Folks....

There's a new blog in town. One that myself and a few friends are contributing to. So I expect all three of you to visit it.

Here ya go

Le Sigh...

Aint It Cool News just posted a story about a REMAKE OF LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, an amazing little Scandinavian film about coming of age and vampyrism that is vastly superior in my opinion, even without seeing or reading, any Twilight related nonsense. There's now a poster for the film, and it looks like Matt Reeves (dir. Cloverfield) is working in the right direction, but I've seen a shitload of terrible films that had awesome posters. So yeah. Probably a bad idea to remake this one.

The story

Still More Random Acts of Art

Last week I decided to use one afternoon to creating again and happened upon another random act of art (as I've called it in the past). Still the octopus seems to haunt my brush so to speak, as the only thing I've really been able to draw, doodle or sketch for the past six months tends to have at least one of the odd figures floating around somewhere. This description is no different for today's random act of art,

Encounter #63: Octopus
[click to bigify]

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Also of note, I recently attended Spoon's three day stint at Stubb's in Austin as an official member of the photo crew and took some neat pictures. TheTripwire.com will be running 10 or so of them, but there are loads more where that came from, so after they sift through them, I'll post some more I thought were worth it. I feel special.

Newsy

I've been going news crazy lately it seems. And for a while there I thought I didn't have a writing outlet anymore. Good news is I do, and I've returned with more fervor than before.



AIR news
Spoon Haiku
Spoon news

Thanks Tripwire

Album Review

A few weeks ago my regular freelance writing gig was in jeopardy and looked like might be over. I had this review already written with no sign from anybody there that they would want it. I sent it in to a few other venues, websites, a newspaper, but no one got back to me. Now, my freelancing gig has resurfaced, but there's no room for the review for an album that came out last week. So here it is, for my blog friends. The album is Person To Person by Foreign Born. I'll let the review speak the

Foreign Born // Person To Person

Few things can beat the beginning of summer. That first heat wave of sunshine belting its way across the lawn mixing with wafts of BBQ, beer and sunscreen. It’s a melding of sensation, met and mingling with social enjoyment amongst the masses of sunbathers and swimmers, reveling in relaxation. There must be a soundtrack to this movement, something that seeps into the subconscious by way of association. Such is the case with the aptly named Person To Person, an album capable of spreading like wildfire over the coming summer months. There’s the possibility it’ll make some serious waves amongst the big boys, because while Grizzly Bear can at times be a bit too melancholy and slow, where Animal Collective can sometimes seem off the wall and finicky, Foreign Born’s easy indie-folk style fills the high profile void somewhere in the middle ground.

Fitting amongst Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket and The Shins (not just alphabetically) the second LP from this troupe of Californians is a study in aural pleasure. Taking pages from all that is enjoyed in modern music and stapling them into their own playbook of audibly friendly folk rock, the album unfolds easily and is one that can be thrown on to soften the background for the summer. On the whole it can be taken as 40 minutes of similar sounding, sunshine evoking joy. Separately, there are a few really notable tracks, in particular “Lion’s Share” and “Wait In This Chair” to fulfill the slower “ballad” tracks, and “Winter Games”, a song that starts off feeling like Bowie’s “Suffragette City” to me for some reason then quickly morphs into a hootenanny complete with pot & pan percussion and harmonized vocals that sounds one blown bell jar short of the Country Bear Jamboree (ooh, video idea anyone?). Big standouts of the album are definitely “Early Warnings” and “Vacationing People”. The former sounds like an island romp with an African lead trickling throughout. The latter unfolds like a road trip in your dingy camper filled with grinning eyes peeking from behind your most colorful ray-bans. The song was virtually constructed for 16mm home video footage.

It’ll remain to be seen if Person To Person’s charm will outlast the summer months, but during that time, it’s sure to please more than just the ears at the neighborhood pool.

Do This

New Fanfarlo album. I once included them on a Music Monday. They're really nice people [once met them at sxsw] and make lovely noises. And now you can buy their new album for $1 !!!

Fanfarlo

Definitely Promising

Matt Oliver/Jordan Johns (formerly of Sound Team) and A. Leonard Jones have formed a new band named TV Torso (where once they tread as The Minotaurs), which is either cool, or kinda lame depending on how you take naming a new band after an old band's song. Like I said, it depends. Personally I'm really excited about this new musical endeavor. Seen them a couple times live, could use a little more polish, but these recordings sound awesome. I want them now.

TV Torso // music

Good little pop gem oddities.

Vacation 09

Leaving today for Kauai until next Wednesday. Pretty excited.

[where's kyle?]

