updatE

The Clean show I posted about below has been cancelled. Would have been amazing but we can't have everything.

Now I can move on to other issues.

Should I purchase the new $99 iPhone? Even at the rate AT&T will charge?

Finally made it through Carl Sagan's series Cosmos. It explained so much but left far to many questions for mind to process. I find it very reassuring that I am made of stars and the universe from which they were created.

Bands I Never Ever Thought I Could Or Would See In Person

First it was The Vaselines, then the Dead C.  Now The Clean. Consider me excited. This I hope will be good. The Stranger mentions the show is on September 19th at Chop Suey. I will most likely be  there soaking in the twin guitar rhythms  and their driving boom boom frenzy. 

Memorial Day. The End of My Week Off.

Saw the 2009 version of Animal Collective in Portland last week. I had a great time because well let's be honest I don't get out much anymore. Joseph thank you for making that a fun 24 hours. Visited Mississippi Records for the first time and bought two Prince Far I lps and a Carl Orff Gassenhaur/ Street Song record. That store charmed me. If you like the reggae, tropicalia, psychedelia, high life African rock/funk, soul, jazz, soundtracks, rock, blues this store is for you and it will love you back. Which also reminded me to save even more money next time I decide to visit it again. 

I shot video from the balcony at the Roseland Theater. The quality is questionable because you can find better video from the same show on the internets.

Enjoy

Television Personalities: The documentary.

I had a hard time watching this sweedish documentary yesterday. It truly is the dark side of Dan Treacy. From what I can gather you can only watch it on the internet and it runs about 20 minutes total.  I wouldn't say the Television Personalities were a total bust. They managed to release a excellent stream of singles and some great underrated albums. 

Whatever personal problems,  hang ups, drug addiction  etc. that Dan might have shouldn't belittle his accomplishments. He should feel very proud of his contributions to popular music, no matter how small. I guess bitterness hits harder for some at middle age. I hope he can put his panic attacks aside and move on with his life and accept the change around himself no matter how crappy the outcome.

More Hauntology. The Woebot EP's.

Between the years of 2003-2008 WOEBOT wrote about music on his very own WOEBOT blog. A wonderful well informed labor of love that  was sadly packed up with little fanfare and put to rest. Then a year later I find out Matt Ingram had resurfaced again on the internets with 2 EP's of his own music on stark hand printed sleeves. One called the Automat EP the other East Centeral One EP

WOEBOT recently described his  music making process on A Resonance FM radio show as just him alone in a dark room with a lamp, computer and  a MPC2500 Beat Production station ( popular with beat producing hip hop DJ's). Along with this he discussed his favorite components to drum and bass, dub step and jungle and other music he has absorbed in his life time .  Which translates into you have to come to your own conclusions about what his recordings are about. I was hooked and had to order the discs to find out more

I think you could figure out that the past holds some importance to his creativity  and so does memory and preservation. Another important thing to notice  about both EP's is how music is handed down, transcribed, how it's heard and to be listened to. 3 inch CDs as a format are not typical nor are they fashionable at all. They are not something you can casually throw on and forget about.

Which means WOEBOT wins and you get to contemplate what you are listening to or what ever ideas might be running through your head. 

Look  here.

Post Record Store Day

I know everyone needs to make a buck or two but the post Record Store Day bidding on limited singles and records from the event  is already happening at a quick pace. The cycle continues. It was bound to happen. Anytime a pressing of a record from a desirable artist goes out of print a veritable feeding frenzy begins. 

Enter the name Pavement, Sonic Youth, Beck etc.. on ebay and you will see what I mean.

On A side note I wish I had picked up The Hazards Of Love and that Decemberist 7". Next time.

Hazards Of Love

How could the music review bible Pitchfork pan this?

I might be a wanna be amateur music writer but middling  the new Decemberists album seems so odd. It's a great group of songs that tell a dark end to a love story. The bands folk like roots get an overloaded and bombastic overhaul.  What I like about what they are doing on this  lp is that they are not trying to be something that they are not. In short it's honest and a good step forward. It's not just a collection of songs but a piece of music that you have to experience all in one sitting or in the hour it takes to play. Many other reviews lump it in with the progressive records  and sounds of Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention and Genesis. To be fair it sounds nothing like  any of those bands but I can see where someone might get confused.  

I hope they perform the album in it's entirety on their current tour.