Heartache With Hard Work

El Kilgore has a post about civil liberties, discussing the argument of false equivalency.  Namely, that people flip-flop on whether intrusive federal policies are good or bad depending on whether their team is in charge.  Kilgore says that this is not really true with the left.  At least, that a fair amount of the left-leaning civil liberties folk have remained critical of Obama.  This is obviously true, but is not really what interests me about this.

For me, the question is: why is it so unreasonable for people to flip-flop on these matters depending on who is in charge?  Presumably, you have a fair amount of trust in the people that represent your political positions.  You’d like them to have the power to accomplish what they want–because you think they will use that power wisely and judiciously.

Contrariwise, you do not trust the representatives of the other side.  Because you disagree with their political priorities, you will not want them to be able to use extensive powers to accomplish them.  You will not trust that if they violate civil liberties that they do so for a good reason.  You may find them personally odious (as is often the case – political arguments get filtered through the lens of character judgments), but that’s not even necessary.  You might believe, for example, that George Bush has all the best intentions in his intrusions but you think he is wrong in his judgment of what counts as a good reason.  If that’s the case, it would be pretty reasonable to stop complaining about the same practice if conducted by an administration who principles you do trust.

I don’t personally hold to this logic, but I don’t think it’s crazy if people do reason this way.

Cut It Up – The Lawrence Arms

So the Democrats are going to actually have a vote on extending only the middle class tax cuts.  I’m torn on this.  I think it’s good politics, but it’s only good politics if they can actually control the message.  It should be simple: ‘we want to give you tax cuts but the Republicans are holding that hostage to tax cuts for the very very wealthy.’ Part of the problem, though, is that a fair number of conservative Democrats are going to join the Republicans most likely.

We’ll have to see.

I’m also torn because I think the ‘middle class tax cuts’ are bad policy.  I don’t really understand how we got the point where many people seem willing to accept that the initial tax cuts were a terrible idea when passed, particularly given the supposed mania for controlling deficits that has swept (a small set of people who imagine themselves to represent) the nation.  If the deficit is a serious short term problem, then there are few bigger culprits than these very tax cuts.

It’s all enough to make you wonder whether these Very Serious People might in fact be Not Actually That Serious At All.

So my ideal world would be the one where there’s no compromise and ALL the cuts simply expire. Of course, that depends on the Democrats being able to withstand a new round of tax cuts that the Republican/conservative Dem coalition might muscle through in 2011.  I’d be willing to put up with any amount of ridiculous demagoguery about the tax cuts as long as nothing actually passes.  If Republicans want to scream themselves hoarse about the need for tax cuts next year, they are free to do so.

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – The Arcade Fire

I’ve spent a while trying to figure out if I have anything unique or interesting to say about The Suburbs, the newest record from The Arcade Fire. The thing is that I mostly agree with what everyone else seems to be saying. This is a good record, occasionally very good. The sophistication of their sound has grown, the songwriting remains good, and it is refreshing to hear a band able to meld irony and naivete without having it come off embarrassingly.

The ‘concept’ part, that it’s a record about the experience of the suburbs, is moderately enticing. They certainly give some depth to the idea, but it’s not like there is any piercing wisdom here, or deep truths unveiled. You get basically what you’d expect. The suburbs come off as a conflicted space, but the two dominant themes that emerge are probably dissociation and boredom. That’s good as far as it goes, but unfortunately is just not that conducive to the sort of rock-landscape that the band is best at producing.

When they’re at their best, they’re making music so big and brash that it transcends any reasonable expectations. The reason Funeral blew people away is because of moments like the wordless chorus of Wake Up, the “here’s the sun, it’s alright!” part of Rebellion (Lies), or the entirety of Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels). These songs were bright, the shone like jewels in a dark night. With Neon Bible they made an effort to build something a little different.. If the feel of the first record was magic and wonder, the second was dark apocalypse. Still, though, the general theme worked in terms of the musical styles on offer.

The problem with The Suburbs, then, may simply be that it’s just a bit listless. The underlying force of the record doesn’t quite generate enough churn to sustain the premise. This isn’t a problem with any particular song, all of which are good and some of which are great. It’s just that listening to the whole record leaves you feeling just a bit uninspired. Where is the next gear? Where is the moment of escape? They can’t provide it, perhaps because the entire point of the suburbs is the endless sprawl that permanently establishes itself as your horizon of possibility. Or, perhaps, it’s simply that they already wrote their epic songs about the suburbs (see the Neighborhood songs on Funeral) and had nothing new to add?

