What happened?

Some Lists

2011-12-15T13:58:00.003-05:00

Five Favorite Things I First Heard In 2011

Michael Hurley - "Fatboy Spring"
Daphne Oram - "Oramics"
Sly & The Family Stone - "There's A Riot Goin' On"
Kevin Drumm - "Imperial Distortion"
William Basinski - "A Red Score In Tile"

Five Things That Actually Came Out In 2011

Tape - "Revelationes"
The Caretaker - "An Empty Bliss Beyond This World"
Tim Hecker - "Ravedeath, 1972"
Glenn Jones - "The Wanting"
Jim O'Rourke & Oren Ambarchi - "Indeed"

Five Great LPs Reissued In 2011

Supreme Dicks - "The Unexamined Life"
Supreme Dicks - "The Emotional Plague"
Talk Talk - "Laughing Stock"
Kevin Drumm - "Imperial Distortion"
Liliput - "Liliput / Kleenex" box set

Five Great Books I Read In 2011

Owen Beattie & John Geiger - "Frozen In Time"
Hampton Sides - "Hellhound On His Trail"
Robert Coover - "John's Wife"
Charles Dickens - "Our Mutual Friend"
David Grann - "The Devil & Sherlock Holmes"

Five Remarkable Places I Was Happy To Visit In 2011

Arizona - "The Grand Canyon"
Utah - "Monument Valley"
California - "Stout Grove at Jebediah Smith State Park"
New Mexico - "El Rancho Hotel" in Gallup
California - "Amoeba Records" in Hollywood

Spun #10

2011-11-03T16:51:00.003-04:00

Kenneth Patchen
"With the Chamber Jazz Sextet"
Cadence CLP-3004

This record came to me on my birthday a few years ago, a gift from my best friend, and is one of my most treasured and rare pieces of vinyl. And like most other things that I really like, I don't have a lot to say about them. So I'll let Allyn Ferguson, leader of the Chamber Jazz Sextet, do the talking.

From his liner notes: "When first discussing the possibility of setting poetry to jazz, Kenneth and I agreed that the usual procedure of setting text to music would have to be abandoned. The final product, we felt, should be conceived in terms of the poet's interpretation of the text. It seemed evident, however, that the music would be quite unnecessary were there no attempt to bring about a meaningful union between the two mediums. We decided, therefore, to tape-record the readings and underscore them. This procedure would have the double value of retaining the spontaneity of the original reading while still allowing freedom for the creation of a significant musical entity.

Put muscles in your ears.

Spun #9

2011-10-09T14:49:00.003-04:00

Ernest and Justin Tubb
"Sing Jimmie Rodgers' Favorites"
Decca ED 2422

Doing a bit of mathematics with dates from the liner notes (written by Jimmie's widow), this record seems to be from 1956. At that time Ernest Tubb was one of the best and most popular country musicians in the country, and his son Justin was trying to follow in his father's footsteps. Turns out dad had rather large shoes to fill, and the son was destined for obscurity. I'd never heard of him before finding this extended play 45.

He didn't necessarily deserve his fate; his two songs on the B side are perfectly acceptable. "Desert Blues" is an uptempo and light-hearted story of a buffalo and his dead brother, and at one point you can hear Justin chuckling his way through the lyrcs. I prefer his version of "Miss the Mississippi...," which preserves a little bit of Jimmie's melancholy, with some nice atmospheric pedal steel and shimmery fiddle playing. It doesn't necessarily remind me of my own youth growing up near that river, but there is some sort of tug on the heartstrings.

From Mrs. Jimmie's liner notes: "When I first met Ernest in 1934, I was impressed not only by the similarity of his voice to that of Jimmie Rodgers, but by the man himself and his devotion to "America's Blue Yodeler." His personality and character, plus his ability both as a singer and songwriter, made it quite evident that here was a man who would succeed. I decided to help him attain that goal, in whatever way I could. And I gave him Jimmie's beloved Martin guitar to use, the guitar Ernest still treasures and uses today."

Listen to Ernest singing Jimmie's songs and strumming Jimmie's guitar.

Spun #8

2011-09-11T14:34:00.003-04:00

Peter Kilham
The Sea at Castle Hill / The Alexander Hamilton of the Hudson River Day Line
Droll Yankees Inc. DY15

Two sides of natural sound, field-recorded and edited together in 1963 by Peter Kilham. The Droll Yankees label specialized in the sounds and stories of (old) New England, especially those of water, birds, boats, and trains. Here's a discography someone made with nice images and brief descriptions of each release.

The first side takes us to a spot on the Atlantic called Castle Hill, in Newport, Rhode Island, where there are a lot of waves crashing on rocks, seagulls shouting and singing, and bells tolling once in a while. The second side gives us a ride up the Hudson on a triple deck steamer called the Alexander Hamilton with several whistle salutes and specific recordings of different parts of the boat.

At times I'm reminded of one of my favorite ambient noise artists, BJ Nilsen, aka Hazard, who made a lot of recordings of wind and forests and distant generators. The music in all of his sounds and the ones on this record slowly begins to reveal itself once you get your ears in the right place.

Listen.

Spun #7

2011-08-16T10:17:00.003-04:00

Blasius To Una Turtavu
"Guitar Songs of Papua New Guinea"
Lyrichord Stereo LLST 7367

A few years back my ears were struck by lightning. Or at least, that's what it felt like the first time I heard the New Guinean string bands compiled on the third disc of Smithsonian Folkways' "Bosavi" box set. I didn't know that guitars and ukuleles and a few voices could sound so beautifully sublime and I couldn't tell whether I was being hypnotised or whether I was about to have a heart attack. Anyway, I knew that I needed to hear more string band music from Papua New Guinea.

So when I found this album (at the WFMU record fair, I think, where several of these posts have come from) I didn't think twice before grabbing my wallet. And although these songs lack the raw group sound and field-recording atmosphere of the Bosavi stuff, they are still delightful, especially when Blasius is joined by a second guitar and/or ukulele.

From the liner notes: "This record attempts to show the different faces of Blasius To Una Turtavu's creativity through the 28 years of his musical life. Humorous and satirical songs in Pidgin, like FOPELA LEK or KUNAI DUMDUM, ballads in his own Kuanua tongue like IAU ABUL RAMALMAL or AMARI NA RAVIAN and in English like LONELY EVENING. Blasius To Una might make you feel sad, but in the next song, he will cheer you up and really make you laugh. At fifty three, Blasius is still full of energy, and very much in love with music. Maybe that is what makes it very difficult not to fall in love with the man and his guitar."

Enjoy.

Spun #6

2011-08-04T16:31:00.003-04:00

The Relations
"The Relations"
(self-released)

The sticker next to the $2.50 price tag does not lie: "Decent early 70s Honky Tonk." What we have here are drinking songs, lonesome broken heart songs, getting older songs, all of them written by group members Bob Crank or Calvin Ott, lots of solid but modest pedal steel playing, an over-all clean, no-frills production. . .no surprises here. But do you really want surprises from a country album?

The back cover reveals just the facts:

"Bob Crank was born and raised in Adams, Indiana. He started playing a guitar and singing when he was sixteen years old. He took over the group called The Relations, in 1973.

Calvin Ott was born and raised in the South Mt. area of Shippensburg, Pa. He started playing a guitar and singing when he was twelve years old. He has been with The Relations for four years.

Denny Ott was born and raised in the South Mt. area of Shippensburg, Pa. He started playing the bass when he was twenty-one years old. He has been with The Relations for five years.

Dave Reed was born and raised in Ellicott City, Maryland. He started playing drums when he was fourteen years old. He also likes to play the banjo. He's been with The Relations for six months.

Kenny Piper was born and raised near Amerson, Pa. He started playing the guitar when he was fifteen years old. He plays lead guitar for The Relations.

The Relations love and enjoy playing and listening to music. In the summer they travel around to all the Bluegrass Festivals they can. They play for parties, festivals, clubs, and other engagements. They have been wanting to cut an album for quite some time. Hope you all enjoy it."

Find it here.

