Everything Is

Chico Fellini has arrived...

2009-03-21T10:23:00.016-04:00

If you live in Lexington, KY then you know Chico Fellini. You know Emily Hagihara’s bass, Brandon Judd’s drums, Duane Lundy’s guitar and Chris Dennison’s voice. Most definitely Chris Dennison’s voice.

Perhaps Lexington's most ambitious band since The Scourge of the Sea, Chico Fellini has been going full speed ahead since their inception in 2006. Shows haven't been abundant, yet they have spanned the country, with the band playing CMJ and any of the local and regional dives that were worthy.

Though they had been hard at work for over a year polishing and perfecting their sound, the band seemed to have truly come into their own through their preparation for and their performance at Lexington's Beaux Arts Ball in 2008 (they will reprise their victory with another set at this year's Beaux Arts!). Only one who has attended a Beaux Arts Ball can understand the magic that takes place there. It’s an alternate reality with everyone in a costume of their own making, engaging in what seems to be a nonstop dance party, with the drinks flowing freely… it's impossible to describe and a tragedy to miss. To imagine what it must be like on that stage with hundreds of the most devout fans that money couldn’t even buy, could blow one’s mind. The result skyrocketed Chico Fellini into the studio to finish writing and recording their super ambitious, self-titled debut album.

Chico Fellini consists of nine songs in total, running a mere thirty minutes in length. Though the album is brief, it packs an undeniable punch. Chris Dennison’s vocals are undoubtedly the star, ranging from operatic to soaring falsetto; Dennison covers the bases that no one else does. He seems able to channel a thousand genres with one note, creating a sound and style all his own. Dennison’s vocal style and range bring to mind some sort of androgynous alien being, whose goal is to simply rock our socks off! Imagine Antony Hegarty (of Antony and the Johnsons) at his weirdest, David Bowie at his most theatric, and Matthew Bellamy (of Muse) singing his hardest and you might have an inclination as to what Dennison is capable of.

Of course, Dennison is only part of the equation. Without his band, his voice would fall flat and thin, and that is what makes Chico Fellini such an impressive machine. No one can exist without the other. The four work together for one common goal; it is a dark, persistent, pulsing, and forever melodramatic goal, which they reach hand in hand. With Lundy’s piercing lead guitar, never too shy to make its way to the forefront, and the thundering, yet understated bass and drum work laying everything down and then keeping it all in check, no stone is left unturned.

Fact is, Chico Fellini is not for everyone. The androgynous but overt sexuality of these songs aren’t fit for the faint at heart and despite the fact that songs like “Despite The Mix Up” and “Electrolyte” are just as infectious as any current pop offering their non-traditional delivery and content will leave some folks scratching their heads. However, somehow I don’t think that appealing to the masses is anywhere near this band’s goal. Simply put, their quirks and theatrics will inevitably drive some away while endearing them to others. Which one are you?

Chico Fellini - self-titled

1. Despite The Mix Up
2. Electrolyte
3. Can’t Deny
4. Hot
5. Prelude
6. Down The Up Ladder
7. Control
8. No Strata
9. Uli

Chico Fellini will be released to the world Tuesday, March 24th and the band is having their CD Release Party at The Dame in downtown Lexington tonight, Saturday, March 21st!

Chico Fellini with Jupiter One and Oblio
Saturday, March 21st
At The Dame
156 West Main St.
Lexington, KY 40507
Doors at 8 p.m.
Show at 9 p.m.
$6
21+
Facebook event

All In Endeavors all the time.

2009-01-07T11:33:00.006-05:00

In Endeavors is none other than 5 strapping, young, future superstars from our own metropolis of Lexington, KY. Master songsmith and lead guitarist Clifton Keller never fails to impress with his hook-laden, dance rockers. The band is hot to trot as they perform in support of their You've Got Your Friends, I've Got Mine EP, featuring a bevy of tunes that channel The Strokes at their most inspired. If you want to remember what it's like to be moved to dance to rock music then don't miss In Endeavors.

As of tomorrow night the band is starting their marathon run of three shows in two nights, the last of which is the release show for their new EP. Don't miss 'em!

In Endeavors live:
Thursday, January 8th - C.P.R. (8 p.m.)
w/Noisycrane, Pineapple Explode, Blueberry Fist and Matt Katzenmeijer

Thursday, January 8th - The Dame (11 p.m.)
w/500 Miles To Memphis, Matt Duncan and Cari Clara

Friday, January 9th - CD Release Show @ The Oleika Temple
w/Emarosa, Of Machines, Very Emergency, etc.

Visit In Endeavors on MySpace for more info.

Tonight in Lexington - E6 Holiday Surprise Tour!

2008-10-23T12:40:00.009-04:00

The E6 Holiday Surprise Tour
Thursday Oct 26 at the Red Mile Round Barn
1200 Red Mile Road, Lexington, KY
All Ages - FREE - 8:30 p.m.

If you miss it, you be crazy!

Some Kind of Salvation

2008-06-25T20:11:00.007-04:00

So, I (obviously) haven't posted anything in donkey's years but this got me so excited that I just want to tell the world. Because, ya know people still read this blog and stuff.

I've been an a serious Features kick since seeing them at The Dame earlier this month and was pretty devastated when they didn't bring a stitch of merch with them. I would gladly give those boys all of my money if they would only let me.

Anyhoo, the band has been working on Some Kind of Salvation, their second full-length, for what seems like ages now and in my search to find something, anything out about the album I stumbled upon their page on the music trading and purchasing website Lala.com. Much to my delight I realized that they are streaming Some Kind of Salvation in its entirety. Joy! Unfortunately though, after you listen to a track once, you only get paltry 30 second clips after that. I haven't tried opening the page in a new browser though. I'm sure it's a fairly easy roadblock to get around.

The band has been performing about half these songs for months and months now and even included an updated mix of "Wooden Heart" from their Contrast EP. The songs are all freaking great, classic singalong Features fare, the high points being "Gmf," "The Temporary Blues" and "Lions." You really just can't beat those Features; they are easily the best modern rock band on the planet. Hands freakin' down.

There is still no release date for the album and the band is currently without a label. Perhaps they're shopping it around and that's what is causing the delay. The Features are real do-it-yourself kinda guys but I wouldn't blame them if they signed to a new label. It's nice to not have to do all the promo grunt work.

The Features - Some Kind of Salvation

Tracklist:
1. Whatever Gets You By
2. The Drawing Board
3. Foundation's Cracked
4. Gmf
5. The Temporary Blues
6. Wooden Heart
7. The Gates of Hell
8. Still Lost
9. Baby's Hammer
10. Lions
11. Concrete
12. Off Track
13. All I Ask

stream the album on Lala.com
"Gmf," "Baby's Hammer" and "Lions" are also currently streaming on the band's Myspace page

The hills of Kentucky...

2007-10-24T12:13:00.000-04:00

Dickie Haydon - Hunger Pangs EP review

To look at Dickie Haydon, with his shaggy hair and pointy-toed boots, you might think he would be writing songs that sounded more like Bishop Allen or Rogue Wave than oh, say… Willie Nelson, but you would be mistaken. Having lived in Lexington since he was 4, Haydon considers himself a bona-fide Kentuckian and has always been quick to cite the Bluegrass as being one of his greatest inspirations.

Haydon is also the primary songwriter in band Petticoat, Petticoat, which also includes Kristin Messina and Jackson Silvanik. While the music of P,P and Haydon’s solo fare are unquestionably the product of the same mind, it’s easy to see why they are two separate projects for the man. The songs on Haydon’s debut solo EP, Hunger Pangs, range from the exceptionally personal (“Tabitha,” an ode to Haydon’s beloved doggie that recently passed away) to those storytelling songs that invoke images of times long ago.

It’s the intimacy of these songs that ultimately make them so alluring; Haydon is first and foremost a writer, a poet even. The words and the cadence with which he sings them are what catches the listener’s ear and makes them long to listen again. Every one of Hunger Pangs’ six songs has a beautiful nostalgic air about it, and no one can resist a bit of heartwarming wistfulness.

Fetch a copy of Hunger Pangs, with artwork by Kristin Messina, at CD Central or directly from the artist.

Tracklist:
1. Little Red Canteen
2. Miles
3. The Girl With Leather Teeth
4. Tabitha
5. Do You Truly Believe In Us??
6. No One Will Know My Name

Check out Dickie's myspace page for 5/6 songs from the EP and, while you're at it, check out
Petticoat, Petticoat's page as well.

It'll blow your mind away.

2007-10-02T16:29:00.000-04:00

Noisycrane - Portmanteau album review

Noisycrane has evolved a lot over the past year; it started as the solo endeavor of lead singer/guitarist Cody Swanson, but soon grew with the accretion of Sean Rose on drums and Jon-Austin Tharpe on bass. In the early days of the band, with Swanson and Rose performing as a duet, they sweated post-punk rawness, but with additions to the band and the natural evolution of their combined songwriting, it has become clear that where there has always been depth, there is also a degree of inherent sophistication as well. The band’s self-recorded and produced debut album, Portmanteau, is proof of that.

“Carnival,” the album’s shortest and only instrumental track, features accordions, xylophones, and saws all singing together, embracing just the right amount of whimsy and mischief. “123” is a prime example of a band at their best; the music and vocals compliment one another perfectly and the d.i.y. production seems to lend itself perfectly to the tone of this specific song. Throughout the ten tracks on Portmanteau, Noisycrane has illustrated that music doesn’t have to be insufferable to be interesting! Far from it, in fact.

Portmanteau is for sale at CD Central and at noisycrane.com.

Tracklist:
1. Trust The Moon
2. I'm Walking Through The Room And You're Asleep
3. Carnival
4. Hold Out Love
5. Room Alone
6. Your Shape
7. Walking And Stalking
8. 123
9. You Are Royalty
10. Smooth And Calm

Check the band's myspace page for musical samples.

Do do do do do doooooo

2007-09-25T17:10:00.000-04:00

The High Water Marks - Polar album review

It’s been three years since The High Water Marks’ debut album Songs About The Ocean was released; at long last the follow up, Polar, is finally here. The disc is 13 tracks long and is being brought to you by Athens, GA label Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records.

Anyone who has ever heard the band before knows what they’re all about, the hook-laden, guitar-driven, bouncy pop tune. Polar delivers all that and more.

The fact that all four of the band members were involved in the recording process adds an obvious dynamic in the songs that some on SATO seemed to be missing. Per Ole Bratset and Hilarie Sidney both seem more comfortable in their singing here than ever before, regardless of which of them is taking the lead. Check “Galaxy Galaxy Galaxy” for a wonderful example of a pop band at their best, with everyone shining.

While Polar is ultimately following in the footsteps of its predecessor, it is also breaking a lot of new ground for the band with the slicker, more hi-fi recordings, and further incorporation of delightful alternative instruments.

Check out the band's myspace page for a preview of the title track and pick up your own copy of Polar at hhbtm.com.

Tracklist:
1. Polar
2. The Leaves
3. Early Fall
4. Song For Emigrants
5. Simple
6. Galaxy Galaxy Galaxy
7. Finding Clovers
8. Dutch Tape
9. Roadside Revival
10. Poison Remedy
11. For Sirkel
12. Sirkel
13. Etter Sirkel

I can totally feel it.

2007-09-15T12:19:00.000-04:00

The Apples in Stereo recently launched "The Super Hi-Fi ReMix Contest" in which everyday folks like you and me are given the opportunity to download each separate audio track of the Apples single "Can You Feel It?" and mix and mash them as we see fit. The contest is being hosted at imeem (they make you sign up to participate) and it's there that you can find the tracks and upload your own personal "Can You Feel It" mix.
I made one myself last night and it was really fun! It's quite novel to be able to pick apart a song like that and truly see how everything is coming together. My version highlights the mellotron and piano in the song, utilizing the piano as the lead rather than the guitar. I for one find it quite refreshing.
There are some prizes for the winners (grand prize and runner up) of the contest, one being the inclusion of the #1 mix in the digital version of the Apples b-sides and rarities album download. But the prizes are sort of negligible in this case; it's the act of mixing itself that is the really fun part.

Without further adieu, the SuperDuperMellotronReMix:

Introducing ...

2007-09-06T16:16:00.001-04:00

Tony and I did a cover of The Apples in Stereo song "The Shiney Sea" (from Her Wallpaper Reverie) some months ago for an upcoming Apples Tribute (details are hazy). It wasn't really an IFD or Melody Function project so we chose the #1 in our running list of best band names ever and we are now The Veronica Vaughns. Expect more VV to come.

Until then, check the cover:

In the Courtyard

2007-02-07T11:57:00.000-05:00

Optical Atlas has a great interview with Craig and Tony (isn't he attractive?) of the ever-amazing Ideal Free Distribution! It's very informative and illuminates much of the recording techniques used on the new album.

Give a little whistle!

2007-01-31T15:16:00.000-05:00

i thought some of you might like this, it is pretty fun after all.
if you guys haven't heard "young folks" by peter, bjorn and john yet, i highly recommend it! i've been whistling it for 2 days straight now! it's so awesome!

yousendit link to download

WHISTLE IN! - a delightful mix cd featuring the art of whistling
compiled by sfh

1. Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks
2. Apollo Sunshine - Strange Things
3. Monty Python - Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
4. Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers
5. Paul Simon - Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
6. AIR - Alpha Beta Gaga
7. Lovin Spoonful - What a Day for a Daydream
8. Pat Benatar - Love is a Battlefield
9. The Bangles - Walk Like an Egyptian
10. Beck - Sissyneck
11. Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tick Motion of the Head to the Left
12. The Seekers - Georgy Girl
13. Mama Cass - Dream a Little Dream of Me
14. Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry, Be Happy
15. The Tremeloes - Here Comes My Baby
16. Guns 'N' Roses - Patience
17. Gilbert O'Sullivan - Claire
18. The Shins - They'll Soon Discover
19. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Love Song No. 7
20. Scorpions - Wind of Change

Best of 2006!

2006-11-26T12:45:00.000-05:00

Top 10 albums of 2006:

1. Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
2. Scissor Sisters - Ta-Dah
3. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
4. Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldier
5. Danielson - Ships
6. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope
7. The Minders - It's A Bright, Guilty World
8. Band of Horses - Everything All The Time
9. Tapes N Tapes - The Loon
10. Destroyer - Rubies

Top 5 eps of 2006:

1. BRMC - Howl Sessions
2. Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, & Wives
3. Pas/Cal - Dear Sir
4. Sambassadeur - Coastal Affairs
5. Dr. Dog - Takers & Leavers

Best cover art:

Beirut - Gulag Orkestar

Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis

IFD at Athens Popfest 2006!

2006-09-26T16:01:00.000-04:00

Ideal Free Distribution @ 40 Watt in Athens, GA 8.12.2006

More Popfest videos all recorded by Chris Yetter.

Athens Popfest 2006 scrapbook.

2006-09-18T13:34:00.000-04:00

Optical Atlas has posted the Athens Popfest 2006 Scrapbook and it's quite delightful. There are quotes from both Tony and I included. The Ideal Free Distribution was lucky enough to play the Popfest (duh.) and there are some pretty pictures and comments about our set included as well. It's like reliving the whole weekend all over again!
Seriously, good work, Jeff. I appreciate all the hard work and love you put into OA.

