When I went the first time, I immediately swore that I would go back every year until they stopped doing the event. And I’ve never been back. So even though I couldn’t make it this year, looking at these pics helps me remember why Burning Man is such a special thing.
Well their November 22nd date in LA will be at….the newly renovated Palladium. Interesting. Haven’t been to a show their since (oh god how I date myself with this) Sugar or the 20th anniversary Ramones show.
Go to Stereogum.com to take a look at a series of photos from their NYC show. Good Lord, they brought an actual live horse on stage! Can not wait for this!!!
Finishing up with Mogwai’s new one The Hawk is Howling. Moody instrumentals that rarely rise about the cacophany of past masterpieces (think Young Team–how obvious, huh?). Perhaps in a live setting these pieces will blast through. Yet I keep seeing filmic images as the music plays and will file this away for later…regretfully much later. Oh well, can’t wait to see Fuck Buttons live though…
Of Montreal’s Skeletal Lamping: torrent came in Saturday. Boy was I excited. Then I listened to it. Boy was I confused. Then I listened to it again. Boy was I annoyed and frustrated. Then I listened to it again with no distractions. Boy oh boy.
I had to dig up some interviews with Kevin Barnes to see if I was hearing this correctly or just hearing a rough (really rough) demo that wasn’t mixed yet. Alas…the songs hit the listener with such driving force then then the corner and become something entirely different in tone/texture/speed/context/vocal intonations. Yikes. One listen had me yanking off the earplugs and proclaiming this music to be an aural equivalent of schizophrenia. Songs end abruptly, mix fluctuates radically, there appears to be no thematic flow…and then I read the interview (go to Wikipedia for the link if you’re curious). Yep, this is exactly what Mr. Barnes wants to achieve with this new sound. Will be interesting to see if the audience is there for this. I will be seeing them when they play live in LA (no venue yet but HEALTH is opening act) to see how this will be pulled off.
Saw Bon Iver play last night at the Troubadour for the first of two sold out dates. Haven’t been at the Troubadour since last May when I saw Destroyer play.
Anyone who has listened to Bon Iver’s release For Emma Forever Ago must agree that the beauty of listening to the quiet elegance of this music lies in the moments of hesitant pauses and rising falsetto that dissipates into thin, fractured air. Well, toss that onto the scrap heap when the songs are performed live. I understand that translating ones music onto a large venue requires changes and allows the performer to crack open structures and explore avenues of expression. Just why did it get turned into a pummeling from the drums? This happened with Destroyer’s show and last night it happened again…oh, wait a minute, could it be the person running the sound board? Perhaps. Yet if I were on stage and noticed this, I would seek to correct it. Oh well, there’s always the Fleet Foxes show to look forward to.
Tetris has arrived on the iPhone in the form of the new free app Tris. It’s the same old game only revised to respond to iPhone touchscreen gestures: tap to rotate, swipe down to drop. It could not be simpler or more intuitive. I was instantly captivated, yet again, by this ancient game. Oh my, another addiction to manage.
There’s a giant sucking sound in Glendale and it’s sound of the Americana extracting what was left of all the air out of the the commercial retail market. This morning I was casually riding my bike to the dentist and I was struck by the ubiquity of the “For Lease” signs on empty commercial properties lying like frat-room beer empties all over downtown Glendale. The most glaring example of this is the vacant shell of the Barnes & Noble just a few blocks away. B&N moved it’s Glendale operation out of it’s anchor tenancy on Wilson & Glendale Ave over to Americana. In Glendale, this seems to be the trend.
To be fair to Rick Caruso and his $400M controversial behemoth Americana at Brand (I know, the name is horrific), the air has been leaking out of the Glendale commercial real-estate market for years, recently hastened by the “economic downturn” (i.e. recession). Just across the street at the Glendale Marketplace (yes, the place with the frogs… don’t ask) Linens & Things shuttered years ago only to be lured back this year to re-open… and then close again. Likewise downstairs from L&T, the superstore combo of Tower Records and CompUSA (f.k.a. GoodGuys) is totally empty… ouch! Looks like this Americana neighbor is the victim of 3 totally different business plans gone sour.
All I can say is if you are planning on starting a business in downtown Glendale, you better bring your own oxygen.
I read with glee Chris Kelly’s post I Want Condi on HuffPost this morning. I particularly liked this bit:
I don’t believe Condoleezza Rice can actually play piano. Everything else she’s ever touched has been a fraud and a catastrophe, why should her alleged musical abilities be any different? Think about it. Think about any event she’s been even remotely involved in since you first heard her name. An endless string of threats and blundering and arrogant bluffs turned squalid pigfucks. It’s not that she can’t do her job; she can’t do anything. I think when she plays piano the piano catches fire and the audience dies.
Just the idea that Bush took until TODAY to send his “brilliant Sovietologist” to Tblisi is a joke. Ok, its not a joke, its shameful.
Justin Roberts and Liam Davis rocked the kids at the awesome Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon today. The highlight of the show was the thrill-tastic Meltdown, with the kids screaming their heads off.
Check out Justin and his fantastic music for kids and adults alike at www.justinrobertsmusic.com.
fucking hilarious. well worth the entire 10 mins, it only gets better as it plays out. goddamn, i practically lived this shit in my corporate job.
via Kirsch
viral marketing via CBS, but wicked funny nonetheless. i particularly like the smiling shots of the girls.
via Hankbot