Spun #5

2011-07-28T13:45:00.003-04:00

Gruppe Nuova Consonanza
"Improvisationen"
Deutsche Grammaphon 137 007, 1969

An early exploration into the world of electro-acoustic improvisation, with Ennio Morricone playing some trumpet. This is mostly quiet, edge-of-perception sort of music, what my friend Franke might call "scratch and sniff," but still with a few spikes of surprise here and there. The generous space (time-wise and depth-wise) around individual sounds allows the listener to concentrate and almost visualize each specific event. It's music that breathes and lets you approach it in your own way, instead of constantly beating you over the head and telling you what you're supposed to hear. Rather refreshing, if you ask me.

From the liner notes: "To unite composition and interpretation, which have hitherto always been separate functions in traditional European musical practice, in a simultaneous creative act-- that is the declared aim of the "Nuova Consonanza" improvisation group. The only ensemble of its kind in Europe, it was founded in Rome in 1964/65 by Franco Evangelisti (who had formulated his theories as ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif result of aleatory already in 1959)-- following the example of the "New Music Ensemble" which has been working in California since 1963, with the same terms of reference and similar aims but without regard to electroacoustic music. The ensemble also receives important stimulus from jazz and from Indian music, both of which-- though each within an entirely different context of aesthetics and tradition-- have developed somewhat similar principles of collective, improvised composition. All the members of the "Nuova Consonanza" group are composers, who also have a virtuoso command of one or more instruments."

Retrieve it here.

Spun #4

2011-07-07T15:41:00.002-04:00

Ken Nordine
"Stare With Your Ears"
Snail Records SR 1001, 1979

For those already familiar with Ken Nordine from his other more widely available recordings, you'll be surprised at how much sort-of singing he does here. His vocals are still warm and up-front as always, but more rhythmically tight and melodic. And the musical arrangements are not his typical jazz backdrops, but instead dark and atmospheric, sometimes bordering on the more minimal territory of The Residents or even Bohren & Der Club of Gore (I'm thinking mostly of my favorite track here, "Cracks in the Ceiling"). There's also some lighter country pop or blues sounding stuff, but the feeling overall is one of foreboding.

From the back, in his own words:

"Silly sill silly me
writing songs
your ears can see,
songs they are
more said than sung,
talking songs
for solo tongue.
Some are sad and
some are not,
some could make you
laugh a lot,
all were written
by my pen,
call me Nordine
comma Ken."

Find it here.

Spun #3

2011-06-30T13:52:00.003-04:00

Bertùf
"Gnossiennes"
Gooom Disques 013

Satie wrote his Gnossiennes in the imagined style of dance music in ancient Knossos, and the first three of his melodies are re-imagined here by Bertùf in a manner that sounds to me simultaneously warm/hazy and cold/glitchy. Nowhere on the jacket or vinyl label does it say at which speed this disc should be played, and it sounds fine either way, but as I tend to like things on the slow side, I transferred it at 33.3.

In many of his pieces, Satie would include texts for only the performer to see as he played. I'm going against his wishes, though, and including his directions below, because I think they add a nice extra dimension to the listening experience.

(Side A)

Numero Un: Slow. Very shiny. Ask. With the tip of your thought. Postulate within yourself. Step by step. On the tongue.

(Side B)

Numero Deux: With surprise. Don't go out. With great kindness. More intimately. With slight intimacy. Without pridefulness.

Numero Trois: Slow. Advise yourself carefully. Arm yourself with clairvoyance. Alone for an instant. So that you obtain a hollow. Very lost. Carry that further. Open your head. Bury the sound.

Find it here.

Spun #2

2011-06-23T15:28:00.002-04:00

Jean Louis
"The Solitary Man"
Village Records VS102

From the back cover:
Jean Louis, "The Solitary Man," has paid his dues as an entertainer. Born in Lewiston, Maine, Jean began his musical career as a trumpet player in his high school band. Before long he was working with local groups throughout New England. Later, during a stint with the U.S. Army, Jean got the chance to perform in Nashville's famous Printer's Alley while stationed at nearby Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. But it wasn't until after leaving the service that Jean's singing career began in earnest and "The Solitary Man" was born. After trying several day gigs he moved to New Jersey and started building a reputation in metropolitan area clubs as a singer and guitarist. Working alone, Jean's versatility in combining his guithttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifar with bass pedals and an electronic rhythm device has made him the envy of all those who aspire to become a successful one-man band.
Here, in his first album, "The Solitary Man," with an assist from some studio musicians, combines both his vocal and songwriting talents in a formula calculated to bring many hours of listening pleasure.

The album as a whole doesn't really compare to the catchy outsiderness of the title track, but it's still a pleasant collection of (relatively) lo-fi country pop tunes and seventies AOR.

Retrieve it here.

Spun #1

2011-06-19T17:03:00.001-04:00

If you've visited this blog before, you've probably noticed a general lack of focus and a ridiculously long time between posts, or what I like to think of as a charming and lackadaisical sense of randomness. But no longer.

I've decided to try my hand at this music blog thing. For the time being, I'll do my best to regularly present fairly obscure discs of vinyl, which hopefully haven't yet been brought into the digital realm (or at least in a listenable version). I hope you enjoy these spinning black circles half as much as I do.

Spun first is a 45 by the Moonglows, "In My Diary" b/w "Blue Velvet" Lana Records L-132. Based on my brief research, this was released in 1964 or '65, and maybe it sounded perfectly normal back then. But when I listen to it today, I can't help but wonder what was going through the minds of everyone involved. Whether it was just a lack of rehearsal, an over-indulged chemical inspiration, some intentional mischief-making, or maybe all three, something was not right. Out of tune guitars, microtonal vocals, liberties taken with rhythm and meter both. . . of course it's great.

As usual, repeated listenings start to make more sense, but there are moments here which will never cease to pull the rug out from under me, causing a chuckle or two in the process.

Retrieve it here.

West End

2011-04-06T17:51:00.001-04:00

West End Blues
West End Girls

harvey and hector

2011-01-21T13:32:00.002-05:00

new imaginary 7" single; available soon.

Rear Window

2010-08-30T10:42:00.001-04:00

Rear Window is a perfect film.

Sounds of The First Decade

2010-03-14T15:32:00.015-04:00

Here are eleven albums from the first decade of this century that I like a whole lot. I'm not going to write about them, because I usually find the task of writing about music to be rather difficult and a little silly when I reread it. If you're like me, you like surprises, so investigate these on your own and hopefully you'll discover a fresh thing or two that delights your ears. I wouldn't be making this list if I didn't love all of these recordings very much. (In no particular order. . . )

Peter Garland

"The Days Run Away"

Tzadik, 2000

Cast King

"Saw Mill Man"

Locust, 2005

Michael Hurley

"Sweetkorn"

Bellemeade Phonics, 2002

Silver Jews

"Bright Flight"

Drag City, 2001

Sunn O)))

"Black One"

Southern Lord, 2005

Wold

"L.O.T.M.P."

Profound Lore, 2005

Fennesz

"Endless Summer"

Mego, 2001

Mal Waldron

"One More Time"

Sketch, 2002

Lungfish

"Love is Love"

Dischord, 2003

Bohren & Der Club of Gore

"Black Earth"

Wonder, 2002

Derek Bailey

"Ballads"

Tzadik, 2002

Ragtime

2009-08-28T22:12:00.004-04:00

One of these days I will play some ragtime piano at Dutch Kills.

at work, much later

2007-01-10T19:33:00.000-05:00

you're probably wondering, "what has greg been doing instead of blogging this past year?" crossword puzzles, mostly. also, guitar, improvisation, reading, walking, drinking, movies, and one funeral (i'll miss you, grandpa).
now i'm wondering if i should make a top ten list of records like i did last year.
i heard that there are about eight million blogs that are no longer being updated. now there's one less than that.
7:30 at work feels the same every day.
what have you been up to?

My Paintings

2006-02-27T16:25:00.000-05:00

My paintings are about experiences and that sense of delight . . . I know it is probably easy to understand for you guys, but please, I'm trying to learn and I don't want you guys to be rude to me.