Put on my worried shoes...

2006-09-17T19:46:00.000-04:00

Daniel Smith & Sufjan Stevens - "Worried Shoes" song review

“Worried Shoes” originally appeared on Daniel Johnston’s 1983 album Yip/Jump Music. During the period of this recording, Johnston would sit in his room, hit record on his tape deck and start playing. He recorded every tape live; there was no dubbing and certainly no editing. Obviously, the quality of these recordings is awful; it’s so lo-fi that my spoiled ears can barely make out Johnston’s song and on this track in particular the only accompanying instrument is some sort of primitive chord organ. Yet, the song prevails despite its many disadvantages. The raw emotion of Johnston’s lyrics cuts through all of the fuzz and is truly impressive.
Knowing Johnston’s history and struggles with mental illness, I can only assume he wrote this song from a personal perspective. “Worried Shoes” is a sad and desperate song, which illustrates his helplessness in going down a road he knew was going to be detrimental and unpleasant but simply being unable to stop himself. It wasn’t until Johnston found himself in a hopeless position, with no friends and no one to turn to that he literally sees a ray of hope. “I looked around and I saw the sun shining down and I took off my worried shoes.” The song ultimately ends on a positive note with Johnston declaring, “I've got a lot of walking to do and I don't want to wear my worried shoes.” With the subsequent organ gaining momentum and a round of whistling, you almost believe him.
Daniel Smith and Sufjan Stevens’ cover of “Worried Shoes” is quite beautiful as well but succeeds in a separate manner. The two have added some beautiful and interesting instrumentation (no surprise there) and appropriately understated vocal work; the harmonies on the backing vocals are breathtaking. The uniqueness of Smith’s vocals really mimics Johnston’s in a way. It draws that extra attention to the vocals and makes the song more interesting. With their advancements “Worried Shoes” has really been elevated to a completely different level. They have basically made the song into the best it could have been if performed by someone other than Daniel Johnston. Smith and Stevens could never hope to achieve the emotional greatness of Johnston but have really succeeded in developing the technical aspects of the song.
Smith and Stevens’ cover of “Worried Shoes” is going to be featured on I Killed The Monster, a compilation of 21 artists covering songs of Daniel Johnston. Second Shimmy Records will release the compilation on October 10th, 2006; all proceeds from the disc will go to a fund for the care of Daniel Johnston. Until then, the track can be streamed strictly through Danielson’s myspace page.

Stream "Worried Shoes" at Danielson's myspace page.

New NEW Melody Function demo!

2006-09-12T15:22:00.000-04:00

We at The Melody Function and Ideal Free Distribution are doing all that we can to bring the people more sleigh bells. I believe it's what the world needs now.

Melody Function - Something I Know

New Melody Function demo.

2006-09-06T11:34:00.000-04:00

A new Melody Function demo, "Simple Sounds", was completed just last night. It's possible there will be a few slight changes to come but it is basically finished for all intensive purposes. This song is one in the series of Tony's Mexican rock opera. All of the rock opera songs were written in Am and are very dark and booming. Lots of droney feedback with psychedelic guitar riffing but, as always, they still contain that bit of pop to pull you out of the psychedelic k-hole, the flute in this case.
It's funny, when I listen to this song I hear explosions going off in my head (mostly during the in-between verse riffing) yet the lead line is a flute. Now THAT'S a good song!
Tony and Joe have been working on a new Zombies-esque organ based song that is going to be delightful. I'm excited.

Melody Function - Simple Sounds

Make me armored for the places I've been.

2006-08-29T14:31:00.000-04:00

Scourge Of The Sea – Make Me Armored review
4 out of 5

Scourge of the Sea formed in 2004 and is comprised of Justin Craig, Andrew English and Robbie Cosenza. With their debut album, Make Me Armored, they single-handedly inspired the legendary Alias Records (American Music Club, Archers of Loaf, Yo La Tengo, etc) to awake from their slumber and release their first album in a decade.

Make Me Armored was released late last month and has since topped their local independent music stores’ bestseller lists week after week. I don’t know if it’s their modest, but not too precious pop songs, or the fact that they are very cute and charming fellows, but everyone loves to support these guys. The album features 10 finely tuned pop songs ranging from the slightly delicate “Waterwings”, the light and folky “Hookers”, to some harder fare with “Chocolate Chips”. “Chasing Roses” exemplifies English’s best vocal work and is one of the album’s most complex and intriguing songs, alternately hopeful and haunting. The vocal and guitar melodies contained within the song are perfectly complimentary and are so seamless that your ears will be smiling for days after listening to this song.

The songs are all arranged beautifully with complimenting tambourine hits and intriguing keyboard melodies in addition to the traditional drum, bass and guitars. The instrumentation on this album sounds so well put-together and the arrangements just make so much sense that it’s hard to believe these songs haven’t existed for thousands of years already. In addition, the lyrical abilities of these guys are infinite. What really catches my ear and warms my heart is when I hear English sing tender words like “I don’t need to smoke with a fix like you”, “…and I loved your lips on your overbite” or when Cosenza mentions his “waterwings and a cable knit sweater”.

With such striking imagery and coordinating harmonies, Scourge of the Sea may be putting bands like the Fruit Bats out of work.

English and Cosenza alternate writing credits and vocals, each singing lead on their own creations. English tends to take his listeners by the hand and sing in their ears while Cosenza seems as content standing in a corner yelling at the top of his lungs. Cosenza’s songs are not as intimate as English’s but certainly no less heartfelt. Showcasing two such different vocalists adds a layer of significance and versatility to the band as a whole; they aren’t limited one type of vocal. It’s almost as if they can be two bands in one, which only makes listening to them that much more interesting.

Scourge of the Sea - Out of the Trash
Scourge of the Sea - Smitten Kitten

Hooray for Sunday

2006-08-23T17:03:00.000-04:00

The Minders and Marbles
The Dame in Lexington, KY
8.20.2006

Robert Schneider has been releasing material under the Marbles moniker since 1992; this is hardly a new endeavor. Schneider’s last Marbles release, Expo, came out in March of 2005 after which he did a nationwide tour with Clem Snide showcasing his newest brand of Casio-infused, ELO-inspired, dancetastic music across the land. These shows were being played specifically in support of the new album and there was an entire choreographed stage show that included Schneider performing as a spaceman with a giant boombox and essentially karaoking to his own songs. However, the show at The Dame on Sunday night was different; there was no new album to perform and no expectations placed on Schneider apart from warming the audience and readying the stage for old friends The Minders.

Schneider played an acoustic set of songs that ranged from the Apples’ debut album Fun Trick Noisemaker, the only other Marbles album Pyramid Landing (And other favorites), to the upcoming and highly-anticipated Apples release New Magnetic Wonder. I’ve seen Schneider perform many times, with all of his various endeavors but I have never seen a more comprehensive set. It was a wonderful treat to hear “Tidal Wave” and “She’s Just Like Me” sung onstage; I’m impressed Schneider still remembers them. I imagine such a low-stress show really gave him the freedom to play whatever he wanted to. In fact, many of the songs he did play were requests or suggestions from the audience; Martyn Leaper himself requested “Pine Away”.

Schneider is indeed a true performer; he never fails to entertain, not even when he stops mid-set to check his text messages.

Headlining the show was the Denver, CO based band The Minders. The Minders are close friends of Robert Schneider and, in fact, Schneider was sort of a founding member of the band. He was there from the get go and has been involved with the band, producing albums/songs, and contributing musically since its creation. The Minders produce exactly the kind of sounds that pop into one’s head when they think of the Elephant 6 collective. Googley-woogely pop goodness, with an obvious 60’s psychadelia influence. Martyn Leaper, the band’s premiere singer songwriter, has a great sense of melody and structure. His songs flow perfectly, with a mysterious lead guitar tone or a piano integrated at just the perfect moment, just the right amount of flare. The Minders’ new album It’s a Bright, Guilty World finds the band at the closest they’ve ever come to living up to their seminal debut Hooray For Tuesday, the pop album that is so perfect that not even its creators can top it.

The band’s performance was a perfect representation of their sound altogether. High energy, bouncing around, and all the stuff that makes you want to dance it! The set primarily featured songs from the new album but also included some extra surprises like a cover of the Syd Barrett song “Lucifer Sam” (from Pink Floyd’s Piper at the Gates of Dawn), “Now I Can Smile” and the show’s closer “Hooray For Tuesday”. The band itself is very tight and they seemed well rehearsed, which is pretty par for the course considering they’ve been touring with Of Montreal for the past month, playing in a new city every night. Leaper invited Robert Schneider onstage to play two songs with the band, the fuzz guitar track “357” and the classic “Hooray For Tuesday”. Both times Schneider was playing with the band it was evident how happy they all made each other; they seemed to be simply rejoicing in one another’s sheer presence. By the end of “Hooray For Tuesday”, on which Schneider assisted on tambourine and filling in the backing vocals, which he himself sang on the recording, it seemed that the band didn’t want to get off the stage any more than we wanted them to. It was an elating experience.

Arthur Lee

2006-08-04T09:50:00.000-04:00

Love, Arthur is standing on the staircase in the glasses.

rip.

The Return of Little Mac

2006-08-01T13:18:00.000-04:00

This is so funny, I can't even see straight.

Don't you stop.

2006-07-28T13:44:00.000-04:00

The Minders – It’s A Bright, Guilty World review
release date: 7.18.2006
3.8 / 5

The Minders released their debut album Hooray For Tuesday in 1998. Since then, everything they do is measured by how it lives up to that collection of songs; it’s such a perfect pop album that any band would have difficulty matching it.
Certain tracks throughout their career have threatened to knock “Hooray For Tuesday” off of its pedestal. Older songs like “Build” and “Black Balloon” are The Minders at their most simple and pure and more recent songs like the striking “Young and With It” still resonate years later. The Minders have never had a problem writing a great pop song; they just never seem to be able to release a whole album’s worth of them. Not to say that their albums are bad necessarily, they just generally lose focus about halfway through.
Their latest release, It’s a Bright, Guilty World, finds Martyn Leaper (The Minders’ premiere singer songwriter) at his most proficient and deliberate since HFT. It includes classic, pop songs such as “Don’t You Stop” and “Jenny” that are so catchy and delightful that you feel as if they’ve been playing in your head forever. Alongside these pop gems are other more introspective, thorough tracks like “In The Middle of Your Love” and “Remember, Remember”. With the inclusion of such songs it’s evident that Leaper is becoming a more sophisticated songwriter.
Musically, lyrically, and intellectually The Minders are finally gaining the momentum and drive fans have been yearning for since the great and wonderful Hooray For Tuesday.

Oh, you're so silent Jens.

2006-07-27T17:31:00.000-04:00

Jens Lekman
Southgate House Newport, KY
7.25.2006

“We are going to play exactly 12 songs tonight,” Jens Lekman said to the crowd as he and his 6-piece, all-girl band took the stage at the Southgate House on Tuesday night. This introduction to Lekman was the first hint at securing him as the most self-assured, soft-spoken shy guy I’ve ever seen.
The stage setup was endearing, with Lekman front and center and his band surrounding him; it was as if he was floating in a soup bowl of fashionable ladies. Lekman is a great storyteller in and out of song. After playing “Black Cab”, he regaled an interaction he once had with a fan concerning his experiences with the song, and just stopped right in the middle of “Do You Remember the Riots?” to tell us its history. We were also treated to an a cappella version of “Tram #7 To Heaven”, sang by Lekman as he replaced the broken A string on his guitar. While this may sound as if it would feel somewhat forced, it was actually the complete opposite. In fact, it even left me wondering if all of Lekman’s clever remarks, as well as that broken string, weren’t all painstakingly planned.
With various EPs and the full-length When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog, Lekman has a plethora of beloved songs to choose from. The setlist wandered throughout his discography including older tracks dating back to the 2003 Maple Leaves EP to a couple brand new songs, one of which was entitled “A Postcard To Nina” and told the story of Jens masquerading as his friend Nina’s boyfriend as she hid from her parents the fact that she was a lesbian.
About six songs in, a young, fair-haired fan approached the singer and prompted him to urge the crowd closer to the stage, in front of the oppressive chairs and tables. Everyone quickly obliged, as if we had been simply waiting for Lekman’s permission to do so. He now immediately says, “We’ve almost played all of our dance songs,” then thought for a moment, “You can probably dance to this,” and began “Pocketful of Money”. Indeed, we danced. Next, Lekman informed us he had brought our Christmas presents, while his keyboard player emptied 2 garbage bags of balloons into the crowd as the band launched into the triumphant “You Are the Light (by which I travel into this and that)”. It was a joyous occasion as the audience and band alike batted rainbow-colored balloons around the room throughout the course of the song.

Well, we actually managed to squeeze a 13th song from Lekman that night. Though, being the gentleman that he is, he didn’t leave the stage without making sure we understood that he would sing no more songs onstage but if we wanted to hear anything else to just ask and he would sing it for us. Lekman satiated us for the last time with an acoustic rendition of the clever, honest “Maple Leaves”. The crowd was enthralled and suddenly the rest of the band appeared out of nowhere on the 2nd floor balconies, on either side of Lekman with horns and shakers and guided us through to the conclusion of the song and the evening. It was simply magical.
I left that show loving Jens Lekman more than I ever knew I did.

Jens Lekman - "You Are the Light (by which I travel into this and that)"

Electrified. Evolve.

2006-07-24T16:41:00.000-04:00

Dressy Bessy
The Dame in Lexington, KY
7.18.2006

Dressy Bessy are one of the many Elephant 6 spin-off bands; they formed in 1996 and since then having been playing their pixy stix brand, straight up power pop across the land.
Dressy Bessy are a wonderful live band; their magic truly lies not in their music but onstage. Between the band’s striking vintage duds and lead singer Tammy Ealom’s dancing it’s a visual sensation. Honestly, it doesn’t even matter that the band is playing some of the most tightly wound pop songs you’ve ever heard, Ealom wins you over just by a wink of the eye or a leg-kick. Even if you aren’t a fan of their pop music, Dressy Bessy has so much charm that it spills over onto the floor. It’s impossible to resist Tammy Ealom’s leg kicks and the ever-present smile on John Hill’s face. Just try.

The set was varied and would have pleased any fan, songs ranged from old favorites such as “I Saw Cinnamon” and “Just Once More” to newer hits from their 2005 album Electrified like “Second Place” and the title track. Each and every song was played with as much fervor and intensity as the one before it. The band conveyed such energy that it permeated the whole club and had more than half the crowd dancing along with them; it was impressive.
Charmingly, the band seemed to be having as much fun as everyone else because once they finally stopped, they answered the crowd’s pleas for an encore before even leaving the stage. Dressy Bessy like to keep everyone happy and they’re quite good at it.
One of the best things about DB is their commitment to touring. I can rest assured that after loving them tonight, I won’t have to wait too long before I can love them some more.