I get the sense that the band really wanted to produce something that mattered. And that they were very cognizant of the Sky Blue Sky problem. Basically: when the effort to produce a more ‘mature’ sound just ends up in a drab and anodyne affair. They do manage to avoid that trap. The problem, instead, is that they seem to have written themselves into a box. The logic of the project demands a unity in the structure that militates against precisely the explosive moments that would bust the constraints.

“Ready to Start” has a nice lope to it. But it doesn’t quite generate the dark urgency you’d hope for because it never departs from that pace. As a single piece of work, that’s fine. But it’s a theme that consistently reappears. “City With No Children In It” is another nice piece of sonic texture, but spins in a self-enclosed circle. If you’ve heard 5 seconds of “Month of May” you’ve heard the whole thing. It’s a good five seconds, to be sure. It just doesn’t change. “Suburban War” makes a gesture toward escape, which is well-appreciated. But it still exhibits significant restraint and caution. Even the very good “Half Light II (No Celebration)” feels like it is one big push away from something truly grand. Again, there is a very good case to be made that this particular song is the better for not going big. I certainly think so. It would be too easy to set off the fireworks, and it would erode some of the beautiful raggedness of it. But in the context of an entire album, it begins to grate.

The only real exception to this dynamic is the majestic and wonderfully weird “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).” I’ve never been big on Regine’s songs, but she totally steals the show this time around. I’ve heard this song compared to Blondie, which is totally on point, but doesn’t even come close to conveying what’s going on here. If my complaint about the rest of the album is a lack of magic, then this track delivers in full force. It’s like listening to a dream–a world where there is something iconic and intensely powerful about the experience of suburban life. This is really the only time on the record they are able to make the simple accounting of life seem like something deserving the attention they’ve given it. The synths and relentless energy of her voice join together to make it seem like the deepest truths of the universe are being revealed when she exclaims “Sometimes I wonder if the world’s so small, that we can never get away from the sprawl.”

A few other notable songs: on one side there’s “Modern Man” which is much more sprightly than most of the rest of the album, and manages to generate a decent amount of tension, and points to a slightly different tack the record could have taken. On the negative side of the ledger there’s also “Sprawl I (Flatland)” and “The Suburbs (continued)” which are relentless drab and threaten to suck the energy entirely out of the record. This is three records out of three now that the band has given the final track to a pointless waste of time.

I’ve decided to start a new feature.  It’s called Sunday Provocations.  The basic thesis is that I make some provocative point, but make no effort to explain my reasoning or the logic behind it.

Your job, gentle reader, is to tell me why I’m wrong.  Or, I suppose, you could agree with me if you’re so inclined.

Today’s is pretty simple.  Best album of all time: I think it’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel.  Someone convince me that I’m wrong.

Two-Headed Boy, Pt. 2 – Neutral Milk Hotel

The White Shore – Defiance, Ohio
Her Majesty’s Midwestern Island – Defiance, Ohio

In a review of Mixtapes a few days ago, I mentioned that they reminded me a lot of those folk-punk greats: Defiance, Ohio. Which got me to thinking: what’s up with Defiance, Ohio these days? Turns out they have a new record, called Midwestern Minutes.

Short verdict: it’s good, more or less what you’d expect–but in all the good ways. At 11 songs and under 30 minutes, the constant sensation is movement and energy. There certainly is not the time or space to linger with concepts. But on the whole, that’s a positive. This is record of snapshots, of moving pictures that flicker like an old film reel. Even the four and a half minute “Hairpool” which in some sense serves as the centerpiece feels tightly wound and insistent.

And that is the greatness of the album. It conveys a sense of faded pasts that are still being lived, caught in glimpses and sideways glances. You catch flashes of pain, of great joy, of kids growing up and realizing that the world is growing up faster than them. The songs rush past like cars on a freeway. You peer through the window and see lives being lived. But before you have time to truly wonder, they’re gone and another one follows behind.