My paintings are in the collection of the Regis Foundation Minneapolis, so it's probably easy to understand how such things as rain could affect the progress of building your pool.

Given our lack of fins or gas bladders, it's probably easy to understand why swimming is such a challenge to humans, and why my paintings are starting to clutter up my home, though friends and family are doing a good job of taking the best ones “off my hands.”

My paintings are based on and inspired by Santeria, an average of the D scores, readily comprehended by a typical reader of sound synthesis articles.

So it's probably easy to understand why some people were just simply unable to recognize many of these men in my often light-hearted paintings, riddled with humorous hidden commentaries about life and the true importance of our world.

All of the titles of my paintings are from snippets of her poetry; for example: “Cruelty is Flashier than Gentleness,” “It Has a Marketable Hardness,” “If it's Aggressive,” “It's Probably Easy to Understand,” “And Easy to Enforce.”

For two main reasons: first, and this is probably easy to understand, I love talking about something that marked a real turning point in my life. Secondly, and aside from this context, my paintings are witnesses of fascination and respect toward the environment, or the glow of sun and moon reflected in the grass, water, snow, and skies, which Wordsworth and other poets mention as the joy (or correspondence of the inner glow) of our soul.

Some of my paintings are thirty feet long and take about three months, and others are about one centimeter long and can be found on the fingernails of women I have known.

That's actually not true, but given this explanation it's probably easy to understand how this reputation began, affected as I am by symbolism. In fact, my paintings are frequently depictions of depictions: people, places and things that I know and see everyday, as seen by imagined (by me) spectators.

My paintings are both spontaneous and international, and not about Jersey.

So now the reason for cold calls is probably quite simple to grasp. After all, they're calling strangers.

My Music

2006-02-27T16:23:00.000-05:00

My music is my life. Deserted, looted and falling apart! We must reach that point where everything we perceived ourselves to be will appear to be crumbling and falling apart. My music is a flow of sounds, noises, forces; it develops to a point where it goes beyond itself. My music is mostly dreamy and of other worlds. A commercial recording of my music is available for sale to the public.

At this point the chicken will be cooked and falling apart. When my music is real loud my wife can hear it one floor below, but two floors below in her office it’s their long, narrow segmented living room and falling-apart fireplace. Actually my music is not about technique or form. And then, when it starts to sink, it's rotting and falling apart.

What happens if my music is forwarded? What happens if my music is not forwarded? Most of my music is, for some reason, written in a very conservative (not to use the word outdated!) style. If my music is doing that for you on some level or other, all I can say to you is "cut it out!" My music is a strategy and subversion, a rekindling of the Sumerian comedy. My music is not always designed to appease the sensibilities of the more conservative jazz fans.

I spent 9 hours sculpting this wicked cool bust of Alice, and the whole thing is cracking and falling apart to hell. My Music Is Cooler Than Your Music Is And That Makes Me A Cooler Person Than You Are. My music is cool en my life is beautiful. It was much older and falling apart than our last ferry. My music is unusual, and so are the facilities that are far apart and falling apart. My music is fun. When I am producing my music, I feel good. My music is on a different server, how can I link it to my page? My music is umtza umtza avagy.

Within six months after purchase things started rattling and falling apart! My music has been performed on the radio. My music is simply about the encounter and the interaction of sounds. I went to a High School that was very old, and falling apart in some areas. So my music is intended to be interesting and fun to play. All of my music is available for sync, just make an offer! My music is spirituals that speak of hope, promise, better ways.

Brittle books that are worn and falling apart are assessed by the more conservative jazz fans. Some of my music is here. Most of my music is eclectic- there are very few pop albums in my collection. It was rusted and falling apart: the only thing left of its seats was the springs. The background of my music is purely in the emotions of experiences in life, which often seem to overwhelm me. My music is the first step in our goal to build a mobile soccer field. My music is my tribute. It is my thank you to all the readers of the daily news. My music is almost "angry-like." She claimed that she was unable to meditate to it. Like the one day I was completely rushed and falling apart and my music was not "so minimalistic." Most of my music is for instruments with tape.

My music is so superior to yours that, well, the stairs are cracked and falling apart. There's no point in rushing back into the water and falling apart again. This is why it is so important to understand that my music is much more than a MIDI file. Describing my music is hard for people to do. One current that runs through virtually all my music is an interest in melodic line. This ten-song cassette harnesses the essence of what my music is all about.

My music is slowing down and falling apart. My Music is a first-hand exploration of the diverse roles music plays in people's lives. My music is not popular. The backyard tours were interesting; however, it was pointed out that the specifics of knotholes, no groundline, and falling apart trees did not necessarily bring us to a teary-eyed climax. My music is strictly forbidden. My music is supplied for organs, which are intended for public performance or organ grinding, etc. My music is equally enjoyed by those without burdensome circumstance. I hear atoms falling together and falling apart. All of my music is now MP3s.

My music is firmly enmeshed with the natural world. My Music Is Hot Lalomie Washburn. It has all sorts of railings and falling apart porches, and so forth. My music is not yours. If making things ugly is so ingrained in your blood, why not vandalize something old and falling apart? For example, I have noticed that the third building of Pleasureland is in bad shape and falling apart. My music is known and loved, and at the end I would like to have been fierce, funny and falling apart. The main subject of my music is a Russian province. All of my music is composed within the capabilities of my sound card.

My burger was ordered up done "medium" so it kept crumbling up and falling apart as I ate it. But my music is pretty good.

crossing

2006-02-19T17:46:00.000-05:00

i got on the 7 train yesterday morning and it went in the wrong direction, back toward flushing. i got out at the next stop to switch trains back toward manhattan. i saw a man in a black coat let himself down from the platform and playfully walk across three sets of tracks over to his friend who helped him up. i guess he didn't want to go downstairs and have to go through the turnstile again. this is the advantage of having an unlimited metrocard.

best performance of 2005

2006-01-24T14:24:00.000-05:00

where was i on december 18th, you were wondering?

as written by Greg McLean:

Didn't make it to the No Wave video fest at Galapagos or The Scene Is Now performance with Yo la tengo at Maxwells but I did make it to see a solo performance by The Scene Is Now's Chris Nelson at Exit Art accompanied by a phalanx of boomboxes of assorted shapes and sizes and a p.a. system. Chris simultaneously played cassette recordings of conversations, music compositions and noise varieties. He messed with volume knobs and passed the p.a. mic across the boomboxes giving "spotlight" performances to whatever bits of tape were passing over the heads at a given moment.

At some point he donned a fur coat and a pink derby and passed a tray around the audience of bourbon in plastic drink glasses. From his pockets came quantities of confetti with which he blessed the crowd. He saved an extra dose for this viewer/listener and an even larger dose for himself. This seriously compromised some of the bourbon.

A number of audience members earlier in the day had presented Chris with random phrases on note cards from which Chris improvised short vocal performances. Mr. Nelson's full range of vocal pyrotechnics were on display; from his delicate croon to the full bodied roar recognizable as his signature style from his no wave -Imformation-era. For extra flavor he also managed to let loose on a little harmolodic horn playing. "loose lips sink ships" was one phrase he sunk his larynx into, segueing into an accapella version of "Ferry Cross The Mercy" the Brit invasion classic made famous by Gerry and the Pacemakers. "It's always good to end a show with a pop song," Chris explained by way of introducing the number. At one point as he intoned the word "people" he got confused and began singing the notes for the Barbara Streisand hit of the same name but he corrected himself and soldiered on. Although fully clothed, his delivery was naked and emotionally raw as only the finest entertainers can pull off.