Six Organs of Admittance review

2006-07-17T12:04:00.000-04:00

Six Organs of Admittance / Eyes and Arms of Smoke
The Dame in Lexington, KY
7.13.2006

It’s not easy for me to describe the Lexington, KY band Eyes and Arms of Smoke. Onstage they are two guys, and one girl, Robert Beatty, Trevor Tremaine and his wife Sarah, looking almost huddled together on the left hand side of the stage. Though, considering how sparse their music is it seems natural for them to want to stand together. I can’t imagine Sarah all the way on one side of the stage with just a mic and a cabasa in her hand waiting for her cues. She would seem too lonely. The band’s music is one part noise, one part art project, and one part drone. Parts of songs sound like actual songs and then others like sound effects of a horror film. Eyes and Arms of Smoke aren’t necessarily much to watch. There isn’t a lot of movement onstage aside from a few hops from Trevor here and there but, truthfully, they convey their music in such a way that you’re less concerned with watching as you are with listening anyway.
I was unsure of what to expect from a live show from Six Organs of Admittance. This is a band with several albums varying in degrees of experimentation. What I was afraid of was that I was going to have to sit through an entire set in which the band played one 45 minute song that may or may not even contain lyrics. Luckily, this was not the case. When the band took the stage they immediately began playing, they were (purposefully) playing out of time and seemingly making up this introductory jam on the spot, relying on physical cues to indicate changes in the song. The band appeared almost oblivious to the crowd before them, interacting with one another throughout their set and only addressing the audience once to simply thank them and the opening bands. However, this did nothing to hinder the experience of seeing them live and perhaps even added an air of mystery to the three stoic men onstage.
SOofA’s frontman, Ben Chasny, has a charisma about him that I wasn’t anticipating. Seeing this person from whom this voice emanates is compelling enough, but he is also very captivating to watch. He is very physical onstage, thrashing about during upbeat, loud songs, and sometimes trying to manipulate his bass player’s sound by going up to him and pushing on his fretboard with his shoulder. Every sound the band is making is mirrored in some way by Chasny’s movements.
Ben Chasny ended the set by himself, playing the only encore song alone. It was a slow song that showcased Chasny’s beautifully solid and dark vocals. An unexpected but great way to end a colorful set. With Six Organs of Admittance sometimes there is chaos but when you strip all of that away you are always left with the beauty.

Eyes And Arms Of Smoke - "Black Hoists of Dawn"
Six Organs of Admittance - "All You've Left" music video

Syd Barrett

2006-07-11T19:55:00.000-04:00

rip

Thee American Revolution song review

2006-07-06T14:26:00.000-04:00

Thee American Revolution – “She’s Coming Down”

On July 4th Mr. William Shears, the mastermind behind the band Thee American Revolution, sent the Elephant 6 weblog, Optical Atlas, his band’s new track, “She’s Coming Down”. According to Shears, this is the very first American Revolution recording. Knowing that, it’s easy to see that the vision of Thee American Revolution is clear; this song makes it evident that TAR want their audience to perceive them in a specific way. They're telling us what to think and feel about their music; it's all done for us. This is heavy, rough, sweaty, psychadelic rock music and you're gonna like it that way!
Proof of this comes in the first few seconds as the song intentionally dates itself with the initial guitar strum, heavy and deliberate, very like “Wild Thing” by The Troggs. Schneider’s vocals are marred and much more drawn out than most of his fans are used to (not too unlike Reg Presley’s). It’s refreshing (if anything about this music is) to hear his vocals utilized in such a novel way.
The remainder of the song is comprised of extended lead guitar, sounding as if it’s being played through a busted amplifier, droning swirls of psychadelia, the ever-present deadened tambourine, and is concluded by a piano/organ played by Shears himself.
If Andy Warhol were still in The Factory today overseeing those seedy, over-intoxicated parties, he would want Thee American Revolution to be playing every one of them.

Follow link to Optical Atlas post and mp3.

mostly the Desdemona Festival

2006-07-03T18:15:00.000-04:00

Upon my return to the blog world I found the template to the old Everything Is blog to be extremely annoying and it was totally stressing me out. So I had to get rid of it. I don't really care for any of the Blogger templates so here we have: White. I'm totally into white these days anyway; it's so mod. How can you go wrong really? It's white! Anyways, I'll probably personalize the look of the new template but for now, this is pretty okay with me. Anything beats the cheesy one I had before.

So, I attended portions of all three days of the Desdemona Festival in Cincinnati weekend before last. I started writing my review of the festival for Harmonium but couldn't force myself to finish it. I couldn't make myself bullshit anymore. The festival itself was lovely, Sawyer Point is a beautiful park and perfect for an event of that nature, the people in attendance were all totally happy to be there, nice and great crowds, the people putting it on were all so gracious and all of that. But the only thing that was almost entirely unimpressive was the music. And frankly, that shocked the shit out of me. I mean, it wasn't like there were a bunch of local bands playing all day and then a big headliner each night, not at all. At least 3/4 of the bands that played the DesFest were big name indie acts and/or blogger favorites. For me the weekend began with the Apples In Stereo Friday evening and then ended with The Walkmen closing the festival on Sunday night and, overall, those were the two bands that performed the best all weekend. Most of the others (specifically The Stills, Radio 4, We Are Scientists, Enon, Annie) just lacked content and personality. Even the Walkmen were somewhat awkward in the outside pavilion. Though I have to point out that We Are Scientists are great performers; they had the personality and charisma to charm the crowd of indie rockers that Sunday cracking jokes and acting like heathens. After their first song there were a bunch of people walking up from another stage whose set ran long and the bass player told them, "Don't even fucking bother," which was totally funny. Unfortunately, their music sucks ass. The lyrics to their single "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" are the worst I've heard since I stopped listening to popular r&b in middle school. "My body is your body / I won't tell anybody / If you wanna use my body / Go for it, yeah." What the hell is that? And that's the gd chorus so you have to hear it like 50 times and let me tell you, it embarrassed me each time. I would bury my vocals under the instrumentation of my lyrics were that shitty.
Let me clarify though, that I don't think this was the fault of the organizers of the DesFest; these bands are popular. I blame uneducated music fans for liking this crap.
But that's a-whole-nother tangent I don't feel like getting into at the moment. Sigh.
Here is my unfinished review and some amateur pictures I took:

Desdemona Festival
Sawyer Point in Cincinnati, OH
6.23-5, 2006

Despite what preconceived notions people may have, Cincinnati is a perfect place to host a music festival like Desdemona. It's a good central location for bands to travel to, it's beautiful (as long as you're in the right spot), and very user-friendly. I attended all three days of Desdemona and not once did I have trouble parking nor did I ever have to walk further than a block to get to Sawyer Point Park, where the concert was being held.
Sawyer Point is right on the Ohio River and is a mile long. ItÂ's strikingly beautiful how there are vast, green fields sandwiched between bridges signifying your entry to Kentucky: "Where education pays!Â"
There were 3 stages with shows staggered between them, starting every hour on the hour, from 4-10pm each night. 29 bands total, and only one band, locals The Sundresses, cancelled. From what I have heard there were next to no problems with the crowds (no fights, etc) and only one case of the dreaded technical difficulties during Rogue Wave's set on Sunday.
I arrived in Cincinnati on Friday night in time to catch The Apples Is Stereo, the VHS or Beta dj set, and Ghostface. The Apples In Stereo played, perhaps, the most enjoyable set of the entire weekend for me. They sounded immaculate; there was something about the sunlight and the air that day that complimented the Apples sugary sweet pop songs perfectly. I may never want to see them play a show indoors ever again. Another thing that made the Apples sound so good was the fact that they didn't try to get too loud. Sometimes you don't need to turn it up to 11 and luckily The Apples get that. Their set was a mixture of older favorites ("The Rainbow", "Go", "Strawberryfire", "Ruby", etc) as well as new songs from their upcoming album, New Magnetic Wonder, such as "Skyway", "You Gotta Play Tough, My Love" and "Open Eyes".
After the Apples In Stereo were finished there was a dj set by Craig Pfunder and Mark Palgy of VHS or Beta. These guys have been djing for years now, mostly in their hometown of Louisville, KY, and they seriously know their stuff. There is a secret to getting a bunch of indie rock kids to dance and these guys are certainly in on it.
The Friday night headliner was definitely the most unusual act of the Festival, former Wu-Tang member, Ghostface. I'm the first to admit, I'm not a hip-hop or rap fan. The only reason I knew that Ghostface was even in the Wu-Tang Clan was because he and his two hype guys were trying to get the crowd to chant about them. "We say 'WU!' You say 'TANG!' "WU!" "Err...Tang?" However, my favorite hype generator was the question, "Where all my weed smokers at?" It may have taken a couple songs but the crowd definitely got into Ghostface and were all holding up their lighters and cell phones in response. It was certainly a fun and interesting way to end the first evening of the festival.
Saturday was blessed with weather as beautiful as the day before and I arrived at the park as the New York band Cousin was performing on Stage 3. I don't think I had ever seen the trio in the daylight before and it brought a much different feel to their set. It certainly wasn't as at home in the sunlit park as The Apples In Stereo's set the day before, but that's probably an extremely unfair comparison. Lead singer, Raze Regal, always performs in a suit and I imagined that he must have been sweating his ass off as he screamed into the mic during the band's single, "The Girl I Knew". Cousin is always energetic and always fun. They didn't let the heat stifle their set and bassist Peter Klein was extra festive in all white and wearing a crown of dandelions.

...

Apples In Stereo

Cousin

stellastarr*

Enon

Annie

We Are Scientists

Chris Cain of We Are Scientists - "Don't even fucking bother..."

Fiery Furnaces

Radio 4

The Walkmen

Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen

i write stuff.

2006-06-28T21:04:00.000-04:00

March, huh? So you say you haven't felt like posting since last March and even then it was just a photo of Damon Albarn?? For shame.
Yes, it's true; I lost interest in the blogging. I even lost interest in reading most other blogs as well. I still read you ain't no picasso daily; because, let's face it, Matt blogs so often that he pretty much covers all the bases. There's also Optical Atlas; being an E6 friend it's crucial for me to keep abreast of all new happenings in that circle. Really, that's about it. But this may mark me getting back into the game here.
I recently began writing for the music website Harmonium. Reviews, previews, witty anecdotes, etc. I may also start contributing to other publications as well and thought that it would make a lot of sense to also post my musings here. Because I can. Pictures too. So, here's the most recent:

Late B.P. Helium / Thee American Revolution
The Dame in Lexington, KY
6.26.2006

The mere existence of Robert Schneider’s new band, The American Revolution, is no secret. However, details about the band are being left intentionally vague. Through a series of dropped hints, their song “Subscriptions to Magazines” being featured on a local compilation, and two deafening performances, some of us have gotten a chance to put some of the pieces together. The band performs as a trio; however, whenever Robert refers to the band he lists only himself and his brother-in-law Craig Morris as members, but also points out that there is a separate mastermind at work, guiding the band in the direction of his choosing. A man Robert addressed as “Billy” and thanked halfway through TAR’s set.
As far as the music itself goes, it has been described as “super fuzzy lo-fi psych-pop”, “retardo rock”, and “acid rock”. Think perhaps Deep Purple meets The Stooges meets (early) Pink Floyd. The music is very heavy and psychedelic and would be best accompanied by a fog machine and a liquid projector.
While this is all true, Schneider and Morris are still pop masters, and these sensibilities come through even in their TAR songs. The droning, distorted guitar lines never fail to fade long enough to hear a handclap or two and the songs contain excellent vocal melodies sung by Mr. Schneider himself.
There are very few TAR recordings; the band probably played every song they know onstage Monday night. They kicked into a magnificent psych-pop tune entitled “She's Coming Down” and while sounding as if all the fuzz may implode the speakers, it was all too perfect. The band played about nine or so more songs before closing their set with the favorite “Subscriptions To Magazines”, which Schneider claims he and Morris didn’t even realize was a rip-off of “Smoke On The Water” until after they had recorded it. But honestly, it didn’t matter if no one there knew any TAR songs by heart; it didn’t matter that some people didn’t know who Robert or Craig (lead guitar) or Otto (drums) were. If they happened to wander into The Dame in Lexington, KY on the night of the 26th they got their asses blown out by Thee American Revolution and that does matter.
One day everyone is going to know about this band and they won’t be playing to crowds of 20 anymore.

The Late BP Helium is the moniker under which Brian Poole performs and records. It may seem as if a self-proclaimed acid rock band would not be the most logical choice to precede the pop-rock, kazoo wielding Poole but, in actuality, they’re not far off from one another. B.P. has always been an experimental musician, manipulating and moving vocals around, not shying away from incorporating any type of instrument (no matter how un-pop they may be), and even perhaps including an unnerving chant into a track. Having played with Elf Power and Of Montreal, B.P. is also a connoisseur of delightful pop songs and is no stranger to the sweeter side of things, much like Schneider himself.
The Late BP Helium performed to, perhaps, the smallest crowd they had ever seen Monday night. It may be hard to imagine a band such as LBPH live, as opposed to banging on chicken wire in a studio somewhere, twisting knobs and recording themselves in bathrooms in order to get the sound that they do. BUT it’s certainly not a difficult show to watch. LBPH were magnificent and rocked socks off throughout the bar. Granted, there weren’t many socks in attendance but still.
The songs are filled out by guitars, guitars, guitars. B.P. and touring guitarist Casper Fandango (of Casper and the Cookies) could even be seen playing their instruments with their mouths at various points in the evening and B.P. even invited Schneider and his wife Marci Mars onstage to play percussion on “Candy For Everyone”. All of The Late BP Helium's songs have such a momentum to them, it makes you feel as if you're being thrust through the air while actually you're glued to the spot, transfixed and unmoving.
In the past I have claimed Late BP Helium to be an updated version of the Velvet Underground and they more than solidified this grandiose declaration with their performance Monday night. The only thing I’m left wondering is why B.P. spends so much time touring with other bands and not doing this full time.

Beetlebum

2006-03-28T20:17:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot how attractive Damon Albarn was. Well, then I saw this picture.

Whew.

We've got buttons.

2006-03-27T14:18:00.000-05:00

I made them, with a little help from my boyfriend. They sat upon the merchandise table at The Dame inside a tambourine. They were free to all and all were happy.

75 bands!

2006-03-24T17:30:00.000-05:00

What have I been doing with the majority of my day, you ask? This, thanks to a myspace bulletin featuring the following photo from Virgin, some promo or something, claiming that there were 75 featured musical artists represented. Once I started searching, of course, I couldn't stop nor was I satisfied with most of the incorrect guesses that were already supplied. Good work though to White Shoes and Porter who identified The B52's and The Talking Heads, respectively.
With a little searching I discovered that there is a bit on the left that gets cut off when you download the photo. So, there are 4 bands that you don't see. Lame. You can see the whole thing on the Virgin page.

Don't look below unless you want to be swayed by all of my answers!

Photo adorned with my answers (71 bands listed. well, 73 if you count the 2 doubles):

Bands that are cut off on the left:
1. Pet Shop Boys
2. Cake
3. Scorpions
4. Skinny Puppy

I like music nerd games.

np - Amy Millan - "Skinny Boy" & The Walkmen - "Louisiana" over and over.

Another VD!

