Back with an 808...

Got burnted out there for a sec. And I'm not even low on the goods. Actually, I've got this obscene pile of "hey, would you look at that"'s and "well, I'll be"'s bookmarked for the sharering but it's like guuuuuuuuuuuh. Overwhelming. Tap dancin' with the words and all. Just thinking about it is like mental quicksand to me....ahhhh! ::smother::

Oh, and as you might have guessed, there's "Reason" too, trying to wedge it's way into my life all like, "ummm..wait, now why exactly ARE you doing this? No no no...serious...like, what do you actually GET out of this??? And don't give me some cornball shit about personal satisfaction...", at which point I usually go "Hold up, I gotta phone call i gotta take...hello...who's this?...LDP (Lou Diamond Phillips)! My man! What the fuck is up, money? Really! No shit! Wow, that's a lot of dead hookers! Oh yeah, I've been super busy too! Yeah yeah, fucking swamped, but hey listen...the meetings with New Line have been going great! Yeah, they seemed super excited about La Bamba 2...yeah no, trust me...I told them it'd basically be like a two hour long version of the video for "Thriller" and Harvey just about shat himself! I know, right!!! Wait, can you hold on for a sec, sorry, I got another call...it's Paul Rodriguez...wait...Lou...oh my god, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" $$$$$$$$!
It's usually around this point that the dial tone switches over to that "doo Doo DOO if you'd like to make a call" thing and I die a little bit more on the inside.

Sooooooo, yeah, that's pretty much why I took a break. Yet, try as I might, I am always at the mercy of my kingly benevolence, and it's sheer blinding white blindingness has once again pierced this thick mire that so often clouds my logic.

(huzzah? fuck, I'm such a nerd...)

More accurately, when the whole future-oriented-goal-structure thing (that I think is supposed to be built into your head or something?), isn't functioning properly, it's amazing how much cool shit your aimless nature can direct you towards. Here's to life in the slow lane.

• The Knife. I likes 'em. They bring a good deal of artistry to techno-y/synth pop type stuff, which is normally pretty faceless. Heartbeats is one of the catchiest underground pop tunes I've heard in a long while. Their new album, Silent Shout, is pretty sick too. And hey, their videos are dope. The whole package comes correct with that "I'm close to the Northern Pole of this Planet" wierdness. Scandinavia and Iceland are definitely on some other shit. Anyways, you should see them sometime...the videos that is...yep...you really should.....dot dot dot......dot dot dot.....Oh Hey!
  
  A The Knife video showcase!
  
  The first three are from Silent Shout.
  
  We Share Our Mother's Health
  
  Really dope animated video by Motomichi Nakemura...her concise visual style (heavily informed by graphic design) lends itself perfectly to this odd dystopian vision.
  
  Marble House
  
  This one's even more avant-garde...kinda Cirque Du Soleil'd out. I bet you Matthew Barney has jerked off to this.
  
  Silent Shout
  
  This one goes back and forth between hardcore rave visuals and shots of wierdos that look like they're descended from centuries of inbreeding. Whoa. That's what I call juxtaposition.
  
  Pass This On
  
  Transexuals are gross, right? Well this one almost made me change my mind. While I might not be down to get all hot and bothered with one, I definitely would be poppin and locking with all these other homies after I too started to "get it".
  
  (ed note: What are you taking about, Scallz? You bang out trannies like it's your job. The only difference with this one is that when her dick flops out, you'd actually be genuinely surprised instead of your usual "I had no idea...ohhh wellll, here we go" routine.)
  
  You Take My Breath Away
  
  I guess this is what happens when you let dancing skeletons loose in Pee-wee's Playhouse.
  
  Handy Man
  
  I like when the hammer licks the knife. That's a nice thing.
  
  Heartbeats
  
  This video is kinda cool in it's quirky low fi-ness. Who would think to freeze frame a clip of some kids getting all Dogtown and then cut a little flying birdy out of it and have it play with some primitive 3D rendered geometric shapes? I would've said nobody (but hey, I would have been wrong). Super meme'd out.
  
  Also worth noting is this Sony Bravia commercial featuring an absolutely beautiful cover of Heartbeats from Jose Gonzalez. Thousands of bouncy balls going down hills in San Fran. It's one of the best commercials ever.

• Visual Artist of the day: Oliver Hibert. Looks like the Yellow Submarine visited Japan before heading out to deep space...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Have you ever seen Fantastic Planet? Y'know, old school french cartoon? with the aliens? they had those bugged out red eyes that made you feel kinda anxious? No? Well, that shit is tripped out. Here's a link to the entire movie, only it's been rescored by some nuts to make it even nuttier. I recognized a bunch of shit...Prefuse 73, Amon Tobin, Boom Bip, Mum, Clue to kalo, Pole, Autechre,etc. It's tight if you got the time for it and can tolerate some of the more blistering kind of idm.
  Fantastic Planet rescored by everyone.doesntexist

• Trouble and Bass NY based crew getting down with some bass heavy shit. Members include Drop the Lime and Mathhead. You should check out TnB mix 4 by Drop the Lime. Crunk, grime, B-more, a bunch of shit. Tracklist available on their homepage.

• Future Me. This is cool. You write yourself (or anybody for that matter) a message and it will e-mail it to you in the future date you choose. I've got the 5 year one, the 10 year one, and the 20 year one already written. I'm sure it'll wig me out when I get them. Actually, it'll probably be massively depressing. I was dropping ultimatum's like a motherfucker, like I was my dad or some shit, so I better be on point by then. I already got one back in early May that said I better have finished working on Random Access Melodies. Ouch.

• Hitler Cats.This is what happens when you make some shit like the internet and let people do whatever they want on it.