The cassette recorder is a dying piece of technology that has been with us for quite some time and sadly may be hitting it's moment of obsolescence. The sounds that came from the decks were like so many wailing dinosaurs in the tar pits. In a post show interview Mr. Nelson admitted that the boom boxes had been borrowed from a number of acquaintances who told him it was not necessary to have the boxes returned. Farewell "rewind." As we head into the second half of this first decade of the next century, Chris Nelson's Exit Art performance was enough to give one pause.

new tuning

2006-01-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

i put some new strings on my #2 guitar (a smallish and slightly funny-looking thing whose brand name has been neatly scratched out so i can't really tell you any more about it) tonight, in preparation for this:

Glenn Branca Hallucination City: Symphony 13 for 100 Guitars
Feb. 4, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
Montclair State University
School of The Arts
Montclair, New Jersey, 07043
973-655-4000

if you find yourself in the area, perhaps you'd like to attend.

and this stuff was good, too

2006-01-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

don't take the list below as a concrete reflection of how i heard the year's music. the way things sound at any given moment depends on the day, my mood, the light in the room, number of drinks consumed, other people listening, etc. and what about the thousands of releases that i didn't bother checking out because i thought the cover looked dumb or because they had song titles like "One Last 'Woo-hoo' For The Pullman"? if i were to make the list right now, it might be completely different, including some of the following:

johann johannsson: dis
lyn taitt & the jets: hold me tight
grouper: way their crept
v/a: congotronics 2
tom verlaine: warm and cool
bob brozman: songs of the volcano
boris/merzbow: sunbaked snow cave
jonathan kane: february
sound directions: the funky side of life
dengue fever: escape from the dragon house
lokai: 7 million
boubacar traore: kongo magni
dirty three: cinder
frank black: honeycomb
billy bang: vietnam * reflections
quasimoto: the further adventures of lord quas
sinistri: free pulse

so, precious reader(s?), what i'm saying is let's leave behind this list-making business for at least another eleven months or so. . . i'm tired of it. but thanks for following along.

#1

2006-01-12T09:41:00.000-05:00

Sunn O))) "Black One" (Southern Lord)

I can't think of anything much to say about this record. Other listeners have already written a lot of descriptive and intelligent things, in reviews that are keystrokes away if you'd like to read them.

I will say that I've listened to it more than anything else in the last few months (which for me might be four times or so), and that I've never heard guitars sound so crushingly distorted without the help of drums, and that the first listen was twice as frightening as the horror movie I'd just seen. I hear that the vocals for the last track were recorded while the claustrophobic singer was locked inside a coffin.

#2

2006-01-01T16:27:00.000-05:00

Smog "A River Ain't Too Much To Love" (Drag City)

About a year ago at The Bowery Ballroom there was a special Drag City Christmas show, with Weird War, Smog, and Joanna Newsom, each playing nine songs broken into three separate sets, kind of a three-way tag team approach. Of course everyone was there to see Joanna Newsom, who of course was amazing. Weird War gave me people a chance to visit the bar or the restroom. For me, though, the evening belonged to Smog.

With just an acoustic guitar (and some surprising chops to boot), he started his first set with a new song, about a bird that's stayed north too long. Jason and I exchanged blown-away expressions, both thinking his might be the best song he's ever written. Then he played another new one ("bury me in fire, and i'm gonna phoenix"). I could feel my jaw hitting the floor. . . this one was better than the first. The third song was like an out-of-body experience; I was floating above myself, hanging on every lyric like my life depended on it. He sang "I love my father, I love my mother, I love my sister too. I bought this guitar to pledge my love, to pledge my love to you." The back-of-my-neck hairs reached for the sky in complete surrender.

A few months later when this record came out, I learned the names of these songs: Palimpsest, Say Valley Maker, and Rock Bottom Riser. And each spin of this disc still feels like the first time. Thank you, Bill.

Oh, and the rest of the record is great, too.

p.s. See here for some new year's eve pictures (scroll down).

#3

2005-12-30T09:51:00.002-05:00

Herman Düne "Not On Top" (Track & Field)

when i first heard belle & sebastian's "if you're feeling sinister" i wanted to play it for everyone i knew, and i did. in the car, on my college radio show, on mix tapes, in the painting studio, and everyone always loved it. i have a similar feeling about "not on top." my friend (and Saint) Thomas Hansen enthusiastically brought these guys to my attention in the spring while i was on tour w/ him playing banjo, and every set we played included at least one of their songs.

only since they've been compared to belle & sebastian by others, i'll try to make sense of that (although i've never committed much mental space to b&s). brothers david-ivar and andre do have fragile and shy-sounding tenor voices, with an accent you can't really place. both have written about a million songs, i think, for the band and for their separate solo projects. their lyrics don't always rhyme and come straight from the heart and are often about rather mundane subjects like ketchup stains, random encounters, living in greenpoint, love. . .

the instruments are played w/ amazing economy and creativity, and the singing is often done by two or more people (julie doiron and lisa li-lund both sound perfect on harmonies), and the whole thing is recorded in mono. thomas says it sounds best played through a guitar amp, and i would agree.

but the real kicker that cemented this band a place in my heart (and brought a tear to my eye the first time i saw it), three words that appear at the very end of the liner notes: REMEMBER STEVE LACY

#4

2005-12-29T09:20:00.000-05:00

Thomas Mapfumo "Spirits to Bite Our Ears: The Singles Collection, 1977-1986" (DBK Works)

I woke up this morning to the sound of steady rain and a weak gray light at the window. The weathermap-in-motion courtesy of weather.com was a big green blur hovering over my little part of the world and not seeming to go anywhere.

The only way I could think of to drive away conditions like these was to put on this CD, which is obviously a collection of songs not recorded this year; forgive me. Even more than my choice for #5, this music sounds like what spring sunshine feels like. The multiple guitars (usually playing parts adapted from traditional mbira melodies) interlock in such an unspeakably delightful way, the drums bounce along in some interesting polyrhythms yet still swing and slay your dancing feet, Mapfumo's vocals lilt and fade in the mix, sounding both world-weary and wise. Most of the lyrics are about life in Zimbabwe, but "Nyamutamba Nemombe" is a dance in which people imitate the behavior of a provoked cow.

Still raining, though. . .

#5

2005-12-23T22:46:00.000-05:00

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate "In the Heart of the Moon" (Nonesuch)

subtle and hypnotic duets mostly, rural folk themes that go around and around. you can hear that these guys are true friends, and the fun they are having just playing music together is completely infectious. but still they maintain a beautiful level of restraint and respect for one another.

listening to this makes me miss those monday afternoons a few years ago when jason and i would sit up at The Tubby Hook, right on the edge of the river, trying to catch a tan, drinking presidentes and watching the boats go by. the jukebox didn't have anything this good on it, of course, but if it had you can bet that i would still remember it's code number and would have always been asking the bartender to turn it up.

The Independent is correct in calling this “playing of almost supernatural invention.”

#6

2005-12-21T00:11:00.000-05:00

Danger Doom "The Mouse and The Mask" (Epitaph)

ben and i agree, the best hip-hop record of the year, right here. the whole thing is just so much fun, w/ melodic samples and squiggly effects, rhymes that keep me smiling down the sidewalk or sometimes laughing out loud. there's a lot of guest spots from adult swim network characters, which if i was familiar w/ them, i'd probably get all the jokes and enjoy this even more. my favorite track right now is probably "crosshairs," built around a melancholy jazz/funk guitar loop, bouncing along with an almost somber inevitability.

first Madvillain, now Danger Doom. . . i'm crossing my fingers that next year will bring another MF Doom collaboration that is as irresistible as these two records.

p.s.

bow down to her on sunday
salute her when her birthday comes
for halloween buy her a trumpet
and for christmas give her a drum

(happy birthday, L.L.)

#7

2005-12-19T20:53:00.000-05:00

Earth "Hex: Or Printing in the Infernal Method" (Southern Lord)

if i didn't mention it already, my list this year is populated with mostly instrumental music. and slow music. here we find Earth moving further away from the drony low end sludge (which they pretty much invented fifteen years ago) and approaching. . . country? blues? the friends of dean martinez way back when? the 19th century western landscape? the beautiful photos in the booklet certainly add that kind of flavor to the proceedings, and the music fits them like some ken burns documentary just waiting to be made.

and another thing: hex signs didn't work. here's looking at you, mike.