2006-02-14T16:41:00.000-05:00

Some good Valentine's Day pick-up lines.
Thanks to Dreams of Horses for sending me there.
In the words of my 4 year old brother, Happy Ballentine's Day to everyone!

ldeal Free Distribution

2006-02-08T18:18:00.000-05:00

My bf and his hetero life mate, Craig, have pretty much always had a band (under various names), the latest incarnation being Ideal Free Distribution. They have an album, I, that they have been sending to labels for ages now. Finally, with the help of good ole Roberto Schneider, someone took the time to listen to it. I mean, the first time I heard I was shocked. I couldn't believe that a couple douchebags that I was friends with could create such excellent music! I think I even yelled at Tony and exclaimed that he should have warned me of its goodness. So, now there is talk of signing to a certain label and playing shows and me finally having a rockstar boyfriend.
The album is very rich and psychadelic and kind of give you a feeling of being enveloped inside of it, like Circulatory System or Brian Jonestown Massacre. Oh, how I love the wall of sound. There are a lot of layers and parts to the songs, backing vocals, tambourines, handclaps, plus you know guitars and what not. So, they want their shows to give off that same big feel as the songs themselves. That's where Marci, Shelly and I come in. We've been recruited to be the tambourine and maraca (and ass) shakers for the band. While also "bah bah bah"-ing or "la la la"-ing here and there, in addition to dressing mod and being attractive. So, suddenly I am in a band. A good one too. All in all, there are going to be 8 of us onstage. We're going to be like friggin' Belle and Sebastian. Magical!
This certainly gives me something to focus my creative energy into. Not like writing songs or anything like that, especially considering I can't play an instrument. But more along the lines of button-making, silkscreening band t-shirts, making cool show fliers, these kinds of activities or arts and crafts, if you will. I love being dorky!
I'm going home for a visit tomorrow, there is a marathon of activities planned. We have band practice this coming Saturday and Sunday. This is where Marci and I will figure out if we are capable of shaking a tambourine and "bah bah bah"ing at the same time. I honestly have no idea if I can or not. I mean, I'm sure I have the capacity to do it but I've never consciously tried before. It's gonna be weird! And I feel like we're both going to get yelled at a lot by both Craig and Tony.
There is one show on the horizon for certain. The band is featured on the wrfl "Know Your Own" vol. 2 compilation disc that is coming out this Friday the 10th. That night at Underlying Themes is the first of the release shows. There is going to be another however that IFD is going to play. There has yet to be a definite date set but it is going to be at The Dame sometime in March.
Craig is in a band with Roberto called Thee American Revolution; they play retardo rock, kind of along the same lines as The Stooges. They're playing on Friday night for the first KYO release show. It's going to be fun. Though, I'm not excited about having to sneak drinks at Underlying Themes nor am I too pumped up about finally scaling those creepy steps. There are always so many unsavories loitering in front of that door. Ugh.

A couple songs from I:
Ideal Free Distribution - I - Apples and Oranges
Ideal Free Distribution - I - Sonofagun

"With a vuh, vuh, vuh."

2006-02-01T19:01:00.000-05:00

Are You Afraid Of The Dark? is one of my very favorite shows of yore. I looove scary things. Above is the pilot, The Tale of the Phantom Cab. Duhn dun dun! It's the one with the riddles. Remember? Classic. Reading through the episode guide for this show is like reliving so many memories and remembering thoughts of my childhood. I don't know how I watched so much television when I was a child and didn't weigh 500 lbs.

3rd Episode - The Tale of the Lonely Ghost

TOP 5 late

2006-01-27T17:03:00.000-05:00

I figured I should compile this before February rolls around. Some things are undoubtedly left out. I didn't document my year as ocd as I normally would have due to my displacement, but I think I've covered most of the bases.

TOP 5 Movies of 2k5:
1. Walk The Line
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. Broken Flowers
4. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
5. The Nomi Song

TOP 5 Albums of 2k5:
1. BRMC - Howl
2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
3. Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
4. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
5. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better

TOP 5 Shows of 2k5:
1. Arcade Fire & Final Fantasy @ House Of Blues in New Orleans, LA - 1.24.2005
2. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah & The National @ Uncle Pleasants in Louisville, KY - 9.22.2005
3. Sufjan Stevens @ The Southgate House in Newport, KY - 9.14.2005
4. Castanets & Lazarus @ Circle Bar in New Orleans, LA - 3.10.2005
5. Melody Function & Scourge Of The Sea @ The Dame in Lexington, KY - 10.14.2005

That Arcade Fire show honestly feels like it was a lifetime ago. It was definitely the #1 of the year though. But, then again, it didn't have Belle & Sebastian or BRMC to rival.

kitty + lovesac

2006-01-17T22:10:00.000-05:00

What more could a girl ever need?? I mean, there's nothing cuter than seeing a floofy kitty curled up on what is essentially a gigantic beanbag that cost you a small fortune. I mean, right?

B&S induced bliss

2006-01-12T11:54:00.000-05:00

I have been listening to Belle and Sebastian ALL DAY. I love them so much. And suddenly, after watching the video for "Funny Little Frog", I want the bf to wear nothing but a form-fitting white v-neck and black pleated slacks for the rest of his life. Stuart Murdoch has such power over me!
Upon my first listen I totally didn't like The Life Pursuit whatsoever but after a couple more I started to dig it. There's just something really 80's Tears For Fears goobery about the music that makes you initially hesitant to give it a chance. But it's totally worth the time and effort. The instrumentation is just a lot different, there are harder sounds on this album than any of the others I think. Once I realised that was what was throwing me off I realised that it DID sound like B&S, just a little differently than I was expecting.
"Funny Little Frog" is a perfect first single for the album too. A classic B&S single.
Marci, the bf, and I are going to witness the magic that is Belle and Sebastian in concert together in Louisville on March 9th. It's going to be so, so wonderful. I can barely see straight. Marci, Carla, Sarah "The Scarf" Jarboe, and I saw them in St. Louis a couple years, after Dear Catastrophe Waitress came out, and I was drunk on B&S for like an entire week following. Maybe more. They have the power to make a girl happy. I'm going to dance the night away.

Belle and Sebastian - "Funny Little Frog" video

The Melody Function

2006-01-11T18:39:00.000-05:00

Oh, New Orleans, you're so familiar yet still foreign to me.

My lovely and amazing boyfriend's band, The Melody Function, is playing tonight at The Dame. I am very sad to miss them. They're in the middle of replacing their drummer and lead guitarist so it's sort of a transitional show. They're going to be 2 people short than usual so the set is going to be acoustey complete with shakers and tambourines. Oh, and Robert Schneider! But they'll probably never play another show like it so there goes my chance to witness the acoustey Melody Function. Imagine all those Kinks-esque songs all hippied up! Oh well. But Tony is coming to visit me soon so maybe I can talk him into a reenactment.
They have a couple songs on their myspace page for the masses to enjoy. They're good. Not about me though.

In other news:

You Are Not Scary

Everyone loves you. Isn't that sweet?

How Scary Are You?

Always good to know whether you're scary or not.

np - Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit

So, Happy Christmas. I love you baby.

2005-12-25T16:27:00.000-05:00

My favorite Christmas song ever always. It's sweet and pathetic and pretty. Perfect. Plus, I always love dueling vocalists.

Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues

It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in ten to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So Happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When he first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas Day

np - Scourge of the Sea - "Smitten Kitten"

Funk to funky.

2005-12-22T00:06:00.000-05:00

This turned out so nicely that I thought it best to post on the inter net.

What song was #1 when you were born??

Okay, for me, August 30th, 1980, (uh and bernie the jew, kenny, greg backus, lisa ling + lisa ling's twin) the #1 song in the UK was "Ashes To Ashes" by David Bowie and well, the first time I tried it I swear it said the #1 song in the US was "Rock With You' by MJ but I guess I willed that to happen. It was actually "Sailing" by Christopher Cross, which I have never heard in my life. (Ahh, mystery solved it was #1 on January 30th, 1980. I forgot to change the month. Mournful sigh.)

I am heading (back) to the KY tomorrow for the rest of the holidays. I am looking forward to watching my freshly-turned-4 year old brother go apeshit on all of his xmas gifts, playing with my friends, and hugging and kissing my attractive boyfriend. I'm also hoping to receive no gifts with Santa or any type of snowman or nativity scene emblazoned across sweatshirt material. It can happen this year, I feel it! Come on Mom, I know you feel it too! We need to get past this!

I have been listening to Supergrass nonstop for the past 2 days. I almost forgot how totally friggin' awesome they are. Might go see them in Nashville in Feb. Also, I'm still a total sucker for Mike Doughty. He could be singing a song about buying toilet paper at the Kroger or eating a Baby Ruth candy bar and I would still sit there, listening to it with my head cocked to one side, eyes skyward with a dopey grin on my face like it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. Total sucker.

This post is pretty disjointed but I haven't posted in so long (sorry deaner) and I just keep thinking of random things. Lastly, on the random tidbits that you're interested in, I just started to compile my yearly list of Top #5's (albums, shows, movies). It's tough. Esp since I didn't get to listen to damn near any new music the whole time I was evacuated. Mostly I stuck to ELO. But yeah, I was so out of the loop that entire time. Anyway, Top 5's of 2005 coming soon.

np - Mike Doughty - Haughty Melodic

At long last

2005-11-24T19:29:00.000-05:00

After a long stint in the KY I will finally return to the good/big/old/soggy easy next week. Due to various circumstances (no internet, no interest, boy, inebriation) I haven't bothered to post in the past 3 months, obviously. But I'll be in the NO again and back to service you via my neverending wit and wisdom again soon, my pretties!

Also, Happy Tofurkey Day!

Update

2005-08-31T18:34:00.000-04:00

I'm not dead but I do sort of want to kill myself. This totally sux.
I'll post more soon I promise.

The future:

2005-08-27T19:53:00.000-04:00

I seriously hate hurricanes. If my house is killed by a hurricane named Katrina I am going to be sooo pissed off. Right now I'm thinking about going to Atlanta so that I can be at my hotel, lying by the pool while my home and all of my belongings are being destroyed. Yay! Now excuse me while I go pack up all of my favorite things and then voluntarily evacuate.

Six Feet Under

2005-08-21T23:56:00.000-04:00

I am mildly obsessed; it's just too great and so nice to look at. I think I would be more bummed about it being over had I seen all the episodes but I've only seen the first and last seasons. At least I can still watch the ones in between. The females on the show are just tremendous! And all of the characters are such messes that I couldn't not watch.

np - Page France - "Rhythm"

Things that freak me out 1

2005-08-17T23:32:00.000-04:00

If I NEVER see another picture of "the world's ugliest dog", who is named Sam mind you, it will be too freaking soon. I basically share a name with the world ugliest dog; it doesn't even need to be in quotation marks because it's clearly true. That is one ugly sonofabitch dog. What happened to this poor creature to turn him into such a hideous monster?? I want to cry everytime I see his picture and suddenly now they're everywhere.
Those miniature babies really freak me out too. And lemme guess, that's real human hair too! Oooohhh! It's too creepy!

i am hobby

2005-08-17T22:55:00.000-04:00

Amb bought me a button maker like one year ago and I never could think of anything super cool to make into a button so I haven't used it. Until tonight. Amb and I watched part of Empire Records a couple weeks ago and I got a hankering to recreate Deb's "STU-PID" button that she gave to A.J. and that got me to thinking on some other potential homemade treasures. Linda has been wanting to go out and kiss some boys and she special requested one button so that she could maybe make a few extra bucks at the same time, hence the top button. The other is a product of my brain.

(This is what they look like, except cooler. And rounder. I cut out the text on the first one and glued them all on separately so it looks more fun.)

Button making is a lot of hard work but it sure is fun!

np - Iron And Wine - "Muddy Hymnal"

Indie rock wonderland

2005-08-16T22:44:00.000-04:00

So, the Athens Popfest 2005 was pretty darn fun. Robert was recording/mixing/whathaveyou with Will Hart for most of the time during the days so that equaled into lots o' Sam y Marci time. This consisted of activities such as watching Lifetime movies in our hotel room, napping, giggling, laying by the pool, eating soft batch cookies, and other things of that nature. I got into Athens at about 9pm on Thursday. Marci and I quickly slipped into our party pants and matching dancing shoes and went and ate dinner at Michael Stipe's bitchin' vegetarian restaurant, The Grit, before hitting the town. Here Marci and I both had two of the best sandwiches of our entire lives. I love eating at vegetarian restaurants and my food NOT tasting like it's been all ghetto-rigged together. I mean, that chick'n parmesan sandwich tasted like chicken parmesan is really supposed to taste. It was so yummy! There is a plethora of good veggie food in Athens thanks to the high concentration of the hippie/green/weird folk. Athens actually reminds me a lot of Lexington in certain ways. They are very close in size and when you go out you get that incestuous vibe that Lexington has. Everyone knows everyone else, everyone is intertwined in some way. Except of course, their music scene is much bigger and better, mostly due to the aformentioned higher concentration of weirdos there. So many people in Athens like good music! It's so refreshing.
The only band I remember really listening to on Thursday was The Visitations. I must have been loaded or something. Actually, I know we saw The Late BP Helium at some point. I'm thinking the schedule got switched up a bit and it was on Thursday just prior to The Visitations. Brian Helium is really attractive in a "he slightly resembles a goat" sorta way. All I could do throughout their whole set was stare at his goat head. They are very good though. We spend the rest of the evening at the bar nextdoor having to explain to Scott Spillane why we do not do drugs and do not like to be high. He couldn't fathom that at all.
Friday, Poison Control Center apparently were super fun and awesome. I met one of the guitarists, Patrick, at Marci and Robert's wedding in April and he was extremely fashionable and danced all night long. All three of us wanted to see his show but, no dice; we were too busy sitting on our asses in our hotel room and watching Arrested Development to get ready in time. But we did manage to see We Versus The Shark and Casper And The Cookies before Robert played and they were both semi-fun. Not enough so that I concentrated more on them than on my red bull and vodka though. During the acoustey part of Robert's set Will Hart and Bill Doss got onstage with him and they sang the old school song "Warm Milk and Chocolate", which was originally released on cassette in 1993. It was magical just seeing them all onstage together, let alone singing that song. Robert's Marbles show was extremely spirited and all of his E6 pals totally dug his theatrics, esp his I <3 MATH sequined jacket. Then Pylon pretty much brought the house down. I had never heard them before but had researched them a bit when I found out that they were the secret special guest. They were most popular in the early 90's and came out of the scene as R.E.M. That's exactly how they sound too; early 90's intellectual rock, the good kind. The lead singer is this woman who looks just like Marci's mother (and screams like her too) who is turning 50 this year and man, that lady sang her ass off! It was bizarre. The other guys in the band are all still skinny and lanky and just look like older dudes in a band but the lead singer looks like somebody's mom. But I really could see why people love them still after all of this time and were excited to get the chance to see them again after all these years. After the show Vanessa, the lead singer of Pylon, was fawning over Marci and Robert and telling them how great the Marbles show was and we were all backstage and she told us this riveting story about being in NYC in the 70's and meeting Andy Warhol in The Factory. God damn if I was too drunk to retain that memory. All I know is I was completely enthralled. Marci doesn't remember either; we are such drunk bitches. Oh, then we totally went to the lead singer of Elf Power's house because it was his birthday and he was having a party. I do not remember his name or how old he was but I do remember discussing how he looked like a Muppet with Marci, stealing his beers with Marci, and telling him Happy Birthday with Marci. We couldn't stay there for very long though because everyone there reeked of b.o. and we were loaded and tired. Seriously, I decided that 1 in 10 people in Athens just smells bad all the time. Pretty much I was constantly smelling body odor the entire time I was in the 40 Watt, just sometimes it was more potent than others. Don't those hippies know that they can get all natural soap? My Lush soap doesn't have animal fat in it and it makes my body smell like Pledge. I'll learn those darn hippies one day.
Saturday night Marci and I made a point to go out early, 8:30pm, to catch The Love Letter Band per the suggestion of d. But they had cancelled and Superfallingstars were filling in instead. They were fun, even though there weren't too many people there since it was so early and all. They finished it all off with a fun cover of "You Won't See Me" and had some awkward, little boys come onstage and assist with backing vocals. The lead singer, Mike, and I totally bonded later in the evening and talked about funny things. We also saw Elekibass, 63 Crayons, Circulatory System and Of Montreal that evening. Elekibass are 4 Japanese guys dressed in 3 piece suits who are totally hilaaaarious. They totally play up the fact that they are all asian and "don't speaka the engrish" so much. They were jumping up and down, playing their japanese regional art kazoos, tossing their top hats in the air, crowd surfing...I've never seen such a spectacle in the 40 Watt. Due to the fact that I had to go purchase their cd after they were finished, probably get some more alcohol and then talk to Marci about how funny those asians were I guess I missed most of 63 Crayons. Oh, I do remember though that I thought the lead singer vaguely reminded me of Clint Colburn. They look alike in the face a little bit, they do not sing at all alike though. I was super excited to see Circulatory System play; Will Hart is super anti-social so I never really thought I would ever get the chance to see him perform. They did not disappoint either. They were mesmerizing. CS is one of those bands that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and right, like their music is filling up the room. Perfection really.
Of Montreal was the final band of Popfest. They were good and all but I just saw them recently and I have realised lately that there are at least 2 members of the band that I think are complete dickheads and that really makes me give a shit about their music less and less. I don't know, it's unfortunate when that happens. I'll have to decided to get over it or let them go the way of GBV and no one really wants that.
I met about a million new, fun people and got the chance to get to know a bunch of the fun people that I've met already a little better. I was actually able to have a conversation with Bill Doss's wife Amy, who is so cool I can barely see straight. Talking to her, Kelly (one of Will's roommates), Eric Hernandez (one of the HHBTM guys who organized the whole Popfest) and Mike from Superfallingstars were probably my most enojyable interactions. Well, Marci and Robert too of course. Oh, John Fernandes is also fun. There are just fun people running around all over the place down there, eating good vegetarian food and playing tons of good music. It's a wonderland of sorts.
Oh, one thing I found out while in Athens, red bull is so not vegetarian. It has taurine (bull juice) all in there, as does apparently every energy drink. So, there go my energy vodka cocktails. WHY IS THERE MEAT JUICE IN EVERYTHING?! God!

