the last coupla days
Today between my Musicology discussion and my Creative Muscianship Theory section I had some time to kill so I went to Encore (the best record store in Ann Arbor I don't work at) and I picked up the following:
M Ward- Transistor Radio LP. Now I burned this from WKDU a couple weeks ago so it wasn't really an essential purchase, but it was only 5 bucks so how could I pass it up? I really like this album by the way, it's one of those records that you just get lost in.
The other thing I picked up was a copy of Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire." It's not my favorite Schoenberg thing, but it's still pretty fuckin cool. It's one of his less dissonant things and I like the fact you only need about 6 people to perform it.
After Encore it was off to Borders to pick the latest issue of Fader. Getting that out of the way I went to go get some Sushi and read my magazine like the good hipster I pretend to be. Flipping through I stumbled upon an article about Nomo, and that reminded me I needed to update about one of the best weekends I've had in awhile, before the drunken memories fade.
St. Patricks Day actually started off pretty shitty. I had an English paper due the next day and I couldn't skip any classes so I didn't even start drinking till 11 or so. Joey and I decided not to leave my room, so we just drank car bombs and other assorted drinks with Aaron and his girlfriend Kelly in my room. Evidence:
Oh by the way I don't think I told anyone what happened with my camera. I mean, you all know what happened to my old camera (it was put through the washer AND dryer). So anyway after an ethical debate I convinced my Mom to try and return it to Costco. She did and well, now I have a camera thats much nicer. Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Apparently they didn't even look at the camera, they just let her take an equivalent one, and since my camera technology has increased while prices have dropped, my new one is nearly twice as sweet. Anyway, thats where these pictures are coming from...
So yeah we got pretty wasted and good times were had.
So yeah that 7 page English Paper I had due the next day at 3 before I went to work? I didn't start it. So I got up at like 12 and got cranking on it. I got it done in time, but completely neglected the fantasy baseball draft for our newspaper league. And that hurts, a lot... cause now my team sucks. Oh yeah, you really care. Anyway I finished my paper about Mark Twain and Charles Chesnutt's use of vernacular in two of their short stories in time, in part becuase I took up way too many words analyzing Black Star's lyrics in ways that can only be vaguely considered relevant to the topic at hand. Bah, I'll probably get an A anyway, my last one was even more pure bullshit (Thoreau and Melville's attitudes toward "mental freedom").
Work was fine as usual. It was a little slow so I went digging through some of the crates underneath the shelves and I found a 3 dollar copy of this Gene Ammons record:
What makes the record significant (well other than the fact it has a killer line-up) is that it's Coltrane's first recorded session on alto sax (he played alto in Diz's big band from like '49-'51, but none of that ever got released). The only other record I can think of that his him playing alto on it is A Love Supreme, but it's very possible I'm missing some if ya'll can think of any.
Anyway after I got off work I had to go straight to the newspaper for summer elections. These elections are mandatory for everyone on staff at the paper, or else you don't get paid for the entire month. They're brutal though as everyone has to squeeze into the arts room for 12 hours of the most tedious, boring bullshit. Of course everyone gets wasted (it's college) but unfortuneately I was there long enough to get pretty drunk, and then completely sober up. I managed to take maybe one or two non-blurry drunken pictures, here they are:
That's Evan, technically my editor now, but more of a friend really.
It was real fun getting up the next day for work, but I somehow made it on time. Saturday means working with Will, which is always a pleasure. He burned me this album, which I've been listening to a lot:
It's real edgy, sparse post-punk that doesn't sound the least bit dated. You can hear the influence they've had on Interpol, as well as dozens of other watered-down wanna-be's.
At the end of the day I also picked up this masterpiece:
This collection of his ABC/ Backbeat sides absolutely slays. Produced by Willie Mitchell, (Al Green's producer) he's got that killer drum and organ sound that makes you feel like you're on Mclemore Avenue in Memphis. This guy is for sure one of the most over-looked soul greats. I wouldn't put him up there with Al, but a voice this gorgeous deserves more.