#8

2005-12-19T01:25:00.000-05:00

Bohren & Der Club of Gore "Geisterfaust" (Wonder)

don't let the name confuse you. this music may be ominous, but it's not gory. there's a lot of space and repetition, the tempo creeping along in a morton feldman kind of fashion. the instrumentation suggests jazz: upright bass, brushed drums, fender rhodes, saxophone. the five pieces are named after the five fingers, but they don't come in that order. the best way i've found so far to hear this music is to ride a bike through warehouse neighborhoods after everyone has gone to sleep, coasting as much as possible. i'm reminded of all the things i liked about the first Low record, and of why Reinbert de Leeuw is my favorite pianist for Satie's music. . . the chords are left hanging in the air like those hallucinatory sounds you think you hear just before falling asleep. the constant suspense. something hiding behind the door. quiet as a mouse.

#9

2005-12-17T23:56:00.000-05:00

F. S. Blumm "Zweite Meer" (Morr Music)

pretty little things with no words. f. plays almost everything himself; things like the accordion, xylophones, melodica, guitar, toys. the sound is warm and comforting, but fraglie as well. the actual instruments are occasionally massaged with some subtle electronic tweaking. it reminds me a lot of a record called "the isle" by World Standard and Wechsel Garland that i've been liking a lot lately, but it missed this list by a year or two. david grubbs sings on the last track. in english, the title means "second sea," which makes me wish i could listen to this underwater.

#10

2005-12-15T23:33:00.000-05:00

Ocean "Here Where Nothing Grows" (Important Records)

low and slow, heavy and expansive, this is the sound that i was hoping for from Pelican this year. Ocean is four guys from maine, and this is their first full length i think; three songs about twenty minutes each, working their way through slow motion riffs and from quiet to explosive, w/ a few moments that might even be called pretty (in the way that an approaching thunderstorm can be kind of pretty, w/ the greenish light creeping in, the leaves turning upside down, ominous empty streets. . . maybe sublime is a better word.)

the vocals might turn some listeners off, being typical of the doom genre, growly and creepy and not understandable. they don't last long, though, and taken simply as sound, they perfectly match the mood of the music, which is slightly apocalyptic.

my enjoyment of this kind of thing increases as the days get colder, and if i had to shovel a bunch of snow you can bet that this would be in my headphones.

honorable mentions

2005-12-15T09:41:00.000-05:00

here at the end of the year i like to make a list of what i found to be the year's best music. and to draw out the suspense, i'll just mention one record per post, hopefully per day. but we'll start with two things that deserve honorable mention. two pretty good records i was anticipating and expecting to like a lot more than i did: Pelican "The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw" (on Hydrahead) and Silver Jews "Tanglewood Numbers" (on Drag City).

the heaviness of Pelican's earlier output is lessening a bit, and their harmonic structures are beginning to sound a little typically 'emo' and predictable to my ears. i wouldn't be surprised if their next album has some singing on it, further diluting the purity of their presentation.

and "Tanglewood Numbers" just seems a little cluttered with unnecessary overdubs that get in the way of David Berman's fragile vocal delivery.

on the other hand, these records are better than most everything else i heard this year, and i've been liking them more with each listen.

just a tad sweet

2005-11-04T00:43:00.000-05:00

sometimes there's not much that happens. and so it's been awhile since i put anything here. if you're someone who checks in daily for new posts, let me apologize and also say thank you for maintaining an interest in what happens.

i had some sandwiches today with my friend tammi, who has the opportunity to be a stay-at-home girlfriend, keeping house for her boyfriend who makes much bucks. she's not into that, though, for which i respect her.

there was a building a couple doors down from where i work that was going to collapse, according to the gossip on the street. the construction in the adjacent lot had apparently compromised its foundation and it was leaning and swaying slightly, which is not what a ten storey building is supposed to do. occupants had to evacuate and there were lots of firetrucks lining the street, and news helicopters floating up above. but nothing happened.

in august The Scene Is Now went to europe with Yo La Tengo. i didn't take any photos or keep much of a diary, but robert did both! so go here if you're curious:

TSIN tour photos

there aren't many pictures of us playing, if any, becaue robert's hands were holding drumsticks instead of a camera, naturally. but we did, and maybe i'll put something more about that here some other time.

leaf muncher

2005-09-28T00:15:00.000-04:00

I sat on a bench in union square on my lunch break, reading a book titled _The Reimann Hypothesis: The Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics_. There were acorns falling on and around me from the squirrels playing in the branches up above. The woman next to me called several people to tell them about how she was dumped the night before. The guy on the other side of me picked up a leafy twig and began chewing on the leaves. A pigeon bumped into my foot. Two dogs barked in a fast back and forth rhythm, rising in pitch.

stuck

2005-09-03T02:35:00.000-04:00

the traffic light at the corner of crescent and 39th avenue, just down the hill from me, is stuck on red and yellow. red for the people coming up 39th and yellow for the people zooming down crescent. i sat on my bike and watched for a while to see what would happen: the hesitation approaching the yellow, and the eventual lawlessness of driving through the red. i imagine this sort of thing happens once in a while, but i have certainly never seen it before.

flyless fly

2005-07-31T21:13:00.000-04:00

at dinner, a fly with no wings wandering around on the wall and the sugar jar. he seemed pretty relaxed and at peace with his unfortunate condition.

on the corner, some puppies on display to advertise for the pet adoption center. i thought i overheard a guy say, "yeah, they've got all their shots and they've each got a microchip. . ."

on the train, an old guy with a cart that read "psychic readings 3.00 plus donation." the three was printed on a patch and underneath was either a one or a seven. i was sitting next to him and for about twenty minutes he alternated between two actions: 1) tossing these two smooth dark-colored stonelike objects into the air and catching them again. while airborne they vibrated against each other to create an annoying buzzing sound. 2) he held a short metal rod in his right hand and with his left he pushed two semi-circular plastic ribbons (attached to the rod) up to the top. as they slowly fell, they spun around very fast creating the illusion of a sphere descending the length of the rod. he held it right over his crotch and the motions of his left hand, rhythmically nudging the sphere back to the top of the rod, could be read as rather masturbatory.

here's a photo from yesterday's cruise around manhattan island. it's the bottom of the brooklyn bridge.

tide, great new taste

2005-07-22T13:14:00.000-04:00

bought some detergent at the corner deli after a nice sunny walk from lower long island city. when i got home and took it out of the plastic bag i discover that the thoughtful deli guy also included a straw. a suggestion?

oh wait. . . now i remember i also bought a can of apple/raspberry juice. nevermind.

Spider and Bathtub

2005-07-19T01:01:00.000-04:00

this humidity has put sleep a little but further down on my list of things to do right now, so. . . the following:

david gedge can call his band of the moment whatever he likes, but it's not The Wedding Present anymore. (this thought is a few months late, i know.)

sleep in the bathtub?

Slayer covering Minor Threat.

feels like spiderwebs on my fingers every time i come up the steps to my door.

Strozsek shooting off the fireworks.

delayed N train this morning because of a stalled train in the tunnel ahead. sitting and waiting for it to move for twenty minutes, staring at a budweiser add. walking to the next station to wait for the 7 train instead. the train i had been sitting on before pulls into the station, and the door opens to reveal the same seat and the same budweiser add, so i sit down again. since the walk through the hot morning sun was unnecessary, i try now to think of anything that came of it. almost hit by a truck?

listening to mike's vinyl copy of "project mersh" in asheville. listening to the cd right now in headphones. not the same.

a window breeze,

hypnotize a hen by putting her head on the ground and drawing a straight line w/ chalk projecting out from the point of her beak. also, get the leader of a caterpillar procession to change direction and follow the one in the back of the line, and they will go around in a circle until exhausted. thank you, herzog.

strange hole appears in tomato overnight. perfect peaches.

tiny spider w/ a little web in the corner of my windowsill. i tell him he might as well try fishing in the bathtub. he doesn't think it's funny. or he doesn't hear me (i'm whispering).

another breeze.

could you possibly be reading this and not know about my other site, where i have a new Fourth of July song? it's one of the few traditions i keep from year to year: wake up and make a new song for my favorite holiday.

trying to remember january in the middle of july isn't so easy.

