WHY DO YOU LEAVE ME SO CONFUSED?

Just dropped by to let you know that I haven't gotten any smarter...

Haha Sound by Broadcast was released back in August of 2003. It was one of my favorite albums of that late summer, and remained in heavy rotation through the fall and winter and on into spring.

It has a place to this day in my ever-changing all-time top 10 list, sometimes ranking as high as fourth.

Now here's where the stupid comes in...

All these years, I admit that I've been somewhat baffled by the album's title. The mood-- as with most things Broadcast-- would not typically be qualified as "haha" funny, so I could never quite figure if the title was meant to be ironic.

Well, the other day I was reading an article on the group, which pointed out that "haha" means "mother" in Japanese. Which of course makes "Haha Sound" an absolutely perfect title for the album.

I'm hardly fluent in Japanese, but I know enough about the language to know that "haha" means mother. I just never made the connection.

I told all this to Taeko across the breakfast table the other day, with excitement in my voice and wonder in my eyes. Let's just say that she was filled with a bit less excitement and wonder...

SOMETIMES IT IS HALF FULL

Goddam, I've been going through an extended period where nothing new is clicking for me.

I spent the last six months of 2012 kind of obsessing over the Animal Collective catalog, but that has since abated.

So I've taken the opportunity to go back and visit some of the far corners of my Broadcast and Stereolab collections. A couple of discoveries:

• Over the years, the two singles from The Noise Made By People (Come On Let's Go and Paper Cuts) have kind of obscured the rest of the album for me, but I'm realizing now just how much I like it.

• Much to my surprise, I've also discovered that I kind of love Chemical Chords. I think I listened to it for a week or so when it came out back in '08, and my provisional opinion was that Stereolab were running on fumes at that point. The group's subsequent announcement of a "hiatus/sabbatical/pause/intermission/breather" in early '09 seemed to confirm that notion, and was not met by me with any rending of garments. It was time. But when all is said and done, I can see Chemical Chords settling in comfortably near the top of second-tier Lab albums. Valley Hi! indeed...

BROADCAST

Last night I was in a Palo Alto hotel room. I was bleary eyed, just checking e-mail and the internet before I went to bed. I came across rumors that Trish from Broadcast was seriously ill, and at first it just seemed like cruel and pointless misinformation.

However, as time wore on, it became clear that the rumors were true. Then I woke up this morning, my fourth day away from home, and saw confirmation that Trish had passed.

Part of me hoped I would get back home to my own couch, flip open my laptop, and find no trace of this information. All the mournful threads would be gone, and in their place would be typically enigmatic plans for the future. New albums, new collaborations, new art...

But being home has not made this any less real. Trish is dead.

I am sad beyond measure, and my thoughts are with her family and friends.

Thank you for the music, Trish...

CORPOREAL

Dammit.

Get well soon, Trish!