dark dark dark [music]

dark dark dark are a hybird of musicians from new york, new orleans and minneapolis, including the magnificent lead vocalist and piano and accordion artist nona marie invie, supported by the vocals and multi-instrumentist marshall lacount (banjo, piano, clarinet), two choir singers, jonathan kaiser on cello, and multi-instrumentalist water mcclements (piano, trumpet and accordion), plus the talents of drummer brett bullion and bassist todd chandler. (irc)

LINK: listen to the new dark dark dark ep bright bright bright

ride, rise, roar [movie]

david byrne is out to prove that seniors can do great things when they stay active. but seriously, if you aren't sick of byrne from this or that, then you should look into this documentary of his rather elaborate most recent tour.

gorillaz [music]

snoop dogg says 'crackalackin' early on in the new gorillaz album. crackalackin gets you every time, but you don't have to admit it, and i know you think damen albarn can shake and bake. so get crackalackin and listen to the album over at npr already. [see what i did there? crackalackin 3 - 4 times.]

U900 [video // music]

listening party [music // milwaukee // friends]

milwaukee's brimming over with these uppity do-it-yourselfers. you know the ones. with the one speed bikes, lop-sided haircuts and secretly expensive jeans. don't get me started on the girls, what with their knitting needles and pin-up tattoos. i'm halfway to a tizzy already. i love those fucking kids and i miss them like mad.

milwaukee kids have always got something cooking. this time it's listening party, nick and andy's new record label. if the phrase "limited edition, numbered, high quality vinyl pressings" gives you a boner - or even a halfer - then get out your $9 art pen and your moleskine and take note. if you're unsure about what the hell you just read, head over to the listening party's homepage to listen to a track from the new decibully record world travels fast. and read up on a forthcoming release from minneapolis' lookbook. then do the right thing and buy a record.

[photo cred]

patti smith [books // music]

patti smith's new memoir of legendary village friendships (especially her and mapplethorpe), just kids, is out now, and i almost can't remember winter. so here's "february snow" by patti.

It is the immutable hour. The still, somnolent hour of God. The snow is falling and aroused by dream I slip into my coat and enter the last breath of night. Not a bit of wind, not a bird upon the branch to greet me. Only the mute thrum of flakes upon my face covering everything- shoulders, sky, the path before me with the color of snow. And I am reminded of the hair of certain men - of the silky strands of de Kooning; of Sandburg, Frost, and the beard of Whitman.

The moon arrays the field - a wide pallium of white velvet-I do not wish to cross and mar with my step. So I stand for a long time looking down at my faithful boots and my long, dove-colored coat. I have always loved a good coat, and my preoccupation with a sleeve or the detail of a vent can carry me away.

I remember wearing this same coat the night Andy Warhol died. It was February. Snow was falling and I was walking very fast. As I passed a small churchyard surrounded by an iron gate I realized I was chanting a prayer to the beat of my feet. I hurried on. I was due at the recording studio and I was late, for I had been talking to Robert. He called, in great distress, to tell me Andy was dead.
"He wasn't supposed to die," he cried out, somewhat desperately, somewhat petulant, like a spoiled child. I could hear other thoughts racing between us.
"neither are you"
"neither am I"
I could hear him hearing me. We didn't say anything. We hung up reluctantly.
"I am with you."
"I am with you."

Walking. I suddenly felt very happy. It was a beautiful evening. Cold and clean. The snow, which had been falling lightly, now fell with great force. I wrapped my coat about me. I was in my fifth month and the baby moved inside me.

"It's snow, little baby, snow."

It was warm and glowing in the studio. Richard, beloved pianist, left his post to make me coffee. The musicians assembled. It was our last night recording till the baby came. My husband said a few words about Andy. Then we made ready and performed the song - a structured, improvised spirited argument-talking communion. In the center of it I held the image of a swan - pale and sounding - a trumpeter swan.

We were pleased with our work. Everyone said good-bye and a few remained. Hearn, our percussionist, sat crosslegged on the floor with some rare uncommon instruments resembling Moroccan pie plates. Richard sat at the keyboards. My husband played guitar. I left them there, in desert twilight, and slipped outside into the New York night. The snow had ceased falling and it seemed like the whole of the city, in remembrance, had been covered in an undisturbed layer of snow - white and fleeting as Warhol's hair.

Some months later Robert was commissioned to photograph Andy's house. He disliked interiors but agreed, saying, "If I'm going to do one it might just as well be his - at least he was a genius."