Musically, it’s probably the tightest record they’ve released. The songs fit together and the arrangements are a bit more complex. The interplay between guitar and strings is surprisingly delicate. The harmonies swing quite a bit–no one would accuse them of being classically pure singers–but that is exactly as it should be. And the general DIY feel makes it all the nicer when they do belt out a gloriously pure chorus (see “Her Majesty’s Midwestern Island” for example). “A Lot to Do” has a fairly contained angular structure, but the violin comes crosswise and gives it a bit of forward momentum. “The White Shore” is surprisingly dense, with a thick percussive core that provides a necessary counterpoint to verses that threaten to careen out of control: “I will not defend a culture that makes us decide / to assimilate or die / or that defines survival / as running as fast as you can from the places you came from / forgetting the things that have made us / until all that is left is the burning in our lungs / or the pounding in our hearts that only has space for / contempt for the ones who couldn’t quite make it.” And then there’s “Dissimilarity Complex” which gives me the unmistakable vibe of Nirvana’s “About a Girl” which is entirely a good thing.

Each song has its own little glimmer of greatness, and (in this era of songs rather than albums) they also work together nicely. If there is a complaint I have it’s only that this record lacks the single incandescent moment that would vault it into that next level of greatness.  But even without that, this fits comfortably among my favorite records of the year.

Living In Colour – Frightened Rabbit
Foot Shooter – Frightened Rabbit

The project for the next month is catching up on album reviews I never got around to writing. Today it’s The Winter Of Mixed Drinks from Frightened Rabbit. Their last record was my #2 record of the past decade, so my hopes really couldn’t have been higher. As is usually in the case, the result can only be mixed.

Basically, this is a very nice record, but it just can’t escape from the shadow of something greater. And I mean that in more than the obvious way that it’s the follow-up to a masterpiece. As is often the case for bands not called The Beatles, one brilliant record generates echoes that are keenly felt, as much as they might want to escape them.  The dilemma is thatyYou can’t simply remake the previous record; that would be uninteresting and self-derivative, and the muse never strikes the same way twice. But change is tough, too. So you end up in a twilight space. Occasionally this tension creates something truly amazing (Electro-Shock Blues from Eels strikes me as a great example of this phenomenon), but usually you get something that can’t quite find the right place to settle.

This is compounded by the specificity of the past record.  The Midnight Organ Fight was fundamentally about heartbreak and pain.  It was evocative because of how bitter and caustic and real the sentiment underneath it felt.  And that made the payoffs, the moments of sunshine and warmth feel all the more genuine.  That rock-solid emotional core is absent this time around.  It’s not a happy record, precisely, but it comes from a place of emotional stability and strength.  And that leaves it just a little bit aimless.

The past record hit with so much more force because you always got the sense that the style of each song was driven by some internal necessity.  The songs sounded like they did because they simply couldn’t take any other form.  This time, the album feels more coherent in sonic-sense, but only because some of the particularities that each song ought to evoke are wiped away.  To put it simply: it sometimes sounds like they’re trying to force discontinuous-edged pegs into square holes.  Or, to get even more geeky: these songs ought to sound like irrational numbers, but we’re only hearing them rounded out to integers.

To me that is made most clear on “Living in Colour.”  Not because the song is bad.  In fact, it is without a doubt the best song on the record.  The thing is that it’s almost too good.  By which I mean: it’s stadium rock done by a band that really needs to not let themselves waste their talents being just another stadium rock band.  It’s ridiculously good, no doubt, but you just can’t see how they could possibly improve on this song within the genre.

Of course, all of this is just the necessary preamble to pointing out that, all this notwithstanding, this is a very fine record.  The guitar work is as good as ever–they can do the big jangly parade of fireworks and magic (“Living in Colour”), the bass-driven drunkard’s walk home, full of introspection and false certainty (“The Wrestle”), the gentle edge of dissonance that bookends the slightly bedraggled but resilient core of a song (“Skip the Youth”).  And then there’s “Nothing Like You” which is surely they’re most straightforward rock song, with a wonderfully insistent bass line keeping the whole thing interesting.  The percussion is stellar as well.  Grant Hutchinson’s drum beats always give me a sense that he remains perfectly stationary while the entire rest of the universe is knocked around – it’s one of the defining characteristics of the band, and something that’s on fine display in this go around.

There’s plenty of other good tracks, too.  “Foot Shooter” takes a while to grow on you, but has a deep empathy locked inside.  “Things” doesn’t quite manage to properly establish the calm/stormy balance it’s looking for, but is still quite good.  And “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” provides the counterpoint to “Floating in the Forth” from the previous record.  This time, swimming out is a luxurious possibility, rather than an emotional necessity.  As an independent song, it doesn’t quite carry the risk of loss that is needed to make it work.  But read as an internal dialogue of the band it all fits together well enough.