The Popfest website has little bios for all of the bands that played over the weekend and an mp3 for about a 3rd of them. I've been listening to them all day.

Anton Newcombe is a loose cannon.

2005-08-11T04:46:00.000-04:00

Amberly and I went and saw the Brian Jonestown Massacre this evening and we both emerged victorious, aka without being punched in the face by Anton. Seriously, anytime I am attending a BJM show and I know Anton is somewhere in the building I'm constantly looking over my shoulder, trying to avoid an unprovoked punch to the back of the head or something. They were good though, whenever they weren't indulging in 30 minute long masturbatory jam sessions anyway.
And now I pack for Athens.

Oh, and I finally finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and now I'm all kinds of distraught. Just so you all know. Distraught.

My robot friend

2005-08-05T02:40:00.000-04:00

My friend Seandd is galavanting about the East right now "working"; he's in Tokyo at the moment and we were just emailing about how cool it is. His evidence was this:

"...the cool thing, too, is that they have robots everywhere. like, when they have road construction, instead of having a dude standing there with a sign, they have a robot that looks like a construction worker, and he has a sign and an arm pointing to the alternate route..."

God, that really blows the coolness factor of those Lexington segway cops WAY out of the water. Robots dressed as government workers and performing their duties is like the coolest effin thing I've ever heard!!

Nostalgia #1

2005-08-05T01:42:00.000-04:00

I am, as I often proclaim, a victim of nostalgia. I tend to place great sentimental value on anything and everything, but childhood items in particular. One of my favorite things to think back on and be nostalgic about is my old Swatch phone. When I was in 8th grade my best friend, Plemen, got one and we pretty much thought that it was the greatest invention known to pre-teens. It was called the "Twin Phone" and was equipped with dual receivers. After dialing, you could pick up the base and turn it over and there was another receiver so you and your BFF could talk to your other BFF on the phone at the same time.
In all its glory:

Shortly after Plemen procured her Swatch phone, I convinced my mother to haul my happy ass over to Service Merchandise where I was able to whip out all of my allowances that I had been hoarding and purchase one of my very own. I could hardly contain myself as I watched my new source of joy come down that conveyor belt. (Any and all theories on why Service Merchandise was sooo shady are welcome.)
Our phones looked just like the above picture except that Plemen's was dark blue and mine was dark green. And now that we both had them if the opportunity ever arose 4 of us hideous, awkward, acne-ridden freaks could all chat at the same time. Which you better believe we did whenever we got the chance. There was also a handy mute button, not readily available in those days, so that you could talk shit about your friend who was on the other line to your BFF in the room without her hearing as she was still babbling on the other end.
Unfortunately, little did we know that our great and wonderful fun with the Swatch Twin Phone was going to be fairly short-lived. Turns out they didn't really work so well after all, eventually both mine and Plemen's lives were turned into a living hell due to our previously beloved telephones! I know, it sounds dramatic now but just listen and imagine how infuriated you would be. And then imagine being a psychotic 13 year old girl on top of that. First, the saved phone numbers stopped dialing, then all of the number buttons stopped working, sometimes one of the receivers wouldn't work, sometimes the damn thing wouldn't even get a dial tone. What's worse than being 13 and trying to call your friend to talk you down from some hormonal crisis and your gd personal telephone not working?! Sometimes the Swatch phone would have a good day and things would come back to life and maybe some buttons would work again. But, really, neither of them were long for this world after that. Nothing can be expected to last long after being hurled against the wall in a fit of fury SO MANY TIMES, least of all a Swatch Twin Phone.
I hung onto the dead Swatch phone a long time though, even though it didn't work at all by that point I had it stashed in my closet for years and years. Apparently, I finally threw it away because I don't have it anymore. I'm sure I ditched it when I was approached with the idea of having to pack and move it somewhere else. The only time I ever throw anything away is when I am faced with packing all of my possessions and then hauling them somewhere new. That's the only time my pack rat nature becomes an issue. All other times I completely love that I am a total pack rat. Sad that my first phone (uh, SWATCH TWIN PHONE at that!) had to be lost to a move. Le sigh.

* This post is dedicated to Jenny Plemen, with whom I spent many longs hours talking on my Swatch Phone. In the past couple years I have reeeeally wanted to purchase her another one even though I know it would piss her off so much due to the immense rage that the thing caused her in 1994.

Mtv = suckfest

2005-08-02T22:38:00.000-04:00

This starts next Tuesday. I think I may meet Robert and Marci there for Friday and Saturday. I'll get to see Of Montreal, Circulatory System and Marbles, plus numerous other bands that I will probably enjoy. More than that though, I'll get to see Robert and Marci's shining faces and we can shake our asses together.
I thought for sure the "special guest" was going to be The Olivia Tremor Control since they have played a few shows this year. Not so.
Amberly and I are going to meet the Cocaine Bros at The Saint later tonight. The fact that we are hanging out with men we have dubbed "Cocaine Bros" does not necessarily mean that we will be ingesting said illegal substances. It just means that we will be staring at attractive mens is all. Just to clarify. I don't want everyone to think I'm all coked up all the time or something. The three of us hung out with Brother Tom again last weekend and we discovered that the Brothers were indeed brothers! We always suspected but never knew for sure.
And since when did "Mtv" become an acronym for "all hip-hop, all the time" aka "suckfest"?

Diego's story

2005-07-27T21:43:00.000-04:00

As all the world knows by now, I have a wee 3 1/2 year old brother. He is damn near as witty and attractive as I am too, I'm tellin' ya. This super random story is testament to that.
On the fam's last trip to that little place that I like to refer to as the armpit of the U. S. of A., Florida, they snagged themselves one of those pesky little lizards to cage and ogle at their leisure. (I was not included in this trip, mind you, as I would rather have my ass kicked than ever go to Florida again.) This poor little creature lives in his glass aquarium on the kitchen counter at my mother's house. One day, while I was watching Mark we went into the kitchen to make lunch and he hopped onto a chair and yelled, "Let's find Diego!" Visions of a fat, sweaty Latino with a thick moustache ducking behind our garbage can popped into my head as I asked, "Who on earth is Diego??" My bro then gave me a look to signify that I was clearly retarded and motioned toward the lizard's cage. I asked him how this little guy's name came to be "Diego" but he never did give me a satisfactory explanation.
FINALLY today I remembered to ask my mom what was up with that and she told me when they caged this creature and it was finally time for him to have a name the task was left up to Mark. He then apparently began sputtering gibberish and when my mom said she couldn't understand him he replied, "Mom, that's because I was speaking in Spanish." (Duh.) He wanted the lizard to have a Spanish name so my mom listed various, super obvious Latino names like Julio and Manuel until she finally came to Diego and my wee young brother was satiated.

Just so that everyone knows, Diego has been alive and well, living off of 12 crickets a week, in that cage for about 2 months now. He must be like Superlizard or something. I mean, he should certainly have croaked by now, right?

24 Hour Party People

2005-07-26T20:09:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday my roommate, Amberly, was reading poetry at the UNO (Uni of New Orleans) bar, Handsome Willy's, so Linda (my other roomie) and I set off for the place about an hour before she was supposed to begin. Luckily so, because that gave us exactly enough time to aimlessly joyride around in the ghetto, drive in circles, and not be able to find this bar that we'd been to before to save our damn lives. Who says it's a good idea to locate your bar right under the interstate anyway? We finally got there once Linda called Dr.J and he was able to direct us properly. Amberly read some nice poems to us all and looked attractive backlit while cockroaches walked around in the space between she and us. Drinks were on Dr.J too, which made it all the MO BETTA.
Unfortunately, it was all of 1 million degrees with the 100% humidity and Linda and I had to beat it and go elsewhere to sit inside, plus not be freaked out by the claustrophobic UNO bar (and all of the UNO students located therein).
Finally, we got to The Saint at about 11pm or so. I like to think of The Saint as the Buster's of New Orleans, only cooler of course. It's the one bar uptown where all the cool kids hang out. Cute boys too. Oh, and a photobooth. Sometimes it's nice to have something tangible to show for a drunken evening.
Since we were without any of our boy friends we met some mens to chat with in virtually no time regardless of the resounding glare of my shiney forehead.(Seriously, it was hot.) Not only did we meet a nice fellow, with whom Linda immediately joined lips, whose sculptures are displayed throughout the city but we ALSO got to hang out with a couple men that the roommates and I dubbed The Cocaine Brothers. These men are probably the most attractive boys in all of New Orleans. Without fail, they always show up if you are in a cool bar, they are always drinking cocktails no matter what time of the early morning, they are always wearing eyeliner, and always dressed totally mod. I would bet that they don't even know what jeans are. Sooo attractive, those Cocaine Brothers! So, due to the consumption of drugs, alcohol and spending time with witty and attractive men it was probably 8:30 in the morning when we finally opened the door of The Saint in order to reenter the outside world. Being inside The Saint is like being inside a casino. There are no windows, always drinks and fun people all 'round, and you never want to leave. Time stands still in that bar. Unfortunately, the outside world keeps a' spinnin' and every damn time I walk out that door it's daylight. It never fails. Only this time we decided to then go to the French Quarter and go to some more bars. A clever disguise on Cocaine Tom's part for "going to get more drugs". I don't normally do the drugs at all and never do I do them at 9 in the morning. That's just a waste. Nevermind the fact that if I would have put another mind altering substance, legal or no, into my body at that point I would have been permanently brain damaged. But I still went. And goodness! those Cocaine Brothers have an awesome apt right on Decatur St. I need to start selling drugs too if that's where it gets you! Sheesh. We weren't long for the rest of that venture though. It was getting later and later and subsequently hotter and hotter. There aren't many things stranger (how 'bout wronger?) than still being out at 10am, walking around in the heat, all amidst tourists. Hopefully though Linda and I can track those Brothers down again this weekend. We'll certainly try our damnedest.
Oh, can anyone guess what I did all day on Sunday? Yes, I slept all day. And when I wasn't sleeping do you know what I was doing? Napping.
It sure was a Nawlins kinda weekend. Whew.

Who?

2005-07-18T20:14:00.000-04:00

So, I've got this new sorta job writing music related things for one of the local free New Orleans newspapers, "Where Y'at". My first assignments were due today so, naturally, I waited until last night to write them. I don't mean to say they were difficult or that I needed a lot of time to write them up or anything; that's mostly the reason that I let myself wait until the last minute to do it. I wrote the show previews for the upcoming Holly Golightly and Brian Jonestown Massacre dates. The BJM was pretty easy, as I've listened to them for years now and seen them twice before. Holly Golightly, on the other hand, not so much. I saw her with Linda last year but other than that sorta didn't know jack shit about her. Well, that is no longer the case. In preparation for the 150-200 word show preview that I wrote I became a Holly Golightly expert. She's pretty cool by the way. And after trying to think of ways to sell these shows to people who have never heard of this music in their lives I got myself totally pumped up for them too. So...yay!
Anyway, here they are:

Holly Golightly
Monday 8/8, (?) PM
One Eyed Jacks (615 Toulouse, 569-8361)

In 1995 Holly Golightly left the all girl garage band Thee Headcoatees and began her solo career with the album The Good Things. Golightly plays rock 'n' roll music with a heavy blues influence. Throughout the years and her many albums she has remained true to her garage rock roots and her songs continue to convey that raw quality that many fans now associate with her music. Perhaps the best thing about Golightly is her beautiful voice, deep and befitting. It hasn't been long since Golightly was last in New Orleans; she played One Eyed Jacks in November of last year. She mingled with the swelling crowd right up until she took the stage. It was then that she proceeded to sing her audience into the night. Perhaps her disarming presence coupled with her ever charming accent have something to do with it, but Golightly has a knack for making one feel right at home watching her play and, at the same time, seems right at home herself.

Brian Jonestown Massacre
Wednesday 8/10, 10 PM
TwiRoPa (1544 Tchoupitoulas, 587-3777)

The first time I saw Brian Jonestown Massacre perform they made it
through three whole songs before they started swinging mic stands at
their audience; the second time I saw them they were perfect. The
music swelled and hung like a fog in the room, but not like the
sticky, nightly New Orleans fog. It was like a red-tinged cloud of
rock 'n' roll that you would never want to step out of. Anyone who saw
last year's documentary, DiG!, by Ondi Timoner knows that the former
scenario is what BJM is most infamous for. Anton Newcombe, the band's
mastermind, is widely thought of as a musical genius; but it's his
self-destructive nature that has hindered the band from becoming
popular for more than just their in-band fighting and their lead
singer's unpredictability. Still, Newcombe is infinitely inspired and
musically prolific. Unfortunately, due to his eccentricities and the
band's inability to function consistently they have been unable to
maintain a healthy relationship with a record label and have always
lacked major distribution. However, in Anton Newcombe's quest to take
over the world he will continue to tour and record as many albums as
humanly possible. Lucky for us.