Plus and Balls

2005-07-10T00:16:00.000-04:00

"We learn the number 'one.' Then we think we know the meaning of the number 'two,' because 'one' plus 'one' equals 'two.' But we are mistaken, since we do not know what 'plus' means."

Or something like that. I saw Alphaville today, and that's a bit of dialogue that I've been thinking about the most. Maybe because it was one of the few moments where i could read several subtitles in a row. This film could really benefit a non-french speaker like myself by having yellow subtitles, or a less pure white at the bottom of the frame all the time.

also visited a batting cage today and swung a bat at some balls for the first time in years. no home runs, but a few base hits and maybe a double once in a while. strangely enough, it seemed like something i could get into. not because of the sporting aspect, but because i'm attracted to the simple repetition and rhythm. almost like meditation. broken only by the frustration of missing the ball entirely, which doesn't bother me too much.

Oh, IMDB has the actual quote I was trying to remember above: Once we know the number one, we believe that we know the number two, because one plus one equals two. We forget that first we must know the meaning of plus.

2005-07-08T15:23:00.000-04:00

here we are, almost four months after the last post i made to this thing. i am not cut out to be a blogger, but i will keep trying. it's raining all day long and i thought it might be a good time to put something here.

played some music last night w/ Hells Hills under swirling colored lights that seemed to flash in direct and instant response to the sounds i was making w/ the guitar. i stood for a time on two chunks of rock (intended for holding drums in place) and sometimes balanced on one foot.

wrote and recorded my annual fourth of july song in about two hours monday morning, but didn't have internet access to post it that day. it'll end up soon on my other site, which has, like this one, gotten a little rotten w/ neglect over the months. it will be changed. you might not notice.

several nights in a row now of good sleeping weather. keep them coming.

2005-03-22T22:20:00.000-05:00

saw slint the other night. they sounded nice and tight and loud, but seemed a little bored.

saw a chopped off braid of brownish red hair on the subway tracks tonight, the uptown express track at union square. it was about a foot and half long, with a blue ribbon tied at one end. did someone give herself a spur of the moment new look, or was it an assault and makeover?

saw three movies in a row which feature the death of a lovable character: Turtles Can Fly, Nobody Knows, and Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. highly recommended, but not especially easy to watch.

heard Smog's new record "a river ain't too much to love." really really great all the way through.

a young kid asked me tonight in the grocery store where was the cream cheese. "you know, for bagels," he said.

The Gates

2005-02-13T23:36:00.000-05:00

looked down on central park tonight from central park south and sixth avenue at The Gates (http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html). there was one police officer walking through them by the frozen pond with his hands clasped behind his back. i will visit them again on friday to actually walk amongst them, when hopefully most everybody else is at work. and i think the appropriate music for the occasion is "das buch der klange" by hans otte.

Zhou Xuan

2005-01-22T21:51:00.000-05:00

lately i'd been taken w/ the music of two chinese singers from the 40s w/out ever actually hearing their voices (thanks to gary lucas's cd "the edge of heaven". . . worth checking out). this evening my brother and i trekked through the blizzard into chinatown in search of any cds by Zhou Xuan or Bai Guang. i needed andy's fluent mandarin to explain exactly what i was looking for, because i couldn't count on clerks recognizing the englishized version of these singers' names. the first place we found was just closing and didn't have anything. but the second place, pnm music, at the corner of elizabeth and bayard had both. success! i'm listening to them right now and dancing around a bit. the arrangements are for small orchestras, and a lot of them were originally featured in films. the melodies are slightly westernized, but of course i can't understand what they're singing about, and there's not a trace of english on the cd sleeve. the voices are beautiful.

here's a bit of information i found concerning Zhou Xuan:

Chow Hsuan,She is a most famous and greatest
singer and actress in China!

She was born in 1918 at the province of Jiangsu.
When she was child,she was adopted Chow's family.
cause,her true parent was very poor.
And she moved to Shanghai .When she was 12years
old,she was into small music school .and 1931,She
entered one of the big music and theatrical company
call "Bright Moon company".that made by famous
composer who' name Li Jin Hui.
After that she sung at radio,and made up one of ten
famous singer in Shanghai.and she called "Golden Voice"
1937,she played the leading part of the movie "Street
Angel" and promptly made up top actress.
Every audience took prisoner by her voice and acting.
She played many movies and released many records.
All of that are hit.In her life she play over 30 movies
and sing over 200 songs. Always she was a top star.
Next her golden year was late of 40's.
She appeared 5 or more movies and released many
new hit songs!
Someone said that time's her is not good.But I think
that is mistake.the latter half of 40's.She play with
happy feeling and everybody saw her and happy!
But her private life was not necessarily happy.
Divorce two times, mentally sick. and much more
suffering.But every fan loved her always.
and unfortunately, she die 1957 in Shanghai!

But I think that was happy for her.
Why?cause that after few years, hard years came to CHINA.Maybe little red armis put the guilt her
.If she was in a financial crisis...
Of course death is sad, but when she die she believe New morning has come...
but in fact...so I think this kind of things.
sorry

2004's Top 10 (plus 4)

2004-12-30T01:58:00.000-05:00

Here's a list of the albums that I liked most this year. I'll try to write a little bit about them, one at a time, over the next few days. Of course I haven't heard everything; let me know if you think something is missing that I should know about. Only four of these ten have singing.

10) Radian "Juxtaposition" (Thrill Jockey)
9) Sticks and Stones "Shed Grace" (Thrill Jockey)
8) Madvillain "Madvillainy" (Stones Throw)
7) Tortoise "It's All Around You" (Thrill Jockey)
6) V/A "Popular Electronics: Early Dutch Electronic Music from Philips Research Laboratories" (Basta)
5) David Grubbs "A Guess at the Riddle" (Drag City)
4) Deerhoof "Milk Man" (Kill Rock Stars)
3) Bohren & der Club of Gore "Black Earth" (Ipecac)
2) Azita "Life on the Fly" (Drag City)
1) Albert Ayler "Holy Ghost" (Revenant)

And a few runners up:
V/A "Night Train to Nashville" (Lost Highway)
Ebony Rhythm Band "Soul Heart Transplant" (Stones Throw)
Fennesz "Venice" (Touch)
The Streets "A Grand Don't Come for Free" (Atlantic)

Why did I receive this email?

2004-12-26T20:45:00.000-05:00

After, simply complete a dogshaped hurricane about the in-store experience; you shop
with our hurricane, but keep the things your dog reads!

in dreams

2004-12-14T09:30:00.000-05:00

Two everyday activities that become very difficult and frustrating in dreams: running and typing.

mouse and cat

2004-12-10T14:16:00.000-05:00

yesterday morning, the first thing that happened at work was my discovery of a little mouse that was trapped in the wastebasket. it was cute, alternately jumping around and hiding under a piece of paper. the only pieces of trash in there were the paper and some bread that had been in there overnight, and had obviously attracted the nose of the mouse. madeleine pulled out the black plastic bag, but the mouse had chewed a hole in it, so he was left at the bottom of the bin. she took it outside and set him free on the sidewalk. the sidewalk on 18th street at 11am is probably not the best place for a mouse, but i wish him luck. an american tail.

later, i was eating a slice of pizza and noticed a white box, maybe 3'x1'x1', on a table next to me, rocking slightly up and down. there was an employee of the pizza joint decorating a christmas tree nearby and he noticed the movement of the box as well. he opened it up and there was a kitten inside, that had been walking back and forth w/ just a crack on one end to peer out of. another employee laughed very loud in a "we tricked you" kind of way. the cat was let out on the floor and darted around curiously, stopping and starting like only cats can do. i remembered the mouse and thought to myself, "now nature can run its course."

Three pumpkin pies

2004-11-26T01:18:00.000-05:00

A lovely thanksgiving at the Levi apartment, w/ Steve, Georgia, Helen, Louise, Doreen, Robbie, Chris, Lianne, & Phil. Each person received a miniature farm animal to mark his or her place at the table. Mine was a goose, and I forgot to bring it home w/ me. I had the perfect spot for it in mind: on the shelf by the railing for the stairs to the landing. Next to the dancing lemurs and the napping Mexicans, the miniature gray man and the transparent green monkey. Maybe i can get it when i see steve at band practice on sunday.

