Great Music Happened to Me Last Week

Great music happened to me last week.

First, the new Serena-Maneesh track "I Just Want to See Your Face" has my heart all a flutter. Based on this track, and the earlier single "Ayisha Abyss", I haven't been so excited for an album's release since...

The new Dead Mellotron album is out and it's great! And free, for now. I would love to work with this guy. Or tour with him.

And to complete the triangle of free fantastic music, the only thing that dislodged the previous two artists from my ears is THEE Satisfaction Loves the Sa-Ra Creative Partners. If you're like me, you've been waiting for these five tracks (in just under 10 minutes) for a long ass time. Perfect.

The Little Penguins played a show with The Glasses last Saturday and I have to say I totally loved The Glasses in their current incarnation. Check them out when you can.

KEXP tomorrow at noon. NEUMOS tomorrow night at 10:30. You know you want it.

Listen to me!

I've been invited to be a guest on the air of DJ Tim's late night KEXP show on Wednesday November 3rd @ 1am. That's Tuesday night to me and most of you. If you're in Seattle and awake, tune me in while I play some of my favorite stuff. If you're outside of the Seattle area, you can listen in at www.kexp.org on one of their streaming players.

While I was in LA, I saw an amazing documentary called "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation" about Australian exploitation movies. I have about a year worth of movies to queue up from this doc alone. Very worth your time.

I'll be posting details soon about my NYC trip. You can come hear/see me DJ at some bar in Williamsburg (you'll know when I know) on the 21st.

Still waiting on the new Dead Mellotron album that was supposed to be out October 8th. Anyone have any clue where that is?

The Rundown: currently rocking...

In my more productive times, the only music I get to listen to is music I am working on. Right now, it's The Lights and Black Daisy that are in complete control of my iPod, car stereo, and mind. That said, sometimes an album or a song comes along that breaks through my little shell. Here are some of those things for you.



1. The Horrors - Primary Colors
Gothy, punky, poppy, shoegazery greatness. Didn't really get the first two records, but LOVE LOVE LOVE this one. Favorite track is "Who Can Say", but this is definitely the best album I've heard in a long time.



2. Dead Mellotron - Ghost Light Constellation EP
I mentioned this EP in a previous post and it's still a front runner for my late night wine drinking soundtrack. Every song sounds different, but is still contained within the Dead Mellotron aesthetic of fabulous melodies, perfect lo-fi production, and a MASSIVE fuzzed out sound that isn't unlike New Order as heard through a failing PA in the belly of a battleship. PS Don't forget to download "Shame" from their Myspace page. Amazing.



3. Hudson Mohawke - Polyfolk Dance EP
Heavily manipulated samples and a touch of ADD (when I first heard this, I called it Jay-DD) this EP is another great addition to WARP Records' catalogue. I can't get enough of "Polkadot Blues" which is almost as heartbreaking as it is frenetic. And check out that album cover! Love me some WARP.



4. Flying Lotus - (unknown)
A friend dropped off a CD of Flying Lotus stuff with nothing written on it. I have no idea what album I'm listening to, but I have a feeling that everything he's released is good. Similar in style to Hudson Mohawke, but darker and a little smoother. The sample from the end credits of Tim and Eric Awesome Show...Great Job (abso-LUTELY!) make me smile.



5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - self titled
I found these guys on Myspace around a year ago and told everyone I knew. Now they're the next big thing. Did I do that? Probably not. I think it's their super catchy Sarah Records inspired pop music. The Pastels come to mind, too. A good mesh of old school indie cute (not the new crop of children's music masquerading as "indie") and the lighter side of shoegazer. "Everything With You" is my favorite.


I've got some more new albums that I like, but these have been listened to more than once. There's also a lot of old shit that I listen to regularly, but that's a whole different post.

xo

Movies, Murakami, and Mailing

During these days of opening CDs, removing bar codes (so old school), and stuffing envelopes with said CDs and letters, my mind can wander. It may be the reason I’ve always loved clerical busy work. The trance you go into after the first hour of repetitive motion can bring about some wonderful ideas, or just make you question everything in your entire life. Love it!


The first thing that went through my head as I unwrapped CDs from their incredibly snug cellophane was “Do I like movies more than music right now?” Occasionally, this is how I feel when I haven’t heard a new band that I love in a long time but I’ve seen some fantastic films. Such was the case a few months ago after seeing “Rachel Getting Married” and “Vicky Christina Barcelona” in a relatively close proximity. But then I got a friend request on Myspace from a band called Dead Mellotron and their free EP, coupled with a reemergence of The Supremes and Smokey Robinson on my iPod, brought me back to the music side. Also, seeing Paul Verhoeven’s “Flesh + Blood” made me realize that the reason I think about this occasionally is because I don’t know how to make movies.

While folding and stuffing letters into padded CD mailers, I chide myself for not reading more often. Maybe it’s all the movie watching. Since finishing everything I could find by Raymond Chandler and Arturo Perez-Reverte, I picked up “Don Quixote” and got halfway through before being distracted by “Twilight”. I think I got 50 pages in before I gave up completely and lost interest in reading. Then I was given three books by Haruki Murakami which has slowly brought me back into the literary fold. I finished “The Elephant Vanishes” and am now on “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” which I will follow up with “Kafka on the Shore.” His style is completely blowing my mind. He makes me want to write.

But I don’t write well and I don’t know how to make movies, so I’ll leave that to the pros and keep on making music and mailing it out to unsuspecting writers, program directors, and listeners while hoping for some sort of success. Something has to come of spending this much money on postage, right?