All of which is to say: even when things don’t work perfectly, this is still a great record.  For all the minor complaints, there’s only one genuine WTF moment, in the form of “Man/Bag Of Sand” which is, as far as I can tell, a re-make of “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” by their untalented nephews or something.  Apart from that, you’ve got a bunch of good songs that lie just on the wrong side of greatness.  Which is still very much worth your time.

Skid Marks – Possum Dixon (from the lovely and unfortunately forgotten Star Maps)

So it looks like the Republicans have got the votes together to ensure a bipartisan-ish restriction on earmarks.  What ought we think about this?

Well, earmarks are just so insignificant (and do not themselves appropriate ANY money, remember) that treating this as a budgetary matter is pretty silly.  That said, Matt Yglesias argues that we should still be happy they’re getting restricted:

But all that said, any kind of sensibly operationalized ban on earmarks really will, in a small way, be a good thing. Since members of congress are elected to represent specific geographical constituencies, it’s inevitable that parochial interests will be overrepresented in the legislative process relative to national interests. Any procedural rule that leans against that tendency is, in my view, a good thing. It’s good not because representation of local interests is a bad thing per se, but simply because our political system is very heavily weighted in that direction anyway.

There’s some truth to that, but I also worry that it puts us on the wrong track for actually thinking about the nature of this problem.   The question is not whether we can moderately restrict the parochialization of politics, it’s whether this particular means of restricting it is that useful.  There’s two reasons to think it’s not.

First, the struggle over earmarks is as much a separation of powers battle as anything else.  The budget is a strange enterprise, balanced in many ways between executive and legislative power.  While Congress has the power of the purse and must ultimately authorize and appropriate the funds, the executive is charged with setting out the budget AND with implementing it.  Which means in practical terms Congress often can only set general policy but not ensure the actual implementation matches their idea.  Earmarks are one tool Congress has to restrain executive prerogative about this part of the budgeting.  And all things equal, I’m in favor of the legislative side retaining power vis a vis the executive.

Second, the even more significant role that earmarks is to facilitate log-rolling.  The wheels of Congress turn extremely slowly, and it’s incredibly hard to generate coalitions to get things done.  Earmarks are a modestly powerful tool for facilitating that.  You want Congresswoman X on your side on a vote?  Well, she’s concerned that she’ll take a small hit with the voters back home if she sticks her head out on this.  Solution: give her an earmark so that the small hit that she takes for the vote is overwhelmed by the very specific benefit she can point to.

This thesis, compelling argued by Douglas Arnold in The Logic of Congressional Action, is grounded in the sense that small but mobilized publics may exert a lot more influence on Congress than inchoate majorities.  Which means that lawmakers may be compelled to work together for the general interest as long as they can deliver perceptible, traceable benefits to their constituents. Earmarks are a great example of this.  They permit 218 people who agree in vague terms to actually all vote for a specific bill containing stuff they wouldn’t personally support otherwise.  It’s a positive-sum trade because each side gets more out of the deal than they put in.  Public policy in general sacrifices a vanishingly small percentage of the budget in order to get broad compromise on important issues.  And individual congresspeople sacrifice a sliver of general credibility for the benefit of a very specific gain that will be more significant to their personal re-election chances.

The other factor going on here, from a liberal’s perspective, is the pure politics of the matter.  If the Republican Congressional strategy is basically to vote as a bloc against anything Obama supports in the hopes of denying him ‘bipartisan’ credibility, then this cuts against that goal.  So maybe the optics of Obama being able to stand together with DeMint, et al. in the interests of good governance will be good for him–and thus the Democrats.  It’s hard to quantify that value, but maybe it’s important enough to care about.

Nothing Can Kill The Grimace – Mixtapes

Music!  I am here to write about music!  After a long day grading (mostly terrible) papers I really feel the need to let my hair down and focus on something completely different.  And thus: I return to the blog to talk about Mixtapes.

Their new album is called Maps (free download!) and at 18 minutes (spread over 10 songs) it may be the purest and most delightfully simple record of the year.  This is pop-punk as it was meant to be played: with enthusiasm, dueling boy-girl vocals that ricochet around like a kid on a sugar high, bass that stands right up at the front of the mix and isn’t afraid to push you around a little bit, and some kick-ass choruses.  It sounds so simple, but so few bands can do it well.  Out of nowhere this has turned into one of my favorite records of the year.

They remind me a lot of Defiance, Ohio – the record’s got that DIY, Plan-It-X sort of feel. Or, to go a little more old-school, how about The Promise Ring?