Music Tuesday: A Golden Birthday

Twenty-six years ago today, John Wayne was celebrating his 75th birthday; a 7.7 magnitude earthquake rumbled in the Sea of Japan causing a tsunami that resulted in at least 104 people dead; and 28 year old woman woke up to the early signs of childbirth, got dressed, packed, swept and vacuumed her house before waking up her husband to take her to the hospital. Roughly 12 hours later, I was born.

I've said before that birthdays seem more appropriate for looking forward and back, reminiscing on past enjoyments and making new year resolutions, because this is the day when your year really does end. Sure there's an actual end to a calendar year, there's an end to a fiscal year, but these restrictions have been imposed on us from the moment our real chronology began. So on my birthday I like to look back and forward on my life, if only for a little while, to see what I can improve. The one thing I want to improve about this upcoming golden year? Anything to make it the best year of my life. Travel, work, create, love, nothing short of everything at a ten.

So with this day comes another playlist. Last year's Quarter Century list has continued to be a source of great joy for me. Whenever it's played, enjoyment ensues. It'll be tough to top for me, as I hold it as probably the most enjoyable list I've put together on this foggy blog, but here's a go, in the name of John Wayne's 101st...

Music Tuesday: Golden Year

01. Garden Walk - J. Spaceman -- off the soundtrack to the film Mister Lonely. Never ended up catching this quirky film, but it's director was cited as the source of inspiration for Mr. Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce of Spiritualized) to finally finish his latest album Songs In A & E after a tumultuous recording period which saw him actually die as a result of complications from pneumonia (his heart stopped), only to come back to the land of the living. It made for great album fodder.

02. Silent Sigh - Badly Drawn Boy -- off the soundtrack to the film About A Boy. Sensing a pattern here... The film from Nick Hornby's book continues to surprise me whenever I catch it on TV. It's funny, heavy and light, and it's got a great soundtrack provided by a man that goes by the name of Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon Gough). Here's a lovely tune that's ripe for a morning stroll/ride.

03. Sunny Goodge Street - Donovan -- off the album Fairy Tale. It's a repeat, and not even a repeat from long ago, this song was on the last list I put up here. To be fair, I don't really care. If I were to do a list sometime in the future of my top 5 songs of all time, this would make a third appearance on the blog. I don't know what it is about this song that tugs at me. I first heard it on a compilation cd in which the tracklist was chosen by one of my favorite songwriters of all time (read: the greatest) Paul McCartney, the first time I spent time out of the country. I was studying one summer in London, the second day I picked up the Mojo magazine that contained the album and I've been in love since. It's sweet, it's haunting, it's love. I wish to find this street one day.

04. Le Poinçonneur Des Lilas - Serge Gainsbourg -- off the album The Originals. This album hooked me on Monsieur Gainsbourg and the resulting buying spree of music is soon to leave a large dent on my financial situation. Here's one of the first that hooked onto me. No idea what he's saying, just like it.

05. Ram On - Paul (and Linda) McCartney -- off the album Ram. This album within the past year or so has apparently gained a ton of popularity in the indie circles of Los Angelos, which is absolutely awesome. I picked up this album in the amazingness known as the Half Priced Books used record collection. HPB has what I consider the best collection of used stuff I've seen in a record store. I'm always in love with what I pick up there, and it's usually a quirkier find than any "true" record store. This album is the true definition of quirky pop, and could be considered one of the first "indie" albums, by way of its DIY nature. The song is pure bliss.

06. Musicbox Underwater - J. Spaceman -- off the soundtrack to the film Mister Lonely. I'll again end with an instrumental from the same man that started us off. This really out to trail off into Our glorious May 26th, as you wake, watch the sun rise, get ready for work, drive, walk, run, bike, eat, love, work and sleep.

Happy Birthday guys.

Ooooooo

I generally dislike musicals, but this one looks right up my alley. Day Lewis as Mastroianni? Lovely. Let's hope it doesn't tarnish 8 1/2's good name, or is that film untouchable in our history?

Regardless, this looks real interesting.

While Claudia Cardinale is irreplaceable in my mind, Day Lewis bull-whipping the manifested loves of his life will do. Let's hope this thing is zany.

Great Shuffle

Here's a Shuffle of a post...

