Joe Wong
Nite Creatures
scum stats: pre-orders came with a bonus 7-inch single
I get a lot of records sent here. That is no secret. I promise to listen to all of them. That is no secret.
I may never be able to listen to all of them. That is my secret.
But I still sit here encouraging folks to send me the fruits of their labor, oftentimes to just get tossed into a pile of perpetual inconsequence in my office. I am not proud of it.
I met Joe a few years back when he interviewed me for his podcast "The Trapset" where he exclusively interviews drummers. I had fun and took delight in making bad jokes about him just wanting to be Marc Maron.
I guess through it all, I had assumed he was a drummer, but didn't think much beyond that. So I was somewhat caught off-guard when he sent over his fanciful LP "Nite Creatures."
What a delightful listen...chock to the brim of true-to-form UK-influenced pop psych gems, just executed with perfection, not a bum moment here. The fact that this record is on Decca (one of the original premier purveyors of pop psych) is still blowing my mind. Add in guest appearances from Steven Drozd from Flaming Lips, Mary Timony, Anna Waronker and Mary Lattimore and this album is absolutely BONA FIDE.
Joe included two copies of the purple vinyl 45 of the title track (which is curiously NOT included on the album, a gimmick I dig now, as much as I did in 1997 when Foo Fighters did the same trick on their "The Colour And the Shape" LP) and so one of those will go to a lucky little freak here.
In the comments below, tell the best story of being caught off-guard or unexpected, or about a task you feel like you may never fully complete but you soldier on with anyway. Or just write whatever, I'm easy. I'll pick the winner and they'll get my spare copy of this 45. Can't beat that.
I was caught off guard when I went to a routine visit 10 years ago with my nephrologist and I was told my kidney’s were failing. It was a week prior to The Kills 10th anniversary show in NY and my girlfriend and I are were huge Kills fans. We had show tickets, plane tickets, and parking tickets. I asked my doctor if I would be dead in a week. He said no, but I should handle this ASAP. Well I rolled the dice and we went. Guess what, didn’t die and got a kidney transplant to boot.
I was caught off guard that Decca still exists, yay! And please send the record to Cromeet down there.
I was caught off guard
I was caught off guard just a few weeks back. Heard a knock at the door, my wife answered it.After a few minutes I get up to see who it is, because I can see my wife holding a baby. Lo and behold it’s my son,his girlfriend and our 6mos. old grandson from Nebraska(we live in Oregon). Was I ever surprised, of course my wife was in on the ruse! They had come out in the middle of a pandemic to help us celebrate our 30th anniversary. Yeah, Ben someday this may happen to you!
I was caught off guard when I heard Jack White sent a package of musical goodies to Tyler Joseph of Twenty One Pilots and encouraged him to keep on with his creativity. Twenty One Pilots isn’t a huge flavor of my current music, but they helped me a lot emotionally during their Vessel and Blurryface era. I would certainly say singing along with Tyler taught me how to “unlock” my actual singing voice. Anyways, Later on Jack became my #1 music influence, and about 2 years into that I saw Tyler tweet a thankful tweet that Jack had sent him an encouragement package. Truly caught me off guard, that two of my favorite musicians from different times in my life had a little unexpectable moment of interaction that shows some of the best Moving Power that music has, between genres, distance, time and so on. Truly encouraged my own pursuits and purposes on a deeper level.
8 years in your PhD program? That’s a PhD subject right there lol…
I’ve been in my doctoral program for eight years. I nibble at my dissertation but can’t get to that finish line. I’m thiiiiiiis close. why can’t I get through the last little pile of shit to get it done? why???
Wow, I’m caught off guard by Joe Wong. Thanks for the introduction. Dreams Wash Away, I want to hear more. Purple vinyl looks pretty nice too.
I was caught off guard when I lost 100% of my hearing when I was 36. All because of a sinus infection that I hadn’t had checked out by my doctor because I had no health insurance at the time and I was flat broke so I couldn’t afford to go see him. Big mistake! A Year and a half later my hearing was completely gone. I spent the next 2 years in total silence and then the miracles of miracles happened when I was able to get a cochlear implant which has turned my life around like you wouldn’t believe. I’m so thankful for the implant and I haven’t taken it for granted at all. I listen to as much music as possible, watch as many movies as possible and I enjoy the the sounds that most people don’t think twice about. Those 2 years of stone silence were the darkest days of my life and Im so grateful that they’re in my rear view mirror. Sorry to bore you with this but I just wanted to say that I think you do a wonderful job at Third Man and keep up the good work, Ben.