BJM's new mini disc, We Are The Radio, comes out tomorrow on Tee Pee Records. You can listen to the single, "God Is My Girlfriend", on Tee Pee's site or the Massacre's myspace page. Dr. Newcombe is on his game. Ummnn, does he still do smack? Anyone know?

Another new song, but this one by BRMC, (yes!) can be found on their myspace page. It's called "Ain't No Easy Way" and it's really jangly and old timey rock soundin'. It sort of doesn't sound like BRMC. The new album, Howl, is supposed to come out on August 23rd. They're still attractive by the way. And I think maybe they've finally gotten some new black outfits! It's about time too, those old ones were starting to get a little too holey.

By the way, I'm seriously lovin' the myspacer lately. And bands, like reeeal bands, utilizing it to put their new songs out there for everyone to hear. You can listen to Death Cab For Cutie's single from their upcoming album on their myspace page too but I refuse to link to it because the song is too lame. I just checked to see if the Fruit Bats a.) had a myspace page and if so then b.) had their new song, Lives Of Crime, on their page. It seems as if they DO have a page but it must be really new because that damn Tom is their only friend. And that's just sad. (And no, the song isn't on there. Get it here instead.)

np - BRMC - "Ain't No Easy Way" (duh.)

Tomorrow:

2005-07-17T02:12:00.000-04:00

I bet it's gonna be magical; I'll let you know.

np - Sia - "Breathe Me"

There is an epidemic claiming our youth...

2005-07-15T18:41:00.000-04:00

At first I thought this Stop EMO Haircuts video was sort of hilarious. That is, until I noticed that they utilize the term "gay ass" and list the video's tag as "Fags". That sort of thing generally leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially when I don't know the people that are utilizing them. I do agree with the overall message. I never have been much of a fan of the emo hair, though still a sucker for the baby mohawk. Or feaux-hawk. (But what kind of boy would admit to having a "feaux-hawk"? really.) Also, what was up with it being all boys? There are a mighty lot of unsightly emo haircuts on ladies too. Oh well, maybe the death metal men that made the video don't mind the ladies emo do's so much. Thay can still want to have sex with them and feel okay about it, since they're ladies and all.

(As I was writing the above post I realised that Zebra posted a link to the exact same thing earlier. Whatever dude, I'm putting it up anyways.)

While we're on the topic of funny haircuts, I think I'll talk about mine. While I was home I got my mother to cut my hair. I told her I wanted pseudo-bangs and lots of layers. I can't get real bangs due to an unfortunate cowlick on my hairline. So, allow me to recount the exact moment when I realised I was going to have 80's hair. While my mother was snip-snip-snipping away I could see that some pieces of hair were like way, way shorter than some others and I asked her, "Mom, are you giving me an 80's haircut?"
To which she scoffed, "What? No." And then she thought about it for a second and she was like, "Well, actually I guess this could be considered sort of 80's." Then I laughed at the fact that my mother just admitted that she was in the middle of making me look 80's. But really, it's totally cool and looks good. Oh, we also dyed it red. I wanted it to be the same red as Kate Winslet's in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when she and Joel are in his memory in the what? 60's? when he was 4 and crawling under the table? Remember how gd cool Clementine's hair was in that scene? Man. (Here too.) Well, anyway, my mom refused so I settled for one shade more normal than Clementine's. Plus, the tips are still black from when Emily and I dyed it black for mine and Marci's Axl and Slash Halloween costumes almost 2 years ago. So, it's mostly red but with black on the tips of the longest pieces. (In case you're having trouble visualising, it looks super cool.) Really though, I think I would have been fine with my new hair no matter what decade it harkened back to. I was so tired of having the hair style "LONG" that I could've died.
I totally love having dyed hair. I think if my hair was lighter I would just dye it constantly, until it fell out I suppose. Then I could just wear my pink wig every day. Everybody wins.

Things to do tomorrow:

2005-06-30T23:47:00.000-04:00

1. Tell my kitty that I love her.
2. Hang out in airports all day.
3. Go to Kentucky.
4. Hug and kiss my friends.
5. Slap on my party pants and dancin' shoes.
6. Get loaded in downtown Lexington.
7. Hug and kiss my friends some more. (Probably some more than others. And with more tongue.)
and finally,
8. Pass OUT!

just outside of Louisville

2005-06-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

Yeah, that looks about right.

The trailer and a "first look", super duper long trailer are finally up for Elizabethtown. The website claims that it is going to be in theatres (only!) in October 2005. The movie actually looks really cheesy and like it's probably pretty bad. If the trailers are an accurate depiction of the film then I am going to be so sick of looking at Orlando Bloom's face by the time it's over. Mostly though, I just hope that no matter how bad it is, that it is NOT a Garden State 2. God, that would be fucking tragic. But, what the hell; it's Cameron Crowe, right? He's good; he knows what he's doing. And he loves music, so at least it's a pretty sure thing that the soundtrack will contain lots of fun twists and turns. He is still championing Elton John, as evidenced in the longer trailer. Oh, and the boys (all except for the keyboard player, I think?) from My Morning Jacket are in the movie as well, which I think is pretty cool. Cameron is keeping it hometown proud by casting a band from Louisville. But it seems that they are not appearing the movie as My Morning Jacket but just as the band in which one of the characters, Jessie, plays drums. Hopefully there are some nice landscape shots of the KY in all its green glory. I'll go see the movie just for that. Oh, and to reminisce on the night when Loudon, Kirsten and Orlando came to Lexington and we took Kirsten and Orlando to The Bar, where they proceeded to not dance because they were too stoned. And I was too loaded to form complete sentences so I didn't much try to talk to them. Kirsten only had eyes for Clint anyway. They were very nice though. I'm just sad that Paul Schneider, who was also in All The Real Girls, didn't come. Or Judy Greer (she played Kitty, the assistant in Arrested Development). She is hilarious! But I am very thankful that there was no Jessica Biel popping up at The Dame that night. I can't imagine what it's like to have to look at her face in real life! Yikes. But Orlando and Kirsten were representing properly on their own. And all of us have this unlikely story to tell all of our friends forever and ever. Whenever I tell someone about meeting them the reaction is always, "What??!! You met them in Lexington? Blah blah. What the hell were they doing there?!" I keep trying to tell everyone, Lexington's where it's at. No one listens. I get no respect.

regular trailer

the longest trailer of all time

Kentuck-ian-Zombies

2005-06-24T19:12:00.000-04:00

It's official; I am spending July 1st - the 10th in the ever exciting land of Kentucky! I am oh, so happy that I will be hugging and kissing all of my far away friends again. My mom and little bro too. I can only be invited to my 3 year old brother's house to play in his room with him while watching the Spongebob Movie so many times before I completely cave. He's quite phone savvy, that one. That coupled with his preternatural (thank you, Royal Tenenbaums) understanding of the little kid guilt trip makes his demands that I visit nearly impossible to oppose.

I did not get him stoned previous to the taking of that photo; that's just how he looks. Except for he usually has a shirt on and pants off. Other than my babe, Mark, I hope to spend lots of quality time with the likes of Marci a-go-go, Robert effin Schneider, Zebra, JNI, Nickalicious, Tony, Greg B, Seandd and etc etc. (Steven, how often do you come visit?) It would be nice to come across some other folks like Rock and Honey, Shannon, Nan, Clint, EmilyV and her wee babe but we're all too backward to try to call one another to arrange something so hopefully at least some of us will find ourselves getting loaded in a similar area of town. There aren't too many choice spots to do that in either so I look forward to everyone and their dog getting the chance to ask me about how unbearably hot it is here in the NO. And it is.
The Cloud Room are playing at the Southgate House while I am home so I think I'll probably go look at them. There was a little talk about them a couple months ago because Arcade Fire was spotted at one of their shows. I heard one of their songs, "Hey Now Now", which I thought was just regular at the time. But apparently, according to their website, CMJ claims it is fit for an iPod commercial. That's serious talk.
Land of the Dead opens today. Amberly is so psyched to see it that she can barely see straight. At least the undead in this one are not fast-moving like in the Dawn of the Dead remake. That will make them far less scary, at least to me. I hope. I'm totally interested to see a modern George Romero zombie movie though. We're going tomorrow night; I am hopeful that it is going to be awesome.

np - Electrelane - "Birds"

Frankie In The Quarter

2005-06-23T02:29:00.000-04:00

Guess who my roommates and I were lucky enough to cross paths with last Saturday in the French Quarter. That's right, Frankie Muniz.

Speaking of Frankies, does anyone remember the song "Fuck Frankie" from the Marilyn Manson Smells Like Children album? Yipes.

np - woxy

that happy clappy band

2005-06-23T01:39:00.000-04:00

Gawrsh. Lookit how popular Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is getting all of a sudden. Every blogger in town is raving on and on about them, Pitchfork gave their self-titled album a 9.0 AND David end-all-be-all Bowie is going to see them in concert. Hmm, last time I heard about Mr. Bowie making a special appearance at a show was the Arcade Fire back in January or so. Hopefully, CYHSY can follow in their many footsteps and be all wonderful and popular because I think they're really good. The Pitchfork review is right on, in my opinion. For once. Part late 80's modern rock, part Talking Heads(seriously, David Byrne's vocals are being channeled here), part Modest Mouse. ALL GOOD.

yay mp3's!
In This Home On Ice
Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood
Over And Over Again (Lost & Found)

np - Six Feet Under Soundtrack Vol. 2

Paisanos and Goths unite.

2005-06-21T03:04:00.000-04:00

/

Super Mario Bros music/Nine Inch Nails - "Closer" mash-up.
Jake Fogelnest told me about it, so you can thank him.

np - The Fame - "Lost In You"

Everything's better with floof.

2005-06-20T20:10:00.000-04:00

This is Pumyra (pronounced Poo-mere-uh); she is my #1 favorite kitty of all time. She's certainly not the nicest kitty but we've known each other a long time and I have gotten pretty good at sensing when she's about to play bite or bite for real. She is 4 years old but still kitten-sized. I think maybe that has something to do with her surly demeanor. She has little kitty syndrome. I love her.

This is Amberly's Hareton. He's my roommate and my 2nd favorite kitty ever. This is mostly due to his love of computing and the fact that we are bed buddies. I'm going to adopt him one day.

I am bitchin' by default.

2005-06-20T19:50:00.000-04:00

I just ordered the above shirt from Defunker and, let me tell you, it is so bitchin'.

Texas Instruments

2005-06-16T12:29:00.000-04:00

Honestly, I don't know why I think this is funny. Maybe it's because it instantly makes me think back on my high school days, when I finally entered real math classes, and had to purchase a TI-82 and had no fucking idea how to work it. Imagine, or remember rather, just discovering this horrifying thing called a "parabola" and seconds later being instructed how to create one on this calculator that is before you. Nevermind that there are so many buttons, most with like 43 functions, that one of them surely launches rockets somewhere. Really the only thing I utilized my Texas Instrument for was to try my damnedest to figure out how to cheat on tests and store every possible formula somewhere in that honkin' thing. Usually somewhere I was never able to locate again, or would accidentally erase immediately. After completing Algebra 2, much to my relief, I lost track of my TI-82. I don't know what the hell happened to it but years later, in college, I had to purchase a TI-83 and then had no fucking idea how to work it. God damn MATH 109.
On second thought, this whole TI-83 business isn't funny at all. Although, I guess the TI's have only tried to ease my math pain so perhaps I should be thankful. I sort of feel like it's okay to embrace the TI's. Luckily there were always people even more ignorant than I, who needed even more instruction on how to operate the machine.
Jesus, I almost forgot how math retarded I am. I should probably be getting checks from the government. Or at least be issued some sort of handicap permit for my car.

np - Youth Group - Skeleton Jar

I almost forgot,

2005-06-14T23:38:00.001-04:00

NOT GUILTY.

np - MJ - "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"

The early bird gets the unreleased music!

2005-06-14T19:26:00.000-04:00

My Sufjan Illinois cd already came in the mail! It arrived yesterday in all it's glory. Asthmatic Kitty is awesome. Man, I love ordering albums directly from the record labels. Generally, I find that if I'm preordering, they come much earlier than if ordered from Amazon or someplace like that. Also, they usually tend to include some extra junk that may or may not be fun. And I loooove junk.

I think this, from i.am.large, is somewhat absurd:

Now you can save text on your iPod. You know, just in case you're out and need to read some inspirational haiku and have forgotten your handy mini-sized Inspirational Haiku Book (<-- that's the title) at home. I guess.
I just don't fully understand the concept of being able to do things like read a poem (or Leaves of Grass, wtf?) on your iPod, or check your email on your cell phone. Wouldn't you be scrolling down like every half a second? I barely have enough patience to text message.

np - Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise

Sufjan invites you...

2005-06-09T14:26:00.000-04:00

Sufjan Stevens' Illinois isn't released until July 5, 2005 but you can preorder from Asthmatic Kitty now and they will send it along in about a month's time. The cd is only $10, which was too cheap for me to pass up. (It's $13.99 on Amazon.) The coinciding Illinois poster is pretty cool too with Abe and the spaceships and all.

np - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! - "Over and Over Again"

Ooglegay

2005-06-05T02:19:00.000-04:00

Today, thanks to Brooklyn Vegan, I learned something great. In addition to being able to Google in all of the languages of the world you can also try these:
Bork, bork, bork!
Elmer Fudd
Hacker
Klingon
and Pig Latin!
Either pig latin or bork! would have to be my preferred method. I mean, pig latin is the all time funniest dialect but you can't really beat hearing everything in your head spoken in the Swedish Chef's voice. Though I am pretty damn easy to entertain. I think that it's funny that you can Google in Swahili. Ummnn, like anyone who speaks Swahili knows how to work a computer! Come on, people!

To DJ,

2005-06-05T02:15:00.000-04:00

I apologize. I really didn't intentionally leave the pickleloaf there for you to be confronted with for all of eternity. I promise to post and post until it's migrated safely down the page and, eventually, into the oblivion of archives.

The unmistakable taste of pickleloaf...

2005-05-16T03:33:00.000-04:00

Earlier this evening I was enjoying a dish that is commonly refered to as "Dixie Chili Dip", from those of us from the Cincinnati/Northern KY tri-state area, and drinking a cherry coke. Directly following this fine meal I enjoyed a cigarette. About halfway through this cigarette I noticed a foul taste in my mouth and after some pondering I realised that the taste in my mouth was none other than pickleloaf. I don't think I have ever actually even tasted pickleloaf but I have smelled the disgusting stuff and it is one of those things that I imagine tastes exactly like it smells. In conclusion, Dixie Chili Dip (philadelphia cream cheese, Dixie fake Chili & shredded cheese) + Cherry Coke + 1 Marlboro Ultra Light = pickleloaf. Sick.