Ever have one of those days were your ipod just shuffles up the perfect list of songs. It's only happened to me a total of three times, where I get a good helping on songs on a drive without skipping to the next track. It happened to me yesterday, and it put me in such a good mood. I'd like to share the tracklist:

Beirut - In The Mausoluem
TV On The Radio - Staring At the Sun
The Soft Pack - Call It A Day
Bob Dylan - Down The Highway
Paul McCartney - Follow Me
Jennifer Gentle - Quarter To Three
Cut Off Your Hands - Still Fond
The Walkmen - New Country
Letters - Interlude
Nilsson - Down By The Sea
Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man
Spiritualized - All Of My Thoughts

I'd love nothing more than to share this as a playlist for you, but I'm going to right now. You should probably check out all of these artists if you haven't already. Ok, maybe there'll be a playlist at some point.

Also -- I now have a motorcycle.

[See?]

Well, I've had it for a while, about 2 months now. It's a 1980 Moto Guzzi V50 II, and it's really fun. I got it in terrific shape from the Vespa dealership here in town. For a used bike of that year, it looks and performs wonderfully. It's my first motorcycle, and it is just begging for a cross-state trip replete with Springsteen blasting along the way. Let it be known that riding a motorcycle makes me want to cruise around and listen to music even more. Let it also be known that I never do that, because it is incredibly dangerous. But man do I want to.

here's another pic:


Yes, it is dangerous, and yes I know what I'm doing. And yes, it is incredibly fun.

Also also -- this last photo was taken with a new camera I bought for myself. It's my first step up into non-commercial based photography [i.e., coolpix cams]. It's a Nikon D60 that I got on the cheap from a Wolf Camera that was going out of business. Look out graphic world, Kyle's on the ups.

Here's one of the first pics taken with it, of my girlfriend's family's Great Dane, Ferris the Lover:

[Ferr-ocious]

Music Monday: The Trip

It's really just a big ol' mash up of about 6 different ideas I had for lists, all half-complete, but hey who cares. Here it is anyway... and on a MONDAY!

I wanted to get this done because my friend, Anton, is headed out of the country for a month or so and I want him to listen to good music while he's gone. He's got great taste, so I'm sure he will anyways, but this is just a little extra bump of something new. Or maybe it's not new to him, who even knows these days, what with the ready supply of knowledge at everyone's fingertips. I had a friend once give me a mix CD before a two month trip overseas, and while about half of the songs were repeats for me, the pleasure of the whole of the album played together far outweighed the fact that I had doubles on my ipod. It was about the Playlist.

This little edition features 29 songs total [I'm pretty sure] and runs pretty close to all styles of music to be enjoyed. If you decide to download it, and it'll only be up for about a week I'd say, you'll find 8 folders, each containing anywhere from one to seven songs, depending upon how far along in the completion process I have found myself at this moment. The a couple lists have a point, a couple just comprise themselves of new music, and one is just a single 26 minute track from the film Jules Et Jim (I know you been digging it recently, Anton).

So here we go... I started out writing about each of these and man, it was a lot to write. I have about a paragraph for each of these tracks about why you should listen, sometimes more than a paragraph. If you really need to know why you should listen to these songs and feel like asking, feel free, I'll post any of my thoughts on any of these songs. For now though, just take a look at the track list I guess...

Music Monday: The Trip

After Beatles:: was supposed to be a quick 4 track sampling of each of the Beatles best song (as determined by me, at this current point in time) after their break up. I only got two songs in.
1. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) - George Harrison
2. Photograph - Ringo Starr

Austin's:: this started out as an Austin's Best list, but quickly became just a list of songs by Austin artists new and old that I really like.
1. Empty Rooms - Sound Team
2. Culver City - Yellow Fever
3. Let Me Go - The Early Tapes
4. Poem Party - The Strange Boys
5. Mean Mad Margaret - Spoon

New:: pretty self-explanatory. Full of new/newish tracks that you might not have heard. If you have, then you can pride yourself on it.
1. Inside Job - The Muslims (aka The Soft Pack)
2. La Llorona - Beirut
3. Kim & Jessie - M83
4. Video Tapez - Amplive (ft. Del tha Funky Homosapien)
5. Sleep All Day (demo) - Silverchair
6. The Lie - Bad Veins
7. Vacationing People - Foreign Born
8. Tree Bones - Port O'Brien
9. Airplanes - Local Natives

Old Warm:: an older selection of jazz and country cuts. The warmth exuded from these three songs is immeasurable. Even if the country songs are lonely. Wish I had more for this one.
1. Django Castle - Django Reinhardt
2. Amelia Earhart's Last Flight - The Greenbriar Boys
3. He's Solid Gone - Maybelle Carter

WA Film:: this was a list I was pretty excited about, but I never finished. Comprised of songs I thought Wes Anderson should have in his films it only totalled out to 3 songs. Two of them are here because the other one, Bob Dylan's "Fourth Time Around" wouldn't convert to an mp3 for me. This is another list I wish I had taken more time for and really finished. Maybe sometime down the line. It also is a little disappointing to not talk about these because they are definitely two of my favorite songs of all time.
1. Teddy Boy - Paul McCartney
2. Sunny Goodge Street - Donovan