Robert, entering a dressing closet, found to his surprise rows of white wigs, some of human hair, some doll's hair, and all evoking the shy radiance of their master. So much so that Robert imagined if he were to photograph one against his black drop, in his meticulous light, that he would have a true portrait of the artist with all his soft black humor entwined in that wonderful hair - like the wild threads of a fairy godmother.

Everything dissipates, commingles with dawn. First Andy died. Then Robert. And then, quite suddenly without a word, Richard followed. It is time, I think, to walk across the field. The snow falling very fast fills my steps. No one will know I passed over. For there is none but a shroud of snow stained in memory, graced with mourning light.

[from interview magazine, 1992]

DOWNLOAD: patti smith - my generation (live cover) [mp3]

jeff mangum [music]

this was on kottke somewhat recently. it's been queuing up in my brain at intervals for more than a week. now it's here. and it's really great. [knitting factory, march 7, 1998.]

micachu and the shapes [music]

micachu and the shapes are picking up pieces. call it recycled fun. so much work lately has been going into making ambivalent feedback surfer noise and folk to make the trees cry that some bits have been getting overlooked. in said wake, micachu has made this simple-sounding uncacophony, a sort of pop catch-all. they jangle, they sample, they bop low-fi frenetic. and it moves. i can't stop listening.

DOWNLOAD: micachu and the shapes - vulture [mp3]
VIDEO: micachu and the shapes - lips
(photos)

justin vernon + mhs jazz ensamble [music]

this is one of a few good sound/poor video snippets of justin vernon of bon iver playing a sort of homecoming concert with the eau claire (wisconsin) memorial high school jazz ensemble last week. in this video he covers mahalia jackson's satisfied mind, and it appears that the show also included a few bon iver tracks. thanks to bear for the heads up.

LINK: more info

will oldham [music]

will oldham is about as indie-huge as you can get. as it happens, the latest bonnie 'prince' billy album, beware, just dropped, and, accordingly, there is a glut of oldham lore in the news. loads of links below, all from the past week give or take. all are worth a look, but if you've only got a moment or just want to cut to the counter-intuitive chase, i recommend the independent article. i usually stay away from 'what's on your ipod' junk, but as you might expect, oldham's ipod is not quite like yours or mine, nor is his annotation. a sampling:

The Pipil Indians of El Salvador

"This next song is called 'El Barrenar'. The Smithsonian library has a website and you can order anything from the archives. Someone will then burn you a CD. I was going to El Salvador a year ago and I wanted to hear some music in the months leading up to my trip there. This is vocal, rustic and is in Spanish, when I was hoping it would be in an American-Indian dialect. It's probably from some time in the 1960s. The truth is I'm not all that happy with this purchase."

...

Timbaland

"We now come to 'Boardmeeting', one word, by Timbaland featuring Magoo from his 2007 record Shock Value. I have never listened to this song. I was on tour and I watched a Timbaland video with Nelly Furtado late one night on the hotel TV. I liked it and thought, OK, I must listen to the rest of the record. But I don't like the rest of the record, though I should at this point confess a weakness for Nelly Furtado records in general."

LINK: npr reviews beware
LINK: bonnie 'prince' billy live on soundcheck on wnyc (audio)
LINK: "the brilliant disguises of will oldham" - village voice
LINK: beware review on nytimes popcast (audio)
LINK: "will oldham lets his ipod do the talking" - the independent
DOWNLOAD // VIDEO: bonnie 'prince' billy - i am goodbye (via)

lmfao [music // video]

you can call this a guilty pleasure, but i see no reason to feel guilty about it.

LINK: if you've somehow not had enough...

tunde adebimpe // brandon kim [music // friends]

daniel's already got this over at btbn because he and brandon go way back, which is the essence of inside information, really. second-hand, third-hand, whatever, fact is brandon caught up with tunde adebimpe about the music and his role in rachel getting married and they let the discussion run to include the roles of music and other media in the current american(?)/societal rhetoric. read between the lines of me sounding like an asshole: they talk about race and politics. anyways, tunde handles it brilliantly:

Regarding race or gender or sexuality, one of the great things about art and music is that they can provide people with very little else in common with a similar entry point for discussion, but the discussions still need to happen for life to get more interesting. I'm all for awkward, frank, sometimes painful conversations about things that give everyone a better perspective on who they are in the here and now, and how they want to proceed from there.