• Exhibit B. Some dude created an account on Ebay and spent a good deal of time leaving random people positive feedback comments with completely random bits of crazy. Some of the shit is really funny. Examples:
  "Rainbows are pretty. I don't know why I shoot at them"
  "When my dog looks at me, does that mean he WANTS to be hit?"
  "Remember when you spit in my mouth when I was sleeping? Well, I was awake. A+"
  "Harriet Tubman was so great. She was black and that is great."
  "Very HIGH QUALITY preserved cancer tumors. I ate them. I know it was wrong."
  There's like 9 pages of this, plus some confused "Um...you didn't bid on anything?" type replies.

• Perry Bible Fellowship has moved over to it's new home and is sporting a new look. PBF is a weekly comic strip with little in the way of structure, except for it is always ridiculously imaginative, presented with a child like sense of wonder but a grown up's wit. The author, Nicholas Gurewitch, utilizes a large range of visual styles, as well as ways of presenting humor. You realize after reading enough of these strips that it has everything: It's hilarious but insightful, fucked up but sweet, and ridiculous yet subtle. The last couple comics have been great too, a nice return to form. Here's some favorites.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• And last but not least...an invasion of mp3s.

Ratatat-Tropicana

Ratatat-Wildcat

Ratatatatatatatatatat....tatatatatatatat. yes. yes. yes. I love these guys so much. I randomly checked their self-titled debut from a couple years ago and was completely floored by EVERY SINGLE TRACK. So, so rare for me, definitely one of my favorite albums of that year, if not my favorite. These guys have this formula, and it's kinda absurd, but they try and make every song they do as utterly melodic as possible. Crazy, right? And then, on top of that, they rock the fuck out. Real hard. Seriously, every song they do, it's like they have this map of my brain as related to music, and they just play all the right notes, in the right order, at the right time, all the time, like it's no big deal. Well guys, it IS a big deal. Every time I listen, my face gets torn to shreds by the megablast tonality of their analog buzzsaw guitars, but everything's dandy-the chord progression somehow ensures that every incision made is instantaneously filled with this gauzy mixture of liquid awesome. I think it's like marshmallows and Snuggle Bear detergent combined or something. Oh, and it looks like Pepto-Bismal, all pink and thick and super soothing. And it makes me feel like I'm Arnold in Pumping Iron. Everything I do I'm cumming...I move my arm, I look at something, doesn't matter...I'm creaming out.

So how does the new album compare? Well uh, put simply, it's fucking great! Obviously! It retains the same amazing understanding of melodic structure, but addresses the main criticism of the last album; it's restrained sonic palette. I guess it sounded too same-y for some. Well fine, check Tropicana then, and soak up the mixture of vintage guitar, electric piano, and violins, all powered by some rickety steam engine percussion. It almost sounds vaguely like some lost Beatles record, but when that 8-bit organ comes in you go "nuh uh, that's some Ratatat right there all DAY" and then the only thing you can possibly think after that is yes. and good. so good. For people like me who were never complaining in the slightest, Wildcat has their signature swelly video-game-guitar sound in spades, complete with Thundercat calls and the obligatory epic breakdown at the end (where they just like rock out as hard as humanly possible and you are like just like fuck...these guys are KILLING ITTTT!!!). The new album, Classics, drops August 22. Buy a million copies.

The Album Leaf-The Light

The Album Leaf-Red Eye

The Album Leaf, aka James LaValle knows all about this formula I speak of too, although his take on it is decidedly more pensive and melancholy. His last album, In a Safe Place, began with Windows, one of the must excruciatingly beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. Literally, it almost hurts me to listen to it, a strange feeling that I can only attribute to a very small number of musicians (him, some songs off Max Richter's Blue Notebooks, and certain Aphex Twin stuff [like the violin refrain in the middle of girl/boy song, for example] come to mind). The opener of his new album, the light, is also amazingly beautiful and wonderful, but not as imposing. It leads nicely into Always For You, a pleasant, sensitive vocal track. Honestly though, it's the actual music that really does it for me with LaValle. Redeye's a good example. Epic and beautiful without iffy lyrics to cloud my judgment. The album on the whole isn't as strong as In a Safe Place, but it's still very, very nice. I kind of expected that anyway since he doesn't have the Sigur Ros factor on this one (there's nothing along the lines of say, Over the Pond, another track off the last album that destroys my heart in a gloriously sad kind of way.) The new album, Into the Blue Again is out Sept. 12. Also, his earlier, completely instrumental albums (Orchestrated Rise to Fall, One Day I'll Be On Time), are great too, if only slightly more bedroom-y (not a bad thing).

Celebration-Holiday

For me, it takes a bit more something for haircut rock to get under my skin. This song had that certain something. Damned if I know what "it" is. Alls I can say is that this is not your typical holiday. Do I smell irony?

Marc Moulin-Balek

Smoky old school, throbbing jazz number that informs you (again) that most of the tight shit you hear today was already perfected years ago.

Q Lazarus-Goodbye Horses

Same thing I said about Marc Moulin only this song is from the 80's so it's even more relevant right now, considering how this retro aesthetic revival thing is about 5 years old, yet somehow just keeps growing and growing (and actually sounding better and better). However, this shit right here is the original Kathleen Turner Overdrive.

Gianfranco Reverberi-Nel Cimite

The sample for "Crazy". Not surprisingly (now that I hear it) it's some spaghetti western/Ennio Morricone shit. It's nice...too bad I want to kill myself every time I hear that opening. And to think I used to love Crazy about 9000 listens ago. Thanks for ruining that one for me, world.

Speaking of MySpace (ed note: oh snap!), I actually find a lot of good shit through there, or more often then not, it finds me via friend requests. Here's some recent goodness.

Saraswa- The Boat
Dokkemand-Knapp
Tim Twinem-Evergreen




Take that, you motherfucking hiatus!!!!