Waiting for the F at 2nd avenue (after dinner we decided to see the new Almodovar film at the sunshine), a drunk homeless man w/ tourette's syndrome approached me on the platform and was whispering something like "mike did it, mike did it." then he said, "stop it. you better stop it," before moving further down and yelling something incomprehensible. did he want me to stop reading my book? and mike, dear friend, what did you do?

Candy

2004-11-17T01:12:00.000-05:00

Riding a horse named Candy through some thousand acres of private land in the hills near Hot Springs, North Carolina, we were followed by a puppy named Pete. Sometimes Pete would follow close behind the horses' back legs, with his head being swished by the tail. He seemed to be studying so that one day he could graduate from puppy to pony. Most of the time, though, he would be running far ahead or behind, on and off the trail, sniffing into every tangle of weeds and every fallen branch, thoughtfully peeing on them occasionally. Pete seemed like someone who's had ten cups of coffee before noon. When I opened the car door on arrival, he was right there jumping up into my lap and licking my chin. Mike told me about a brain-desolving disease that can be contracted through dog saliva, so I was careful about where Pete's tongue went, but Pete didn't interpret my hesitation as rudeness. There was a little boy in a big flannel shirt who held up three fingers when I asked him how old he was. Our guide led us to a gem mine and we climbed as far as we could into the darkness. It turns out that most of the treasure is to be found in the creek just outside the mouth of the mine. Treasure being small pieces of garnet. We were not allowed to gallop. I rubbed Candy's neck every once in a while to communicate my appreciation and friendliness. Maybe I seemed kind of sleazy to her, but who knows what a horse is thinking?

This or that boat

2004-10-15T06:27:00.000-04:00

Another translation, this one posted by a Portugeuse radio station:

"What will have taken Anger Kaplan, figure of nose of the Yo La Tengo, to relate that "it will never be possible to say the sufficient concerning the The Scene Is Now" and to prove this its admiration when including a version of "Yellow Sarong" in one of the registers of its group? Perhaps the quandary of Kaplan is the same that we face now, when writing these lines...

Having 1982 as year of foundation and with only 6 albums in its discografia, the The Scene Is Now had always kept considerable distance relatively to musical chains, one more barren than others, that had been crossing its contemporaneidade, occupying a priveligiada position of comment and never yielding to the temptation of apanhar this or that boat. E the truth is that if they have known to keep to the part, being built a solid passage, marked for one strong personality, a recurrent talent to write songs and the apelativo charm of exclusive only parts e.

Where it musically consists the identity of the The Scene Is Now? Perhaps in a naive amadorismo that is transparent in the melódicas transposições of the influences Bell-Soviets of Phil Dray. Or in the influence politics of its line of leftist-chic thought. Who knows in the esgaseadas guitars that tear the specter, then in the superior layer of the constructive juxtapositions that build its way of composition. It can still be the voice, clamorous, tragic-cómica that it finishes for all giving to one faceta surreal the set. Finally, and because not, a distinct creative talent of almost all excessively.

After everything this we run the risk to come back to the starting point. E is not that Kaplan has reason?!..."

Songbirds Lie

2004-09-15T23:43:00.000-04:00

i tried on a pair of used cowboy boots that were black. the toe was too tight and the heel was too loose. the previous owner had very triangular feet apparently. the sky is orange tonight... hurricane season.

Machine translated from the Dutch:

"The Scene Is is Now one of that mysterious, geheimzinnnige ties from New York. In the ended 22 year have they only five albums brought out. In all that years its they with Pere Ubu, Reason Crayola, and Half Japanese compared. And perhaps remembers one yet the number 'Yellow Sarong' that Yo Drawer Tengo of them coverde. In every case, The Scene Now of theirs 's old style do not deviates Is: confusing rhythms, cheap keyboard sounds and creaky song."

black light

2004-09-07T22:12:00.000-04:00

just finished john hawkes' novel "the beetle leg" and feel like maybe i need to start again at the first page. each paragraph creates its own world from scratch, with surreal, poetic descriptions that don't lend themselves easily to visualization. the big picture begins to materialize eventually, as it must, i suppose. maybe only because i wanted it to. maybe this book was the inspiration for ted berrigan's mock-western "clear the range," one of my favorite and most-revisited books. not a lot of people have had the patience to finish it, i've heard, which is pretty ridiculous seeing as how it's only 136 pages long.

buying a taco the other night at 2am, inbetween sets with casey (and nick this time also, whose loud but pretty electronics were a good filter for our sounds), a puerto rican on a barstool next to me asks if i "like those tee-tees." before i realize what he's asking i turn in the direction of his gaze to face a pair of breasts, bouncing in the black light. the place is full of men in glowing white tee shirts, all watching the same breasts as they roam around the room. when i ask the guy next to me if this happens often, he looks at me a little suspiciously (although he should know that since i was patted down upon entering that i am not an undercover officer of the law) and says "thursday, friday, saturday," and kind of trails off in such a way that suggests maybe he means every night. then he puts a finger to his lips and smiles. now that i think about it, he was smiling the whole time. the taco was only two dollars and really hit the spot.

lung

2004-09-03T20:45:00.000-04:00

visited jason today in the hospital. his right side lung collapsed for the third time a couple days ago, and the surgery they performed should prevent it from happening again. there were lots of purple marks on his pale skin, bruises, vessels and some ink from the surgeon's purple marker. i walked all the way from long island city to the hospital in greenwich village, staying on the sunnyside of the street and with headphones for a change. generally i prefer the sounds of traffic and bits of passing conversation, but for long walks a little music is nice. playing with casey later tonight, improvised crooked and shadowy dronebeats, overlapping with simplified/explored guitar lines, some melodica duets.

one banana left

2004-09-02T23:09:00.000-04:00

dinner w/ kesone tonight after about eight months of not seeing or speaking to one another. not for any negative reason; just two lives that don't overlap unless planning takes place. real friendship still exists, though, always there beneath the surface, resilient, renewable, and comforting. i'm glad of this. my alphabetical listening has brought me up to john fahey. there is one banana left, and it might be past the flavor i prefer.

2004-02-12T23:11:00.000-05:00

The burning hair smell is gone from my hand, I'm pretty sure. I acquired it last night while lighting the stove (the pilot light is broken) in order to heat up some leftover pizza. Apparently too much gas had built up before the spark from the lighter gun did its job, causing a frightening ball of flame to jump out at me with a low woof sound and engulf my hand and arm for a split second. The damage was minimal at best, but i jumped up and down like a cartoon character anyway. My first thought was "for crying out loud, this had better be the best left-over pizza ever!" sadly, it wasn't.

2004-02-10T23:11:00.000-05:00

food and drink! chris nelson (who is, among other things, the best songwriter i know of), invited me out to dinner tonight for the occasion of his five year anniversary of being employed at the architecture firm. we dined at the striphouse, a steak place on 12th street. it was by far the best strip of beef i've ever consumed. we managed to go ten dollars over the supposed limit, making it also the most expensive dinner i've had while living in new york, and perhaps ever. my debts to chris are piling up like firewood in october.

2004-02-09T23:11:00.000-05:00

stayed inside despite the nice (43 degrees) weather to finish the mixing and mastering of gp17, the title of which is still up in the air. my only excursion outside was to the lic mini mart to buy milk, orange juice, and beer. it was eight o'clock and dark but i sensed a small warmth in the breeze nonetheless. there is something really nice about taking deep breaths of night air and walking down a quiet street. may the coldest days of winter be behind us.

