I think I'm finally getting back used to St. Louis. The thing is, I'm not sure if I want to get back into a St. Louis mindset. Everyday social interaction seems so frigid here. What would be normal in Cuba would be considered particularly outgoing here. Buildings are drab colors. I want to remember exactly what the rhythm of drums in salsa music sounds like, and the thought of having to pay $3 for a Cuban-style pork sandwich of questionable quality doesn't particularly thrill me. As it is, St. Louis feels boring and excessively gadget-obsessed to me (says the boy on the laptop). This all makes me want to fight to destroy the social barrier between races here, and strive for a better nightlife here for minors.

On a completely and awkwardly unrelated other topic, whatever happened to mash-ups, or vs. remixes? Of late, I've heard very little about the ultimate absurdist end of the carefree use of other's music as a tool began in sampling and mixing instrumentals and a cappella tracks while DJing. To me, tracks like the Nirvana-Destiny's Child hybrid "Smells Like Booty" were genius, and ever-so-postmodern. I suppose that people either realized that in mash-ups, "success" means "lawsuit," or maybe they just got bored.

A while ago, I recorded 4 hours of St. Louis alternative rock radio standby 105.7 The Point to get a good amount of quirky local ads to use for music/media/whatever purposes. You know how commercial radio stations always add compression to their music so that the volume stays constant, and for whatever reason, it's more ear-friendly? I'd have to say that Nirvana almost sounds better compressed. It reminds me of summers past. Or something. For the record, the song was "Heart-Shaped Box." Makeshift quasi-compression can be achieved by recording your copy of In Utero onto a cassette with a terrible boombox. Give it a try!
- posted by Eric @ 6:09 PM