Walkmen:: A list I talked about a few times already, this was supposed to show a track from every Walkmen album to date just to emphasize how awesome they are. Their latest, You & Me was my favorite album of 2008.
1. Mucho Mongo - The Walkmen
2. There Goes My Baby - The Walkmen
3. Canadian Girl - The Walkmen

Wave:: filled with four songs of late 70's/early 80's acts that have creeped into my heart over the past 3 years or so. The Smiths in particular. I love The Smiths. Glad that I can acutally appreciate their music at this point in my life.
1. Disorder - Joy Division
2. Venus - Television
3. This Charming Man - The Smiths
4. Seven Seas - Echo & The Bunnymen

Jules Et Jim:: one 26 minute track called Suite Symphonique from the 1961 film Jules Et Jim by Francois Truffaut. It was a glorious tale of drama, intrigue, passion and relationship, and this suite emphasizes each bit of it. Anton, you're in the mood to make a little love story in NZ, here's a bit of soundtrack to help you out.
1. Suite Symphonique (Jules Et Jim) - Georges Delerue

* * *

Alright so that was a long post.

Please enjoy this if you'd like. It'll be up for a week or so. If it's down when you try to get it, let me know and I'll put it together again for you. And again, if you'd really like more on any of these artists, ask me I won't say no, how could I? (Thanks Morrissey.)

Good Luck on your trip Anton.

Quinnstorm

I've talked about him a couple times here on my little brog, but my High School friend and old partner in crime Quinn Donahue has a great job. He works for C3 Presents (ACL Fest, Lolla to name a couple), he books bands at Emo's and for the smaller, newer fests that company is building up. He has parlayed that sweet gig into another more journalistic endeavor via Quinnstorm.com, a blog that features an occasional interview with someone you should know about.

Quinn knows what he's talking about. Really, he does. And while his little blog isn't updated near as often as it should be (and what blog really is?), the times when it is, you're definitely going to enjoy the output.

He's just put up a vid from Philly's Dr. Dog, a band that snags a new fan with each play. I've casually shown these guys to about ten people to date now, and each time at about 3 songs of foot-tapping in, they ask, "Who are these guys? They're f***ing awesome."

And that's really the truth. Their latest album, Fate, was top 3 of '09 for me and the back catalogue ain't much less enjoyable.

Check out Quinn's interview with vocal/guitarist for the band, Scott McMicken, probably one of the best interviews I've seen/heard/read in a long time. (I'd post it here, but you really should go to his site and check out the rest of his stuff, I will put up a Dr. Dog track though, for enticements sake, my favorite off of 08's Fate.. "The Ark")

wow, two posts in one day? and both about interviews? i'm on a trip

Awesome Interview w/ Awesome Director

Rian Johnson's Brick was probably my favorite film of the past 4 or so years. And after having recently read The Maltese Falcon, revisiting the high school noir has been a tremendous amount of fun.

Johnson's follow-up is the con-man flick The Brothers Bloom, and it looks like 2 hours of joy. The con-man film, when done right, is such good entertainment and the fact that this one's got the cast it does (Brody, Ruffalo, Weisz), the writer/director it does (Johnson) and the locations it does (PRAGUE - fav city in the world, Romania) we're pretty much looking at a recipe for smiles.

If you've been following Johnson's Bloom blog you might be familiar with the troubles he's had with this studio. The good news is, this film is finally coming out, and we're finally going to get to have a good bit of fun in the process.

Today this showed up on the blog, an interview /Film has with Johnson. It's great. I wish I could write/direct films like this. Check it out. [you can download it there as well]

* * *

Also:

~ LOST is destroying my life. I can't think about anything else hardly.
~ I want to put up a huge Music Monday playlist that combines every MM I've wanted to put up for the past two months, in celebration of Anton leaving the continent on a mission.
~ I've decided I hate these ~ things, whatever they're called.
~ Dave Eggers gets a lot of praise and a lot of shit, but I think his prose is dreamy.
~ Why am I still using these ~ ?
~ I want to put up the huge playlist by tomorrow, but I'm too busy hating the latest LOST happening. WHY FARADAY, WHY?

In Case You Don't Know, Trust Me

Mike Skinner, aka the Streets, has been posted almost three songs a week for the past couple of them. They're sounding awesome. Closer to Original Pirate Material - era stuff.

