Rock & Roll & Tinnitus

A couple of years ago I began to experience a persistent dizziness, as though I were walking down a floating pier that rocked up and down with the waves.  I visited my doctor, and he sent me to a specialist, and he  told me to lay off the salt.  I did, and the feeling has gone away since, though it comes back occasionally if I go on a multi-day sodium binge.

But during the same visit the specialist told me that the thing he was most  worried about was my Tinnitus.  I said, "But Doctor, I don't have tinnitus."  He replied: "O yes you do son.  We all have tinnitus."

And when I walked out of his office I could hear a whistling in my ears.  It was the first time I had ever noticed it.

Long story short, the condition was probably caused by the invention of the Sony Walkman. I'd been walking around with one for a good 25 years, listening to screamingly loud music on it.  I can't do that anymore, or the condition will worsen, so I don't follow the new music scene as closely as I'd like.  Here are a couple of tunes, though, that I've been playing a lot the past couple of days.

The first one is from Titus Andronicus's latest, Local Business:

Note that frontman Patrick Stickles has shaven his beard off.  And he's not such an ugly young fellow after all.  I would encourage the youth of today to lose those ugly beards, esp. if they're women.

The next is from Dustin Bentall (that's Barney's kid):

And this last is an older tune from Rock Plaza Central, who made one fabulous album and then seemed to disappear from the face of the Earth.

So there you have it.

I Am An Excellent Steel Horse: Rock Plaza Central

Canada has been kicking up tons of truly eccentric Indie bands that have nevertheless been finding audiences all around the planet. And while I've never really "got" The Arcade Fire, the latest buzz group, Rock Plaza Central, seems to be more my speed. With a shambolic, folk-rock sound, an singer that sounds better when he is singing off-key (and usually is), and a concept Album ("Are We Not Horses?") for a debut that tells the story of robotic horses that believe they have souls, you wouldn't think there would be much promise to these guys. Nevertheless, tunes like "I Am An Excellent Steel Horse", and "Anthem for the Already Defeated" hold together wonderfully, and the overall result is part pop, part outsider music. Here is the video for "Anthem for the Already defeated":



And here is a live version from my favorite song, "I Am An Excellent Steel Horse":



This might be it for today. I'm planning on spending time in the sun.