"1901"

Lately, I've been in need of something to just pump my fist to, ya know? Something that's really gonna make me 1999-style raise the roof. Well, problemo solved (translation: "problem solved").

I'd never heard of French pop group Phoenix (despite their 3, soon to be 4 albums) until about 7 hours ago. And as you might have guessed, for the past 7 hours I've been nonstop pumping my fist and raising the roof in jean-shorts and a sleeveless sweatshirt to "1901," a free download I picked up off their website. A funky disco track to be released with their next album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, "1901" is just the tune I've been looking for to get my dance on. You can really only dance to "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" for so many hours.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix to be released May 25, 2009 - around 218 years after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died.

Dark Was the Night

I'm fairly poor. Not giving-out-BJ's-for-10-bucks poor. But definitely typical-college-student-living-off-"za"-and-Hurricane-40's poor. That said, I am prone to illegally stealing music (and porn) off the internet. I can't help it. I figure it's better to steal internet music than church money.

But for the first time in a good while, I'm purchasing some music. The catch? Not only does Dark Was the Night contain 30+ tunes from some of my favorite artists, it also goes to a good cause (that is if you consider AIDS a good cause). Now, I'm not here to tell you to go out and buy this indie-tastic compilation (or to turn Atheists into believers), I'm just saying this is certainly one album that I won't be stealing. Plus, it's produced by two of the guys from The National. What more could you want?

Now, you're probably saying "Oh, I don't know Mr. Blogger. With this economy, I don't know if I really should be buying music."

I'm already a step ahead of you - if not two or three steps. That's why I created Rather Be Pogging's first ever "Circle The Appropriate Word To Describe Your Situation" to better aid your thought process in deciding between right and wrong:

"I am a (college student/ over-the-hill parent/ robot from the future) who is desperately in need of some new, good music in order to (impress a chick and get laid/ convince my child I can be cool/ better disguise myself so I can blend in with humans). I did (hear about/ internally process via my splectwettor drive) a new 'indie' music compilation called Dark Was the Night. Maybe I'll just illegally download it. With this economy, it's better to really save the $10-$15 and spend it on (weed and Family Guy DVDs/ the sale coming up at Sears' Hardware/ robot stuff) rather than actually buy the compilation. Oh, wait (a fucking second/ a gosh-darn minute/ .0193 nanoseconds). Apparently, this money goes to a good cause. That would be pretty (dick/ inappropriate/ inhuman) if I just downloaded it. I mean c'mon. How can I forget the fact that I (saw Philadelphia/ knew a guy who died of AIDS/ don't know what AIDS is because I'm a robot). Maybe I shouldn't steal this. Maybe I should just buy it. In fact, I'm gonna buy it as soon as I'm done (looking at beach pics of this chick on Facebook/ complaining about paying bills to anyone who will listen/ finding John Connor)."

You're welcome.

M. Ward - Hold Time

M. Ward - Hold Time

Genre: Reverse-cowgirl folk

M. Ward's past three albums (Post-War, Transistor Radio, Transfiguration of Vincent) have been nothing short of bodacious. In my mind, Mr. Ward can do no wrong.

But like most things in my life that seem to be damn near perfect (my myspace girlfriend, my recent large investment in Circuit City, Jeff Foxworthy's brand of Peppered Beef Jerky), M. Ward's newest album, Hold Time, is a bit of a disappointment. Maybe I should've expected that eventually M. Ward will produce something other than pure gold (also I should've expected the myspace girl to really be a 45 year old man, I should've known better than to take financial advice from a 3rd grader, I should've known anything Jeff Foxworthy is associated with is going to be god awful).

It's not to say that I don't enjoy Hold Time; opening track "For Beginners" is an immidiate success, only perhaps to be outdone by "Rave On." But regarding its feel as a whole album, Hold Time never accomplishes what his previous albums did, which unfortunately for M. Ward is not an easy task. The emotions are too scattered when they rarely do appear, the title track is far from whatever the rest of the album is trying to do, and overall its too rock 'n roll for my liking. Once the album is finished, you're left with this empty feeling - kind of like you were waiting and waiting for M. Ward to do something classically significant on the album, but it never ended up coming. Instead, it's probably off somewhere with your ex-girlfriend ordering drinks and appetizers at Red Lobster because one of its friends is the assistant manager and can probably get the two of them a nice discount.

M. Ward is at his best when he's riding on the simplicity of his hazy voice and cleverly flirtatious guitar work. "I'll Be Yr Bird," "Fool Says," and "Chinese Translation" are testaments to this. His previous albums always felt like they were something from a time long ago in a place far away yet so familiar. There was a certain exoticism to each of his albums. This album, although it has a handful of above average tracks, lacks that feel. It seems too ordinary. Maybe if I wasn't so familiar with M. Ward's previous work this album might feel a lot better, but it's only natural to compare.

If this album were a movie sequel it would be Might Ducks 3. And that is my rating.

RBP introduces...

Like so many things in my life (having sex, having conversations, playing chess, getting drunk), Rather Be Pogging has been something I do completely by myself - often locked in my bedroom. This, remarkably, is no longer the case.

I would like to introduce and welcome two new Rather Be Poggers to Rather Be Pogging. Essentially, by allowing these two to make appearances on the blog, I've given Beavis and Butthead the keys to the city, but new perspectives on things might just enhance this blog. Three heads are better one - even if all three have been exposed to enormous amounts of horse-related pornography. Plus, as far as I know you can't accidentally set a blog on fire, so I won't be endangering any of the readers. I really have no idea what either will be writing about. If I had to guess, one will lend his expertise into sex toys and flavored lubricants and the other will probably constantly post vendiagrams comparing and contrasting Matthew Perry and Matthew McConaughey.

So welcome, Chen and Deuce. Your lives will be forever changed for the worse. Welcome.