Pretty much, start following Skinner... via twitter @SkinnerMike .. that's where the links to the free downloads are.

Here's my favorite thus far... The Streets - Trust Me

DAMN YOU HAPPY VACATIONS

I might've just gotten duped... Happy my ass.

Oh Man Wow

So I haven't been writing about anything I usually do, nothing about music or mondays, or anything like that. This is mostly because... of this... well not really because I just found this thing [via Aint It Cool News]. It. Is. Awesome.... and really creepy. I mean, look at it!!

Go get one for yourself. It is so weird and awesome.

Kevin Drew Shows Off His Arts

[took down video because it's no longer available]

Long, silent, artsy, pretentious? Who cares, Feist is in it.

Careful this thing really is like 15 minutes long.

Found this via GvB & Pitchfork

Finding Old Notes For New Posts

A few days ago I finally made good on a note to myself written back in the summer of 2004. I had made my first trip over to Europe at the age of 21 and was loving every minute of wide-eyed intake. It was something wholly different from my world up until that point and I made note of nearly every detail in a small moleskin journal. There were many things that can be reminicsed about that summer, but this first one in particular gives me a nostalgic feeling for time enjoyed unlike any I've felt in the almost 5 years (unbelievable) since.

I was visiting the Louvre in Paris with my friend Clint, the day after seeing Paul McCartney live in the Stade de Paris, and had written down the names of a few paintings that had really caught my eye right away. One was by a man called Antonio Campi... "Les Mystéres de la Passion du Christ"

[unfortunately this is the best image I can find]

It amazed me at the time, and still does. The scope of this painting is massive. There are things going on at every point in this image. The thing that intrigues me most though, is Campi's vision of what I'm assuming is Heaven (in the top right corner). The skies opening upon a giant reflective golden orb. It is all at once beautiful, breathtaking and ominous.

I was again reminded of this painting when I recently saw Knowing, a film that at first starts off with a great sci-fi premise and in the end finds itself lost in an amalgamized realm of Creationism and Scientology. I won't say the film was terrible, I will just say that it fuels the Creationist fodder a little bit. But here is not the place to discuss matters of Religion and Nicholas Cage.

The second painting was by a man called Hubert Robert titled, "Le Pont du Gard". This is the painting that brings back joyous memories of brand newness and love and language and walking and art and beauty. There is nothing spectacular in the way of religious spectacle as in Campi's work or much in the way of flashiness at all, but I think that's why I've fallen in love with it. Before a few days ago, I hadn't seen this painting in almost 5 years (saying it twice doesn't make it any less weird), and now having finally seen it again, I am transported back to that exact day, sitting on a bench across from the pyramid entrance to the Louvre. The lovliness of that day sticks with me forever. It was the day after first seeing a Beatle live, the first day of seeing art that truly struck a personal chord with me, and the second time I'd seen the Olympic torch run by. What a strange and wonderful day.

Here's Robert's "Le Pont du Gard" (1787)...

[click for biggerness]

ps - I've jumped aboard Twitter -->

coffee = caffeine = elation

Well I've had a really relaxing day of work here for what feels like the first time in a while, and what do you know, it comes with the triumphant return of the afternoon trip to the coffeehouse.

This used to be an almost daily routine of mine when I lived just a couple blocks from the wonderful Cafe Medici here in town (the beautiful neighborhood of Clarksville, specifically), and turned out to be a useful and very productive time of the day for me. Besides, since I work from home, my laptop/phone/steno pad is my job, and being that these objects are very portable said trip to the coffeehouse seems like a no brainer.

I'd like to comment on the atmosphere of these places with regard to the stereotypes that associate themselves to the patrons. Maybe it's just me, but when I walk into these dens (and most places here in town do feel just that, a den, a nook, a homely place) I get the feeling that I'm being eyed. Now maybe it's just my own ego that can't help but feel eyes upon me when I walk into a room, and sometimes this is just the case, but oftentimes when I see these people I get the feeling that they're here just to be seen doing things. Reading, writing, studying, I mean how can you actually get anything done in a place where birds are chirping, feet are shuffling, trees rustling? The funny thing is that all this noise helps, and so does the caffeine. There's a reason coffeehouses have this old stereotype, where artists and writers go to have a moody time, where cigarettes are welcome and hip cats are bound to breakthrough the next barrier of their intellectual boundaries. This environment breeds thought and damn if it's not contagious the minute you step inside.

Sorry for the unnecessary rant, or verbal expulsion rather. It's just really motivating to burn through four hours of tedious work and be rewarded with another four hours of personally gratifying brain stimulation.

ps - start reading Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One. It is consuming my thoughts.