47 Miles of Barbed Wire: An Introduction.

Hi. My name is Matt Cibula, and I will be writing some stuff around these parts. In fact, I’ve already started.

“47 Miles of Barbed Wire” will be my weekly music column. It will often be focused on new music, but sometimes it will be about older music, too, and occasionally about music writing, and every once in a while I will veer wildly off course. But mostly music.

This introduction is to let you know what I’m like: what I like and dislike, perspectives, etc. You are cordially invited to agree or disagree with any of my opinions, as long as you realize that (a) I don’t really care about being right or not, and (b) I’m usually right anyway.

MATT’S OVERALL MUSICAL PHILOSOPHY: Don’t have one. Love all styles of music. No, really, I do. I know you don’t believe me, no one does that, everyone hates something…except I don’t hate any genre just for existing. I don’t love everything equally, now; that would be weird, and there are certainly musical ACTS I dislike with the burning hot gases of the Sun. But all styles of music are fine by me, and since Pitchfork pretty much has the indie game on lock, I will probably not be going there too often. But hey, I will review pretty much anything and everything. (You can get hold of me at expresso2222 at gmail dot com.)

MATT’S TOP ALBUMS OF ALL TIME: Way too hard a question and it’s late. But today’s list goes like this:

• Happy End of the World, Pizzicato Five
• Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder
• We Care, Whale
• To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With, Bill Cosby
• Mama Said Knock You Out, LL Cool J
• Chuntaros Radio Poder, El Gran Silencio
• Sandinista!, The Clash
• I Never Loved a Man the Way That I Love You, Aretha Franklin
• Live at the Apollo, Vol. 2, James Brown
• Gilberto Gil, Gilberto Gil (either the 1968 one or the 1971 one)
• Mingus Ah Um, Charles Mingus
• The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves, Cibelle
• Hijos el Culo, Bersuit Vergabarat
• Jailbreak, Thin Lizzy
• Lagaan, A.R. Rahman
• C’Mon Kids, The Boo Radleys
• Dreamboat Annie, Heart
• Honky Tonk Heroes, Waylon Jennings
• Bo Diddley Is a Gunslinger, Bo Diddley
• New Amerykah Vol. 1: 4th World War, Erykah Badu

MATT’S FAVORITE SONGS: Again, this is a crazy-making thing. But in my opinion the greatest song ever recorded is “I Can’t Stand the Rain” by Ann Peebles, which manages to be both a perfectly conceived soul song and an avant-garde soundscape. Second place is usually ceded to the Zombies’ “She’s Not There,” and I have no problem giving third to “Comin’ From Where I’m From” by Anthony Hamilton, or maybe Marty Robbins’ “El Paso,” or “Get Ur Freak On” by Missy Elliott. I have more but let’s not go there right now.

BEST CONCERTS MATT HAS EVER ATTENDED:

• George Clinton and the P.Funk All-Stars, Orpheum Theater, Madison, Wisconsin (2002)
• R.E.M., MIT Gym, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1985)
• Dizzy Gillespie, Blue Note, New York City (1992)
• Adam Ant, Schnitzler Opera House, Portland, Oregon (1983)
• Boozoo Chavis and Beau Jocque, Rock-n-Bowl, New Orleans (1996)
• Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck, Wisconsin Union Theater, Madison (2002)
• Rapmania, Apollo Theater, New York City (1989)
• Tenacious D, Alliant Center, Madison (2001)
• Allen Ginsberg, Reed College, Portland (1984)
• X, Barrymore Theater, Madison (2008)
• Ornette Coleman, Berklee College of Music, Boston (1988)

MATT’S BEST STUFF OF THE YEAR SO FAR: A random selection of albums and songs and other stuff from 2009 that I am digging, in no order, not meant to be a definitive list or anything:

• Love vs. Money, The-Dream
• Punt: Made in Ethiopia, Invisible System
• Back From the Dead, Spinal Tap
• Az prileti tucnak, FruFru
• Dev.D soundtrack
• Dilli 6 soundtrack
• Communion, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
• Crack the Skye, Mastodon
• Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs, Otis Taylor
• How to Be a Lady, Vol. 1, Electrik Red
• Ordinary Riches, Company of Thieves
• A New Tide, Gomez
• Hello Hello, Midival Punditz
• Dark Days / Light Years, Super Furry Animals
• Thank You Very Quickly, Extra Golden
• Smash the Control Machine, OTEP
• Traveling Like the Light, V.V. Brown
• Brain Cycles, Radio Moscow
• Gran City Pop, Paulina Rubio
• Never Better, P.O.S.
• Haih or Amortecedor, Os Mutantes
• Holy Smokes, Dudley Perkins
• Revolution Rising, Various Artists
• The Latest, Cheap Trick
• The Bright Mississippi, Allen Toussaint

OKAY THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ME. First real column is already underway.