daniel also got the whisper on an mp3 of tunde's neil young cover from the film, so be sure to hit that btbn link.
LINK: taking a break with tunde adebimpe - b. kim for ifc
LINK // PHOTO CRED: gorilla vs. bear polaroids

neko case [music]

go to npr and stream the forthcoming neko case record, middle cyclone.

avett brothers [music]

aside from the fact that this avett brothers cover rolls so naturally that if you didn't know e street from sesame street you might think the boss had covered them, i was struck by no less than two memories of the best times ever by listening to this song. if you don't know him, dan dufek is this rangy urban cowboy-type i used to ramble around with. usually, after we were too pissed up to shoot any more pool, danny would sing impassioned versions of born to run in any mangy milwaukee tap with a speaker and a microphone. the boss always takes me back to those neon lights. and from way back, this song will forever remind me of these guys and county stadium. thanks to j bear for the heads up.
LINK: first time around

dark was the night [music]

i'm filing this one under 'you probably already know this, but hey what the heck?' dark was the night is a double cd/triple vinyl produced by aaron and bryce dressner of the national to benefit the red hot organization – an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for hiv and aids through popular culture. all 31 tracks are previously unreleased and it's chock full of bands you already love, so try out the three tracks in the player on the right, and then do the right thing and support the cause (available as mp3s via itunes and amazon).

made in thailand [music]

*disclaimer: appreciating that this blog is not a personal journal, and considering the difficulty i'm having trying to encompass the experiences i had on this trip, this will be my last post on anything vacation-related. if you're curious about the rest of the trip, by all means send me a message.

if you get to thailand any time in the fairly near future, keep an eye out for waifish grifters in nirvana and metallica t-shirts. you won't be long in looking. i can't say what, but something's got apathy and headbanging back in vogue in southeast asia. we first noticed the trend on our train ride from sungai kolok to hat yai - a few straggly teens in ragged 501s lounging at train stops and loitering on street corners - but the trend was true all the way to chiang mai. in koh phi phi we saw it get live.

the energy of koh phi phi, despite feeling at first ambiguous, is unmistakably omnipresent. the already small island feels all the more condensed because the majority of the livable area is a tiny isthmus that connects the mountains on either side. reflecting the necessary concentration, the streets teem with people at most hours and music, smells, and vacationers pour out of open store fronts in chaotic intervals. when evening descends on koh phi phi, the energy begins to coagulate, and it doesn't take long to realize that this is a place where growing-ups come for an E-induced latter day spring break. as the low pulses of house music begin to creep from the beach inland, bars begin filling with sunburned merrymakers swilling from buckets in which you mix your own fun. amid all this, i found myself drawn to the contrast of sounds and fluttering activity of one small alley where we found made in thailand - an all-thai four piece - ripping through a spot-on cover of ride the lightning. despite the reasonably early hour, the open-air bar, rolling stoned, was packed with an already-drunk, enthusiastically rowdy crowd rollicking in the revived youth of every nirvana and rage against the machine riff. made in thailand were mesmerizingly on point, and the crowd was fun galore. we stayed for the whole set.

sun kil moon [music]

i've recently been seeking a new, palatable morning background. i found it by returning to sun kil moon's latest, april. it's subtle, it builds, it doesn't offend slow-waking sensibilities. and if you actually tune in, it's quite mesmerizing.

DOWNLOAD: sun kil moon - unlit hallway [mp3]

snowflakes (don't call it a winter playlist)

i miss looking out the window and seeing snow; there's something to be said for the metaphysics of scarves, hot chocolate, frosty windows, rosy cheeks, and the like. here's a different take on the snowflake...

DL: julie doiron - snowfalls in november
DL: mountain goats - snow song
DL: bob dylan - winterlude
DL: fleet foxes - white winter hymnal
DL: damien jurado - ghost in the snow
DL: arcarde fire - cold wind
DL: ra ra riot - winter '05
DL: au revoir simone - fallen snow
DL: animal collective - winters love

the avett brothers [music]

the avett brothers aren't afraid to keep it simple. as a result, they make good, honest, slow music. these are songs full of pleas, harmonizing, dumb luck, old girlfriends, subtle twang, flat tires, plunking, camp fires, sitting in cars in parking lots, smiling while singing, summer dresses. there's also a banjo; call that the kicker.

LINK: their space
DOWNLOAD: avett brothers - swept away [mp3]
DOWNLOAD: avett brothers - kind of in love [mp3]

today, mostly