This is posted mostly as a warning to all that these elements are 3 great tastes that taste weird together. Don't do it!

Headphoners

2005-05-10T01:37:00.000-04:00

The Headphone's, a Pedro the Lion side project, self-titled album is released today on Suicide Squeeze Records. David Bazan, aka Pedro, on vocals. No guitars. It feels warm and inviting, melodic and comforting. I'm not sure about it yet though, perhaps I'm put off because I was completely unaware of this project until about half an hour ago. I need to know these things sooner to prepare.

Headphones - Pink and Brown

"I'm Billicio Del Joelio."

2005-05-06T19:56:00.000-04:00

WHAT I WOULD
BE THINKING ABOUT
IF I WERE BILLY JOEL
DRIVING TOWARD
A HOLIDAY PARTY
WHERE I KNEW THERE
WAS GOING TO BE
A PIANO.

by Michael Ian Black

thank you stereogum!

Baby, I'm bad news...

2005-05-05T22:52:00.000-04:00

Rilo Kiley have a video for the best song on their latest album, More Adventurous, "Portions for Foxes". I thought it wouldn't hurt to link to it on here for 3 reasons:
1.) Jenny Lewis is the cutest indie rocker girl ever. How anyone could ever resist her stunning fashion sense AND the fact that she starred in the classic film The Wizard alongside Fred Savage, well, I'll never know. How can any NES loving child of the 80's not love her unconditionally solely based upon that fact? (Maybe I need to devote an entire post on my undying love for The Wizard. Yes. Yes, I do.)
Alright, anyway... back to Jenny's current project, Rilo Kiley.
2.) The song, "Portion for Foxes", in case you forgot during my rant, is fun.
And 3.) The taxidermy.

The members of Rilo Kiley, amidst stuffed dead things, mildy rocking out in various fashionable outfits found below, in various formats to please Zebra.
Windows Media Player
Quicktime

Come on, Feel the Illinoize!!

2005-05-05T12:32:00.000-04:00

Lots of great hi-res photos and a detailed article on Sufjan's new album are located here. The new album is succintly titled Illinois. The cover on this page says the album title is Come On Feel the Illinois but I'm thinking someone just whipped it up for shits and giggles since no cover art has officially been declared to us publix yet.
Oh, and Wyoming is next? I said Kentucky, Sufjan! KENTUCKY!

2nd of 50 States

2005-05-05T01:13:00.000-04:00

Sufjan Stevens is in the forefront, side by side with Sam Beam, leading all of the other aspiring indie folk rockers. Sufjan's new album, Illinois, 2nd in his 50 States, 50 Albums project, will be released July 5th on Asthmatic Kitty. This is his 6th LP, and most certainly the best. And that's quite a statement, considering how great Seven Swans and Michigan are.

First of all, look how cool all of the song titles are:
1. Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, IL
2. The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience But You're Going to Have to Leave Now, or, "I have fought the Big Knives and will continue to fight them until they are off our lands!"
3. Come on! Feel the Illinoise!
-Part I: The World's Columbian Exposition
-Part II: Carl Sandburg Visits Me in a Dream
4. John Wayne Gacy, Jr.
5. Jacksonville
6. A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane, But for Very Good Reasons
7. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step Mother!
8. One Last "Woo-hoo!" for the Pullman
9. Chicago
10. Casimir Pulaski Day
11. To the Workers of the Rockford River Valley Region, I have an Idea Concerning Your Predicament, and it involves shoe string, a lavender garland, and twelve strong women
12. The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
13. Prairie Fire That Wanders About
14. A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze
15. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
16. They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhhh!
17. Let's Hear That String Part Again, Because I Don't Think They Heard It All the Way Out in Bushnell
18. In This Temple, as in the Hearts of Man, for Whom He Saved the Earth
19. The Seer's Tower
20. The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders
-Part I: The Great Frontier
-Part II: Come to Me Only With Playthings Now
21. Riffs and Variations on a Single Note for Jelly Roll, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, Baby Dodds, and the King of Swing, to Name a Few
22. Out of Egypt, into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I shake the dirt from my sandals as I run

There is a wonderfully comprehensive post over at Gorilla vs. Bear that links to all of the leaked tracks as well as an article on the upcoming album. Honestly, I cannot wait to hear this album in its entirety. I have heard naysayers that think Sufjan's 50 States project is dumb or cheesy but I love it and think he's going about it in a completely tasteful, exciting way. On his website you can visit his "Say Yes! to Michigan!" page wherein Sufjan welcomes you to the state and proceeds to direct you to click on each city's link so that you can here the accompanying song from the album and also read more about the city. Also found is a comprehensive list of the state's symbols, did you know that Michigan's state fish was a brook trout? Well, now you do. You can also learn plenty of random facts about the state, such as the highest (Mt. Arvon, Baraga County, 1,979 feet) and lowest points (Lake Erie, 571 feet). This is any elementary student writing a report on The Great Lake State's dream interneck site.
Anyway, I think that John Wayne Gacy, Jr. is my favorite track so far. He sings about his serial killing so sweetly! It's really strange to sing along to.
I hope that Sufjan gets to his Kentucky album before he either dies or looses interest in the rest of the unimmortalized states. I wonder what on earth he would sing about to fill an entire cd with songs about Kentucky. The Kentucky Derby? Abraham Lincoln's birthplace? (so boring to visit by the way) uhhmm...UK basketball? Shakertown? Patti's 1880's Settlement House? God, now I really can't wait to find out! I think I'll start comprising a list of possible songtitles and send them to Sufjan so that he can start working on this project right away.

Here come The Raveonettes.

2005-04-24T00:03:00.000-04:00

My educated opinion is that The Raveonettes are soooo cool and such hot stuff. Their new album Pretty In Black is released on May 3rd. Finally. Here's hoping it's as shockingly addictive as Chain Gang Of Love. You can stream snippets of the new jams on the band's website. As far as I can tell, the new songs sound awesome. It's inevitable that I love this band, they're straight out of the 50's! They even do a cover "My Boyfriend's Back" by The Angels for crying out loud. I'm powerless.

"Love In A Trashcan" video

Aye?

2005-04-11T16:55:00.000-04:00

Jesus, the cover of Time. It is the Canader version, which is like a knock off of anything that matters, but that is their native homeland after all. Everyone else in Canada must be so pumped up that they can't even see straight. FINALLY! Something they can be proud of!
Good to know that the Arcade Fire's machine for taking over the world is still working. We'll all be dressed in hip funeral attire, marching behind Win Butler while banging on shoulder slung drums and each others motorcycle helmets before too long. I can't wait.

Holy shit, I think I can see my house from here!

2005-04-11T15:33:00.000-04:00

The new Google Maps Satellite is awesome! I'm not kidding; I just searched for my address and there it is. There is my house. If I were able to zoom in any further I would probably be able to see myself through the window sitting on my ass, unshowered at 2:30 in the afternoon.
And try getting directions too! Oh my god, why am I so excited?
I think I am going to go look up every address in my Rolodex now. But not until after I tell Mapquest that I never want to see him again.

Whenever I wake up...

2005-04-10T23:35:00.000-04:00

Probably most people have had the pleasure of seeing the new Adidas commercial "Hello Tomorrow" directed by Spike Jonze with the accompanying song being composed by Squeak E. Clean and sung by Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The video is beautiful first of all, the direction and music are perfectly matched. The video itself is very fluid and serene and it features a pretty boy running about in the middle of the night. The song is Karen O at her best. When the Yeah Yeah Yeahs first came out with their self-titled EP there was no band that I loathed more. Seriously, we're talking hated with the fire of a thousand suns. But then when I lisnted to "Maps" of off Fever To Tell I realised that there was a completely different side to Karen O's voice than the screaching bullshit that I had heard on almost every other Yeah Yeah Yeahs song. Thank god. When she's actually singing it's almost like a modern day Chrissie Hynde.
I've heard that Wes Anderson has signed a contract to direct 3 Pepsi commercials. I know that the thought of this has some Wes Anderson lovers hanging their heads in despair but I am intrigued to see what comes of it all. I love this new wave of artsy commercials that we're seeing. We can all thank Nick Drake and VW for that I think.

Adidas "Hello Tomorrow" commercial
Karen O - Hello Tomorrow (original version)
Karen O - Hello Tomorrow (full version, with more production)

Mmm, meat.

2005-03-24T18:02:00.000-05:00

Salami floormats... Now, that's funny!

Action Jackson shakes his coconuts.

2005-03-23T14:24:00.000-05:00

Earlier this morning I was innocently watching Junior Senior videos and first on the list was "Shake Your Coconuts". I was watching and watching and about 5 seconds into the song it cuts to a shot of this flambouyant, clearly gay man in tight ass clothes and a scarf dancing his fanny off and I think "Oh my god, that was so Bryan Jackson!" It was. He prances around and shakes his thang. It's awesome. It was really nice to see some of the residual shit that Bryan may or may have not fucked up when he was in the HELL-A.

ps - Junior Senior rule.

Pick up the phone!

2005-03-23T13:54:00.000-05:00

Why am I cursed with my stupid Sprint cellular phone?! Why, 3 years ago when I was perusing all of the cellular phones, did I choose one of the Sprint models? Were they cheaper than the others? Was the Circuit City worker trying to force one upon me? Did my grandmother tell me that they were superior? What?? WHY?! Because all I know is the FLAVA FLAV ringtone is available for T-Mobile, Cingular and AT&T subscribers ONLY. I cannnot articulate how much I love the "FLAVA FLAV! YEEEAH BOYEE!" It brings joy into my life, as does the small, black rapper man from which it emanates. All I want is to be alerted to future phone calls by none other than Flava himself. Is it so much to ask? I am being excluded simply because I pay Sprint to let me receive phone calls on the go as opposed to paying AT&T for that service. It's discriminatory for certain. Flava, I will have you one day, until then I'll have to exist with you only in heart.

Attn Hulkamaniacs turned indie rockers:

2005-03-17T00:21:00.000-05:00

Of Montreal - So Begins Our Alabee

The album that features this song, The Sunlandic Twins, will be released on April 12th on Polyvinyl Records. This sounds like one of the tracks that Kevin Barnes may have spent days hours upon hours hunched over his laptop with, rearranging everything, slapping in all the sythesizer, the sonic meanderings, and "oh, oh, oh's" in their proper spots. This song picks up right where "Disconnect The Dots", the first single from Of Montreal's last album, Satantic Panic In The Attic, left off. Avant-disco, indeed. Indie rock that you can dance to!

Antony and the Johnsons - Hope There's Someone

Umm, could I possibly love this song more? In fact, I loved this song instantly upon hearing it and since that time, this love has evolved into a burning passion of sorts. This is opening track on the second full length album of Antony's, I Am A Bird Now, released on Secretly Canadian. The song is made up of two things, Antony's voice and Antony's piano. It's amazing the passion that he can envoke through those two simple instruments. There is something very 1950's about the way that Antony sings, the deep, rich tone and vibrato. People don't do that anymore.

So, now that I have posted 2 songs that I genuinely like, I clearly must address another good-for-completely-different-reasons song. And here we go.

Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band - Hulkster In Heaven

Not just kidding. Listen to it; I dare you. AND if you sit through the entire song...you win! It's nearly as bad as Pee Wee Herman's classic "The Bird's The Word". Concerning that matter, I can't make it through the whole thing in one sitting but don't worry, I have the 7 inch. I sort of want to say a lot more things concerning the ALBUM "Hulk Rules" by Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band but that may make my head explode. However, you can purchase it on Amazon. As you will see it features other worthy tunes such as "Hulkster's In The House", "Hulkster's Back", "Hulk's The One", "Hulk Rules" and "Beach Patrol" (?). I wonder which is worse, this or "Be A Man" by the Macho Man Randy Savage. It looks like the Macho Man's album has a little more variation to it; though I just looked at the titles of the songs and ventured that guess. OH YEEEAAHHH!

She'll bring the good stuff

2005-03-14T13:42:00.000-05:00

Nathalie Nordnes - Join Me In The Park

The Norwegians are in practice of perfecting the airy, bubbley pop music lately. Nathalie has officially joined the Sondre Lerche/Annie Club. I would definitely meet her in the park.

It's alright to want more than this.

2005-03-11T15:06:00.000-05:00

Last night I drug my friend Eric to the hole in the wall Circle Bar to see the Castanets play. And I'll be damned if everyone else shouldn't be sad that they missed it. A San Francisco band, Lazarus, opened up. They played a spirited but very short set. It was too short for me to even really decide if I liked them or not. I far from hated them but I needed a little more to go on. You aren't going to sell any homemade cdrs by playing 5 songs to a roomful of strangers no matter how lanky and agonized 2/3rds of your band appears to be. Though, to Lazarus's credit, the lead singer did mention that they had been driving around like mad so perhaps they were just too tired to rock out for long.
The Castanets, which last night was just Raymond Raposa and Brigit DeCook, used the same instruments as Lazarus so they played almost immediately after the first set was finished. I think I like to describe the Castanets as Iron and Wine's younger, more impressionable brother. That's what they sound like. It's good and the style of music is similar but Castanets songs are not quite as mature as those of Iron and Wine.
Raymond stepped into the room, took his flip flops off, strapped a guitar on and pretty much started singing. He didn't use a microphone, just sang directly at the people who were sitting and standing before him. The room he was playing in is miniscule (smaller than the music room in mine and Marci's old apartment) so this worked. Unfortunately, the Castanets set was rather short as well, as are most of his songs but performed with all the soul and hand-wrung angst that I could ever ask for.
Anyone who loves Iron and Wine and the Mountain Goats should definitely seek the Castanets out. (I fall under this category.)

Rock and Roll Circus!

2005-03-07T14:50:00.000-05:00

I have been in love with The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus for a long time now. I first saw this gem about 5 years ago when Marci commandeered her dad's copy for us to enjoy. It was out of print forever and ever until recently when it was finally released on divid. It began as the brainchild between Mick Jagger and Pete Townsend; The Rolling Stones and The Who were going to tour across the Unites States as the Rock and Roll Circus, complete with music and circus performances. But as there was not an efficient enough railway system here the plan was foiled. Now we are just left with this amazing, once in a lifetime occurance, which is also that much more significant as it is the last Rolling Stones performance with Brian Jones, who died shortly thereafter. Other artists who are featured are The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Jethro Tull, Dirty Mac (John Lennon, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Mitch Mitchell) and of course, the ever-present Yoko Ono. It's amazing that such an event ever took place. A must see if anything ever was.

Today was a good day.

2005-02-23T00:27:00.000-05:00

All of these things came out today:

Arcade Fire - Funeral LP
Though I've had the cd for months and months now, I will have to own this because I am anal. The whole record is a picture disc, with an extension of the album art displayed on it.

Ian Brown - Solarized
I saw the video for "Keep What Ya Got" with Noel Gallagher the other night; it followed the video for "I Wanna Be Adored". It paled in comparison my friends, but I ask you, what wouldn't? Plus, Ian Brown is getting old and haggard; we need to take what we can get. Don't worry, he still has attitude.

Clem Snide - The End Of Love
Yeah, I love Clem Snide and despite all of my pirating efforts I have only heard "Fill Me With Your Light" and well, it sounds like Clem Snide alright.