And did I mention that it’s only 18 minutes long?  They certainly don’t mess around.  These songs come in quick, give you everything you want, and don’t stick around to wear out their welcome. The one track that lasts more than 3 minutes (“Sunsets”) is also a welcome change of pace to close out the record: in classic punk tradition, you have to close things out with a quiet and beautiful slice of piano and acoustic guitar to cool you down.

The standout track is “Nothing Can Kill The Grimace,” which is probably the most energetic and fun song I’ve heard all year.

I also discovered in writing this post that they’ve already released a new EP, to go along with the record – also available for free download from their website.  That makes 14 tracks and 25 minutes of music, all free, and all wonderful.

I’ve gone back and forth a lot on my feeling about the repeal (or lack thereof) of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  I’ve been very sympathetic to the arguments that it makes some sense to go slow if it comes with the reward of reducing the salience of the issue when repeal actually happens.  However, that case rather depended on this actually getting done by the end of 2010.  Sadly, that appears to be pretty much off the table at this point.

Elsewhere, I’m also sympathetic to the argument that the Administration had good reason to appeal the District Court ruling that said DADT was unconstitutional.  I’m not tremendously sympathetic to efforts to defer all constitutional interpretation to the judicial branch (on the whole I think our political branches ought to take a substantially larger role for themselves in the interpretation and defense of the constitution.  c.f. – Robin West, Mark Tushnet, etc.), and letting the Circuit Court decision is kind of a world case version of that.  I really don’t like the idea that future executives should feel free to cherry pick individual Circuit Court decisions that they happen to politically support and allowing them to stand.

Somewhat related: I think there is a plausible case that there is important precedent at stake here on the matter of judicial deference re: military matters.  I don’t actually AGREE with that case (this is the flip side of my point above.  I don’t like the attempts by political actors to pretend that they have no role in constitutional interpretation – and I don’t like the attempts by the judicial branch to mark off major sections of law as beyond their purvey simply because they happen to involve the military), but I understand why it might matter a lot to the administration.  And I’d forgive them  this if I thought there was a strong case that legislative rollback was coming soon.

But…that doesn’t really seem to be the case.

I’ve said a lot in the past couple years defending Obama and his administration against attacks from the left.  I will continue to do that.  I think they’ve, on the whole, done a pretty good job.  But this is one place I’m feeling increasingly willing to call this out as a massive blunder.

Basically, I agree with Scott Lemieux (in his agreement with Yglesias and Drum) that while the Republicans should hold the lion’s share of the blame for their efforts to preserve bigotry and retrograde cultural attitudes, there’s plenty of anger worth directing at the Democrats here:

This puts all of the direct blame on Republicans, who deserve at least 90% of the blame in any case.  But this still doesn’t explain why the Democrats are pre-emptively capitulating on an issue on which they hold the political leverage. As Matt says, filibustering defense appropriations bills is unpopular, and DADT is unpopular. Certainly, if the shoe was on the other foot McConnell would force the Dems to filibuster multiple times and put intense pressure on the moderates. It’s entirely possible that there’s nothing Reid can do to get “moderate” Republican frauds to do the right thing, but at least Dems  could get a political victory out of it.   By just surrendering when they hold the political cards, the Democratic leadership must bear some responsibility for the circular firing squad.

I was having lunch today and the following took place:

– Mother and child (roughly 4 years old) begin eating. They are enjoying the food, the nice day, etc.  All is well with the world.
– The child gets bored with eating and begins fidgeting like crazy.
– The child walks over to the front door and starts ‘playing’ there. This ‘play’ clearly signifies even to relatively thick people like me: “I AM SICK OF BEING HERE AND WANT TO LEAVE”
– The play devolves into pushing at the door, but not being strong enough to actually open it.
– The mother comes and collects the child, saying “I know you want to leave, and we will leave in just five more minutes. Mommy isn’t done eating yet, though.”
– The child returns to the door and pushes at it, succeeding just enough to get it an inch open thus enabling her finger to get jammed by it when it closes. She does the little kid thing where they look around, start to well up, and you know that in just about 4 seconds they are going to be BAWLING.
– She starts crying and screaming.
– The mother comes over to comfort her. “Oh, you poor thing” etc.
– 45 seconds later, they have left, with the mother leaving a healthy amount of food on the plate, and the kid is now smiling.

In other news, it’s election day tomorrow.