[Tyler Sonnichsen]



Let is be known... I am back in the full swing of a Pixies kick. There are a limited number of musical artists around which my 'kick's circulate (Tom Waits is one other that comes to mind). The Pixies, for those of you who aren't familiar, were... actually, unless you are under the age of 10 or have never listened to a single artist you would describe as the least bit "alternative," not knowing at least the fundamentals on the Pixies is plain irresponsible*. I feel like a loser for not having jumped on the chance to see them on their reunion tour a couple of years back. Now I guess they've got a reunion album in the works.

I've been listening to the band's swan song Trompe le Monde on repeat for the last few days now, which has brought to light a few songs that I love so much I decided to put them in a class with my favorite songs from the late 80's-early 90's crossover, much less favorite Pixies songs ever.

MY 10 FAVORITE PIXIES SONGS (IN VERY ROUGH ORDER)

• DEBASER - Much like most of Frank Black's canon, this song confuses the hell out of me, but it's a terrific musical punch in the face to kick off their best album Doolittle. It's got Frank Black screaming AH AH AH OHH! in between gratuitous references to Un Chien Andalou: "GOT ME A MOVIE, AH AH AH OH! SLICING UP EYEBALLS AH AH AH OH!"
• DIG FOR FIRE - One of their most measured, well-paced songs, and best choruses, that showed how they'd matured over their first few years as a band. Too bad they all hated each other by the point that Bossanova came out in 1990.
• LETTER TO MEMPHIS - It's got that painful "trying to get to you" longing braced by one of the band's finest crashing musical crescendos. The intro doesn't take many prisoners, either.
• WHERE IS MY MIND? - I know it's almost a cliche to include this one, but it's not my fault that its so damn good. Joey Santiago's angular two-note lead is unforgettable and Frank Black's haunted high-pitched intoning at the beginning and end are classic.
• HEAD ON - This isn't a Pixies song per se (it's a Jesus & Mary Chain cover) but it's one of the best examples of a great band taking a great song and making it their own (read: great on its own terms). I love how the band just tears through the first verse with barely any intro or buildup then takes a breather.
• TAME -
  
  Probably the best example of that whole "loud quiet loud" ethos that Nirvana, et al ad nauseum took to the top of the charts around the time the Pixies disintegrated. TAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!!!!!!! Frank Black slaughters on this one.
• BROKEN FACE - Uh huh, uh-huh-oooh! (extremely high pitched and sung into a pipe). Then the band attacks all at once. That moment when everything but the guitar and Frank Black's voice cuts out as hey brays "my father speaks no english.." then the band comes crashing back in is about as textbook Pixies as you can get.
• BIRD DREAM OF THE OLYMPUS MONS - Sometimes, I like it when drummers perform fancy solos and keep time to an almost superhuman level. Sometimes, I like it when they just bang the shit out of their drums. No, I'm not a musician. This song's got that gentle, catchy intro that demonstrates why David Lovering is one of my favorite drummers. ("Wave of Mutilation" and "La La Love You" being two other great examples). Then it builds up into this crashing last minute and a half that's right on par with "Letter to Memphis." Very atmospheric and ethereal and a bunch of other words that don't really mean much I suppose.
• GIGANTIC - Oh, Kim Deal, you underappreciated bassmaster. Most critics say this is not only yours, but the whole band's shining moment, which I can understand. I just think its a kick-ass song, probably the best written about interracial love that I can think of at the moment.
• ALEC EIFFEL - Straight-up nerddom from Black Francis himself. The keyboard poured into the musical mold at the end is pretty striking. This song's also a great example of a complete "fuck you" to traditional song structures that made the quartet oh so lovable.

I probably omitted a couple of notable songs. Granted, most of their songs were notable. They're one of very few bands who never released a dud LP in the last thirty years (Pavement, Afghan Whigs) provided they use their best judgment on this new album. Either way, I may be able to catch them on the inevitable tour.

[Tyler Sonnichsen]

There is so much that I want to say, so much to lash out against, so many "what if"s that have passed through my mind in the past day. The horror that occurred at Virginia Tech yesterday probably made me the most devastated I have been in as long as I can remember. The only sigh of relief I got out of the entire thing was when my friend Jason, who was one of my very best friends from undergrad, called and told me that he and his brother Chris were okay. Both are engineering grad students at VT. Chris lost a dear friend in the German professor Jamie Bishop.

I know that the world can/will be a cruel place from time to time, but the most depressing thing is how sensationalized and politicized this catastrophe was before the investigators (who are doing a great job, I think) collected all the evidence. Like clockwork, these events are being trivialized to the degree that 9/11 has been and continues being. No matter which side of the respective debate you are on, guns and psychotic fucks are like abortions and drugs and natural disasters and diseases: they'll always be here, no matter what talking heads may have to say or been paid to say about them.

What we need to remember is that we won't be around forever, and what an insignificant slice of our lives that the aforementioned things amount to at the end of the day. So, to quote what my communications professor Larry "Doc" Mason said to all of us on September 11, 2001 (if you haven't already), "call your parents and families and tell them you love them."