2004-02-06T23:11:00.000-05:00

lots of music lately; lungfish last night. muhal richard abrams just now, thanks to laurence. what i'd like to remember about today, though, is what happened on the morning commute. the train was coming into the station as i was getting close to the stairs. i didn't think i'd be able to make it, but i ran anyway. up the stairs, around the corner, through the turnstile, up more stairs to the platform just in time to see the doors closing. i connected w/ some blank stares from inside the car, knowing that these people would disappear forever in a second or two. it was cold and rainy and i didn't feel like waiting around for the next train. and then, miraculously, the doors opened again and i hopped on. thank you to the kind conductor who must have re-opened the doors.

2004-02-04T23:11:00.000-05:00

saw steve lacy and danilo perez play tonight at carnegie hall. rather at zankel hall which is in the basement of carnegie hall. they played 'flakes,' 'blinks,' 'esteem,' 'deadline,' one whose name i can't recall, and a nice 2-in-1 by danilo whose second half was 'love in five.' i hear that lacy's health is not 100%, but his playing is still confident, clear, and way above my head. well worth the thirty five dollars. before the show i was at the ticket window standing right next to someone i would have liked to talk to, but was unsure how to approach the possibility of conversation. were this a real diary i might go into the details of this story. my goal here, however, is just to record one thing that happened today in as straightforward a manner as possible.

2004-02-03T23:11:00.000-05:00

there was a brown spider on the cd pricing table today. i presume that it crawled out of a cd that had been in an old looking box that had been brought down from upstairs. it walked to the edge of the table and seemed to be looking at me as i sat on the top of the radiator. i put a cd lid just under the table edge and it came right down onto it. then i put the lid above the wastebasket and the spider gently let itself in the garbage on a strand of web. several hours later jason noisily compressed the garbage (mostly broken plastic cd parts)with his shoe (which got stuck). i imagine the spider found its way out by then, and survived.

The october weekend in iowa

2003-10-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

The trees were beautiful, w/ lots of red.
Some were red only on one side, as if burned by the sun.
The new road is almost complete.
The gas stations on the old road might be hurt by this.
I made some lucky shots at the pool table.
Brian told a joke w/ the punchline "not sixty eight more times!"
Andy played XTC in his car.
He informed me that "science friction" was a bonus track.
The bonus tracks were in the middle.
The service at Country Kitchen was slow.
The food was not hot.
The wedding was not far from Grant Wood's american gothic house.
Mark was losing a lot of moisture.
Saturday could not have been better, weather-wise.
The pianos were a little out of tune (at the church and at home).
Songs were sung by all.
The history channel took a break from WWII to show a program about medieval siege machines.
Tara and Amber drove down from Riverside.
We danced to Guns 'n' Roses, Bee Gees, The Clash, and the Chicken Dance.
And the hokey pokey.
Brad was nervous about the toast.
The frosting on the cake was like delicious rubber.
The groom's toast was perfect, not surprisingly.
Did grandma bring her blue purse?
Grandpa was unhappy w/ his golf game, but happy about most everything else.
Andy, Mike and me riding in the back of Brian's pick-up truck back from the bowling alley.
Sunday night is league night; don't even bother.
What's so funny about ordering a blended margarita and fried ice cream?
Def Leppard was a good band at first, according to Andy.
Alexis was quite happy w/ the Francis Cabrel cd.
The stupid tuxedo place does not open until 10.
The church was Pentecostal, not Episcopalian as first reported.
Things are funny if spoken in a loud voice.
"Uh-oh," said Maddie.
The single girls fought over the bouquet.
the single boys moved away from the garter.
Clarissa and I walked too fast out of the church.
Brad played Miles Davis in his car.
There were armies of boxelder bugs.
There were many species of birds doing some last minute poking around.
Grandma and I both prefer candid shots to posing.
Is it better for the team who beat the Cubs to win or lose the world series?
I don't miss the open country side and the corn fields.
Sunday night in Ottumwa... the same old problem.
Brian will be in a country band this winter, crowding around the radiator.
The new road is almost complete.

seen while leaving chicago

2003-05-20T19:11:00.000-04:00

puddle & reflection
orange train cars
telephone pole
pile of wood
concrete wall
tires
white tractor trailer
white stone wall
tall light poles
"DTTX"
orange cone
big trees
grass needs cutting
2-story brick apt.
white gravel
pile of wood
old gothic church
red & white porch
passing train
sunshine on leaves
basketball court
interstate & traffic
"CANDLE CORPORATION OF AMERICA"
seagull
weed trees wild
cement trucks
pile of gravel
parking lot weeds
red tractor trailer
guardrail
overpass
smokestack
grass
red "wrong way" sign
blue McDonald's sign
backhoe
blue watertower
steep roofs
red pick-up
big pipe section
large cross-shaped bricks
crane
"ART'S AUTO BOD"
McDonald's
big gravel pile
small clumps of leaves
metal bridge
dirt piles
water
big wavy wall
tugboats
rusty structure
mint pick-up
mint house
tank (army)
orange plastic fence
rockpiles
mint portapotty

2002-04-02T19:11:00.000-05:00

since that the laboratory of the computer is above of closed / closed below it is starting to look at as I will have that to go someplace more to function mine errands / is leaving mine errands to function its proper course microphone I am going remix " better of the one than... " and pô it on both the sides ratios: I remember it to sound good, but not more for much time, and stephanie is not interested too much anymore in this type of the design. a shame, but we will see what he happens, not we? ed raised!

these trousers, which I had on for three day and which is something to say even nobody has considered and which people, which I really explained, do not worry. it is simpler for me, this with articles of clothes, than doing it with music is I knows people, those to the same Song over and over to hear can again however not I.

in the time, which takes it you, around this, someone to read in your city, has pleased sleeping thing on a couch, much in the way that I did the other night to be waked up am many simpler, from a couch, than her from a bed am in the time, which lasts it me to the play with the shears consider I all small not desirable marks in the carpet and the furnace is ready for use. Bye.

I cannot let questions swim into a way past. possibly must I at all another answer to " cash or examination? ", is one alright question, and tomorrow are again warm you.

it seems a little merry that I spread this card, in order to possibly transmit your way, if I comes this way on some short days, which were I yesterday there. I think that kenneth says well patchen: "the only case, in which I laughed at all strong with grandma, were, when he received his ear, that was intercepted in the gate of the drawer",

I received a piece of misleading post office today from you, thought sump I the fact that it could give somewhat internal but at my confusion did not give it no nice photo of you, however and a buffet. Hawaii is not a place, thereby a recent thing the whole expanded ocean loses itself expands outside as a unwalkable desert and blue.

this card has arrived in your postal cassette, after that it had travelled over the country to the bags and the LKWAS and superficial and with an amount of cards and the similarly colorful envelopes and inscatolasse stirred chocolate purified and enjoyed on a determined travel over the Ohio, nest LED this card close to a case au5$erordentlich that the odore odore can you still it? in order to explain to you
a secret small, this card was really white woman, when I would transmit it, but account on the postino in some place in order to color around to its other color like those, that I have pointed out, like that it had seen, " on sixty minuteren in order making",

renovations great is occurring in the office where I work more per some weeks but more graduation leaves says me to it something and the future: I am a little nervous and scared exactly. the time really was hurried above but I know that one I do not matter what, SOMETHING will happen. I am trying to apply in all the practical ways. if you he will be these three years busy has, I v I do not eat we we always had
the time to communicate itself back and forth.

today, while I sat there, i did not intercept itself once trying to thiink the nonsense of words, the anybody thought beforehand probably at all on says had fugglermungie is the word I meant on. They cords could say that there, also and then we the only three people, to have done at all in such a way are. it is a good thing that the following week is the locking week for this project: I run from things for saying.

in this space it is highest time for a vacuum cleaner or a desk almost everything these cards possibly formed I a kneeling and hunched more rueber on the floor I has a desk, but it is in a space, in which there is no music system except " totals too " system, which I use rarely. at the moment tanze I to the red Krayola, a Swellzeit, and is a dishonor, which is you not here, but I estimate that your sister soon is.

**time-out** ** time out ** I not know if this card have any thing do also like fast it its east term termination, but d lock day have arrive obvious before schedule d sky seem rainy smell d firewood coal and hear d tone of d structure (d building new alive fence where). rodgers nonuniform of d jimmie can now protect to me.