odd.

Honestly, the Onion AV Club just reviewed “Pretty. Odd.” last week, and I picked it up out of curiosity. I had a ton of admiration for their first record (two years ago?) and their surprise win for Best Video (18 months ago?), but never really thought of them as a favorite band of mine. I have to go back to their first record and make sure I didn’t miss something - this new one is amazing. They’ve pitched some electro-diddling to pick up a hearty chunk of 60’s psychedelic rock and 70’s AM jams, but it’s the Sgt. Pepper’s tribute done exactly right. I’m sorry if you’ve been inundated with “Nine in the Afternoon” lately, but it’s one of maybe five insanely catchy songs on the record.

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MF DOOM - MM..FOOD?

Another album I don’t want to go on and on about. I tried to get a friend excited about this once, and as I explained that all of the topics were brought back to food metaphors, he was like “oh, I get it.” But you don’t get it. I can tell you that MF DOOM jumps from topic to topic, using food jokes and metaphors as a central theme in his writing, and you can’t possibly think it’s as well done as it is. It’s not what it’s about, but how it’s about it. This is phenomenally smart, wickedly funny, and fairly adventurous. Even if you need to be sold a little bit on rap, this is exactly how people go from being innocent bystanders of hip-hop to full-blown fans.

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(ADAM has just helped me buy something at Best Buy.)

ME: Thanks for your help. You’re a good little friend.
ADAM: Don’t call me that.
ME: Well, you are. You’re my best little boy.
ADAM: You can call me the best big little boy.
ME: Okay.

Talking Heads - Little Creatures

I didn’t really “get” Talking Heads until I was probably 14. Some of their earlier, artier stuff was in the record collection at home, but I never sought it out. That seems odd, now, because they’re super-consistent and their old stuff is brilliant, but it might be a little adult.

We wore this tape out in my mom’s car over a few summers. I’ve probably got an emotional attachment to it for that reason, but if I’m wrong and you don’t like this, you’re saying no to nine really top-notch, tight pop songs. I could go on and on, but that’s not what we’re here for.

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