Adem, Kozelek & Austin

• My first piece on Swoon since the redesign is up

It’s about Adem and The Beach Boys.

• I didn’t know Kozelek was recording on this tour.

I hope there’s some tape of him yelling at that douche on the phone with his girlfriend from the show here at the Parish.

• You can still own a small record store in Austin without getting financial backing from a team of invisible billionaires.

“Despite closures of record stores here in 2002-2004, new and stalwart independents have thrived in Austin”

As a side note:

I want to compile a list of the most over-used words used in record reviews. Here’s a start:

“sonic”
“frenetic”

Basically read anything I’ve written and grab some adjectives. What else?

I’m dying to hear if/how his version of “Little Drummer Boy” compares to Low’s.

In the early 90s, it was definitely “jangly.” I also suspect that “dissonant” is overused… here’s a hint: it is not synonymous with “out of tune” or “shitty musicianship.”

Heehee.

I use the word dissonant quite a bit, but only when appropriate.

I hope!

My vote is for lush.

I’m guilty of using “lush” when writing about very orchestrated/cozy-sounding records. In fact, I’m guilty of using just about every cliched reviewer term there is. I need a larger critical vocabulary.

Either that, or just start writing directly from my subconscious with no editor.

Can the next list be one of underused words we’d like to see? Because “excrementitious” is totally not getting enough play.

“PHIL COLLINS-Y”

Brilliant, flawless, catchy. Though I see those more in track reviews…