Crooked Fingers - Dignity and Shame
I haven't listened to much Crooked Fingers but I'm starting slowly. "Islero" is cool; I'm waiting for the rest to grow on me. I'm digging the horns.

Enon - Lost Marbles & Exploded Evidence
I think Emily Venters likes this band, maybe we should all ask her about this. They play at Twiropa in a few weeks with Clem Snide so I suppose I'll have to listen to this before then.

Adam Green - Gemstones
He's a novelty artist. The song "Carolina" has the word vagina in it and Amberly said that his cover of the Beach Boys' "Kokomo" made her want to kill herself. It seems like that's all anyone would need to know.

Jeff Hanson - s/t
I just discovered this wonderful man a couple days ago. Dude sings like a lady but he does it so well! He's Elliott Smith and Sean Lennon with the voice of Hilarie Sidney (yep, Apples in Stereo and High Water Marks Hilarie). I swear!

Ida - Heart Like A River
Jenni once made me borrow an Ida cd from her. I was underwhelmed; I think I still am. The music is sooo soft and slow that you might as well just not be listening to anything.

Iron & Wine - Woman King EP
Sam Beam is a good and wonderful man who never ceases to make my life have meaning with every bit of music that he makes. In a word full of emo and rock 'n' roll that caters to the brokenhearted and unloved males he puts out an ep about women, "both archetypal and personal". I love.

Juliette & The Licks - Like a Bolt of Lightning EP
Err, I don't know but it only costs $6.98. Honestly, it doesn't sound all that good. Shocking, I know. Too bad she doesn't have PJ Harvey to write her songs like her character in Strange Days because I remember thinking she wasn't that bad then.

Kings Of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
The beginning of the first song on this album sounds like early Shins, or rather Flake Music. It's rockin' 'n' rollin' but nothing too special. They're playing the House of Blues with my favorite Features in March so I'll see if they can stand the test of the live show. Probably those Features will steal the show away though no matter what.

Ben Lee - Awake Is The New Sleep
Claire Danes totally dumped him for Billy Crudup; the fact that he can accomplish anything after having to face that humiliation is commendable. Really though, it's typical Ben Lee. It's sweet and I like to listen to it but the sad truth is and always will be that he never should have recorded Grandpaw Would because nothing he does will ever be as good as that ever again.

Nedelle - From The Lion's Mouth
I also downloaded an mp3 of this fine lady when I was checking out the Jeff Hanson songs on the Kill Rock Stars website. God, go there and listen to it! Oh, the harmonizing! Her songs sound like they should have been featured in the movie Dead Poet's Society.

Robbers On High Street - Tree City
If you've misplaced all of your Spoon cds then this is the band to turn to. Otherwise, ehh.

Josh Rouse - Nashville
I like Josh Rouse; he makes nice music. This album is no exception. I also just read that he has contributed a cover of "It Don't Matter To Me" for a Bread tribute album (Cake does "The Guitar Man"!) and I think that is the greatest and funniest thing ever.

Thievery Corporation - Cosmic Game
I don't get this band but apparently they've "done it again!"

M Ward - Transistor Radio
I hate "Big Boat" but otherwise think that this is a pretty okay album.

And don't forget the I <3 Huckabees divid!
A 2 disc set jam packed with special features, a featurette, PSAs, 700 deleted scenes, music videos and blahdeblah. I say, "yay".

There's also the Kidz Bop #7 that proudly features "Float On' by Modest Mouse alongside "Pieces of Me" by Ashlee Simpson and "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5! Vomit!

SQUiRT TV

2005-02-22T23:26:00.000-05:00

Does anyone remember the mid-90's mtv gem SQUiRT TV? I know that I will never forget it. Jake Fogelnest and Frankie sent me into fits of laughter throughout many a lonely evening. Dude, I was like 14; I didn't have shit to do at night besides sit on my ass and watch mtv, okay? I imagine the fact that it aired at this point in my life, where everything was suddenly so cool and impressive and original to me has something to do with why I think back on it so nostalgically. But what don't I think back on nostalgically anymore?
Not to say that SQUiRT TV didn't have its moments. Wesley Willis headbutting Jake incessantly, him gifting a black Barbie doll to Janeane Garofalo. Oh, and how damn boring Joey Lauren Adams and Kevin Smith were as interviewees. Cibo Matto broke his bed while performing "Know Your Chicken!" The fact that Jake was resourceful and determined enough (maybe bored enough) to put his own public access show together at 14 is great. He was great at snarky social commentaries and pranking his grandmother of course. He pleaded with AOL to STOP SENDING HIM DISCS! Because he just doesn't have time to load all of their crap on his computer! Also, Frankie went cd shopping with Noise Addict once! Come on, that's totally awesome. And sooo mid-90's. Oh, and Jakey is friends with The State; that's all anyone really needs to win me over.
Clearly, I still have love for Jake Fogelnest, even after I found out he has a livejournal. He also has a radio show with fellow funner Paul Scheer on WXRK in NYC, 10pm - 2am, this Tuesday through Friday. I bet they're going to say lots and bunches of nearly offensive, witty things too. I'm glad to hear that Jake is still out there doing what he's gots to do to get by in this world.

Jake & Claire Danes singing the "Reading Rainbow" theme song.

The Awesome.

2005-02-18T16:58:00.000-05:00

I was walking around uptown on Tuesday because it was so so nice outside. I was walking back to my car, which was parked in a neighborhood and went past this house with a car parked in the "driveway." This car looked like a classic, like 20 years old, all boxey, beat up, and unsightly and alongside it said "Le Car" like as the model. Someone was so disinterested in naming this model vehicle that they decided on "Car". Which I, for one, think is le awesome.

It looked exactly like the white car here, minus the camping gear. I don't think people do that stuff in New Orleans.

Happy V.D.!

2005-02-15T00:05:00.000-05:00

Wow, and I thought Ana wrecked him.

2005-02-09T04:19:00.000-05:00

So, apparently Daniel Johns from early 90's Silverchair fame is now totally muscley, tattooed, pierced and looks exactly like Kevin Federline. What the fuck happened to the little, 90 lb surfer boy with the blonde ratty hair that I knew and sorta loved?
I know; this doesn't seem possible but look it:

There are a slew more photos here. I just chose that one because it looks most like him; you can't deny that mouth considering how incessantly we were all staring at it while watching the "Tomorrow" video for the 500th time. Yes! That scary pig-man. I know I will never forget it.

hype vs. hype

2005-02-09T00:06:00.000-05:00

It seems that the good old Arcade Fire got a shout out on the Gilmore Girls this evening. I hate those Gilmore Girls! They're so nauseating!
Although, I'm not sure if that show or The O.C. annoys me more. I suppose I will never truly understand myself until I figure out the answer to that question.
The O.C. is so the Garden State of television. Sucking and fooling everyone into thinking that it has substance. Vomit.

Brings all the indie rockers to the yard.

2005-02-04T14:56:00.000-05:00

I really loathe mashups and generally have no interest in hearing them at all but I really couldn't resist hearing this. "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) by Arcade Fire looped with Kelis singing "Milkshake" acapella overtop of it. It's sacriligeous but also sort of hilarious.

Arcade Fire/Kelis mashup - Neighborhood #5 (Milkshake)

Need 'em just a little.

2005-02-04T04:15:00.000-05:00

I was just thinking, where oh, where are my beloved Fruit Bats? I miss them so. It's been almost 2 whole years since Mouthfuls was released. And I haven't seen them since that magical evening when they opened up for Iron and Wine at The Dame. And that was during the cold so it's been about a year since then. Too long, I say. According to their website they have a new album coming out in June or so entitled Spelled In Bones. And there was an ep, Tragedy + Time, that sold out in days that I was unaware of. I'm sure it's lovely and with a little perseverance I daresay I will hear it soon! Hopefully I'll get to look at them soon as well.
Until then, I suppose this will have to due.

Dress you up in my love.

2005-02-04T03:35:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wish I could be in costume every day. I think back to some of the get-ups that Marci and I have worn in the past and how cool we are, and how we always seemed to get into even more mischief and have more fun when we were dressed like goons. And what about all the instances when we would tell our sonofabitch friends whatever we were dressing up as and they would assume confused looks, "Brides? I dont' get it." And the one year when one of our friends was so drunk she didn't even know who the Mad Hatter and the March Hare were. Jesus, we sure have gone through some jackasses over the years. But always, always, Marci and I run around like dickheads trying to get our costumes ready at the last minute and then all of a sudden we're at Busters dressed as motherfucking Axl & Slash and everyone is freaking out because we look so gd cool. Forever underestimated.
All the Halloweens, the Beaux Arts Balls, Prom at Nick Whitehouse's, drawing names and dressing and behaving as one another all night, Festivus, the Pseudo-Pretentious Cocktail Party, the "Beat It" party (which was bastardized into being just an 80's party), and even our impromptu Tin Foil Party. Marci and I sure know how to throw down.
So, you want evidence? Fine.

Axl & Slash/Marci & Sammy

Well, are we totally 80's or what?

Not once and not ever again.

2005-02-03T00:52:00.000-05:00

Anyone remember this show? It was created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the same mens that did My So-Called Life and Thirtysomething. It aired for three seasons from 1999-2002 and then it was abruptly cancelled. My mom was obsessed with the damn show; she just couldn't get enough of Sela Ward and Billy Campbell being all attractive and in love and overcoming all of the obstacles standing in the way of their love, the biggest of which is their combined four annoying, angsty, needy children. The most interesting thing that ever happened on that show occured in one of the last episodes, Evan Rachel Wood's character totally sorta makes out with her friend played by Mischa Barton. And yes, Mischa Barton's head was still freakishly large even back then, in case you were wondering. Because of my mother's aformentioned love for Once and Again I purchased the 1st Season of the show on divid for her for Christmas a couple years ago. (This is all just basically background, in order to explain why I have such easy access to this program. I don't want people to think I have episodes of Once and Again just lying about.)
So, I was checking up on the acting history of the indie rockers' favorite child actors, Blake Sennett and Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley, one day recently and noticed that they were both in an episode of Once and Again playing characters by their same names. Being morbidly curious, I just had to watch it. Turns out Eli, the oldest son of Billy Campbell's character, plays guitar and is thinking of starting a band. So, he and his friend Coop, played by Adam Brody (yes, annoying then too), are in the "guitar store" and run into Blake and Jenny, who graduated from their high school a year before. They awkwardly catch up for a minute and then Jenny invites the two underage boys to a show they're playing, they go, and the whole band is there. It was so bizarre, like Jenny even said, "Thanks, we're Rilo Kiley." They played "Always", "The Frug" and "Plane Crash In C" before leaving the stage and there was about to be some more interaction between Eli and the band but then it turned out his mother is there with her new youngish boyfriend and she had told Eli not to go into the city earlier. Blah blah blah. Basically, poor Eli was humiliated in front of the cool, older kids who are in a hip band. Then they left and no more excruciating Rilo Kiley scenes.
This was a classic case of the indie rock band tv drama appearance. There is no reason for them to ever take place, but it is a phenomena that apparently cannot be stopped. Anyone remember the Flaming Lips playing "She Don't Use Jelly" on Beverly Hills, 90210? Of course you do because they play the damn clip at every show they perform. Seriously Wayne, it's getting old. Or The Cardigans playing at Kelly Taylor's graduation party? They sang the song "Been It" and everytime Nina got to the part of the chorus that says "I've been your whore" the scene cut to a person talking or to an outside shot or something so that you couldn't hear the vile word. What about last season on Scrubs? Remember in one episode some guy was all sad because he couldn't play with his band due to whatever was ailing him? Then all of a sudden the Polyphonic Spree (+ a shit ton of balloons and streamers) were all there singing "Section 9 (Light & Day/Reach For The Sun)". And of course the soul-crushing episode of the Gilmore Girls in which The Shins appeared. Death Cab For Cutie on The O.C. No matter what show it is, no matter what band, I always come out of it feeling depressed. It doesn't matter how cutting edge the show is, you're going to look fucking cheesy and desperate either way. Don't do it! Don't anyone ever do it again, please. It's bad enough having to hear Interpol songs playing on CSI: Miami (ie shittiest popular show I've ever seen), I never ever want to have to see them on there.

These kids know.

2005-02-02T04:07:00.000-05:00

Arcade Fire were on good old Conan O'Brien's show earlier this evening. Through the magic of the internet I have been able to witness this blessed event even though NBC refuses to come in on our cable-free television. Seriously, the only good thing about everyone and their mom knowing about the Arcade Fire is that I can download so much crap, and not all of it illegal either, thank you. Conan appearances, demos, concert recordings, unreleased songs, etc. The world of indie rock is at my fingertips. Thanks to the devoted fans (ie crazies) on the Us Kids Know Forums anyone can hear an mp3 or watch a video of this particular performace at their leisure.
So, onto the performance itself. I am wondering why they chose to play Neighborhood #3 (Laika). There was some talk on the Us Kids Know boards that the band may have chosen that one in particular because it is the shortest of all of the Funeral tracks and musical guests are generally asked to keep songs at a 4 minute maximum. This could be valid, as I know that Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) and now Rebellion (Lies) are the two tracks that have been marketed as singles. At the same time, Laika is, after all, the song in which Richard Parry dons his motorcycle helmet and pounds the shit out of everything in sight with his splintering drumsticks, which he does here. Don't you worry. And I think we all know that that makes for a damn fine performance. I'm pretty sure that they all agreed that they couldn't go wrong with that one. However, in doing this they opted out of any tracks that feature the simultaneous crooning of all of the band members, which is magical while watching them perform live. This time it was theatrics over the more subtle greatness that these band members possess when together. This time. I imagine that it was a wise decision. What better way to pique the interests of strangers than to have some dude in your band that just happens to look like Napoleon Dynamite slap on a motorcycle helmet and pound on high hats and a shoulder-slung drum and whatever else he can see while you're playing on national television for the first time? Try to think of one, I challenge you!
But anyway, always lovely to see the Arcade Fire perform. They got the stuff, even on the weird late night talk show platform.

Gimme anything, but quickly!

2005-02-01T23:31:00.000-05:00

Spoon's 5th full length album, Gimme Fiction, is finally finished. It is set to be released on 5.10.05 on Merge.

tracklist:
1. The Beast and the Dragon, Adored
2. The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
3. I Turn My Camera On
4. My Mathematical Mind
5. The Delicate Place
6. Sister Jack
7. I Summon You
8. The Infinite Pet
9. Was It You?
10. They Never Got You
11. Merchants Of Soul

So far, I have only heard tracks 6 and 7, Sister Jack & I Summon You respectively. They are both mid-tempo, fairly characteristic Spoon tracks. Perfect follow ups to 02's Kill The Moonlight. Amberly and I were feeling extra frisky one evening last December and went and saw Spoon at Tipitina's. It was a nice show. It didn't change my life or anything but it did make me happy and afterward I wondered how I could have forgotten how much I loved this band.

Spoon - Revenge! A track from Wired Magazine's compilation cd that was included with issue 12.11. All tracks were produced under the Creative Commons License which means that all songs are allowed to be used by anyone for any purpose other than as an advertisement. Right on.