Speaking of Al Green, his appearance on the Daily Show was quite possibly one of the best interviews I've ever seen in my life. I would absolutely love to sit down and talk with Al Green. Oh man, how great would that be?
So ok, keep in mind that I haven't really gotten drunk since New Years Eve and now it's been two nights in a row of heavy drinking. Planning on taking the night pretty slow I skip out on one of Joey's music school performances and sit around and play video games with Aaron. Thinking I was just gonna sit around and go to bed early, I made myself a big mug of tea and sat down on the couch. But oh, it was not to be... Joey called me up and told me he was going to be sitting in with Nomo later and if I wanted to come I had to come down and meet him at the music school right then. So of course I got off my ass and went down there so I could get picked up by Dan Piccolo, the drummer for the group. Apparently Nomo got last-minute booked to play this after party for the Ann Arbor Film Festival at this hookah bar/club called Oz. It was a cool place that I normally wouldn't be able to get into, but since I was with the band I got to walk right around the ropes. Not only that, but free drinks all night! Shit, I was in heaven. Nomo put on their usual tight set, and Joey wailed his brains out. Literally, blood started gushing from his nose during one of his solo's- it was totally bad-ass. The band is super tight, and is best described as Fela Kuti-esque afrobeat. You really oughta check out their website - nomomusic.com and download some of the mp3's (but avoid "moving in circles," i won't vouch for that piece of shit).
After their set this european dj dude went up and did some cool shit while I put away white russian after white russian. To my surprise co-worker and all around good dude Forest was there:
Ugh ignore my general disheveled state. Yes I know I badly needed a shave and a kleenex, cut me some slack I didn't know I was going anywhere.
As for people who looked better than me, here are Ross and Andrea, two of my eldest friends:
Here's Andrea with Leena and Dan Piccolo:
oh, and Here's Joey and me enjoying our white russians:
So yeah it was pretty cool being able to walk up to the bar and just order a drink. I think I'm gonna go ahead and drop the hundred or so bucks it takes to get a good fake id, I have a feeling I won't regret it.
So after the dj, Dykehouse came on. I don't know if any of ya'll are familiar, but Dykehouse is a shoegazer-esque act on ghostly thats actually pretty cool. At this point I was pretty wasted though and everyone was leaving for this party at Elliot Bergman's house.
Now I know that name doesn't mean anything to you, but the dude's in Saturday Looks Good to Me, His Name is Alive and Nomo so I was pretty excited about getting to hang out at his house with like 15 other people. I mean, I wasn't all like hey can I get a picture with you, I'm not that lame Borna, but in my drunken state I was like ah, this is what I have to look forward to in Ann Arbor. It was a nice to feel sort of connected and in with things. Anyway I ended up getting even drunker, but luckily I caught a ride home with someone and passed out safely in my own bed.
Sunday I worked with Forest, who wasn't all that sympathetic to my lack of sleep. It was a good day anyway though, cause I got to pick up the new Prefuse 73, as well as the Hideyaface 12".
The 12" is pretty sweet; The El-P remix is almost better than the original, and Prefuse always sounds better on vinyl. The album itself is fantastic as well. I usually don't care, but for this one I avoided the leaked version thats been floating around for awhile. I highly reccomend going out and picking this up on Tuesday. Tuesdays a huge day for new releases, off the top of my head:
MIA, Prefuse, Decemberists, Yo La Tengo retrospective, Eno reissues, Dino Jr reissues, Bloc Party, Brendan Benson, etc...
I was gonna grab a copy of Arular on vinyl as well as the Sunshowers 12" but we were running low so I'll wait till we get some more in before I pick those up.
I think I can wait, I've been listening to lots of other new stuff recently.
Here's a record I think a lot of you might like:
This group, black moth super rainbow, reminds me a lot of Boards of Canada in that they have that real analog, tape-warble feel. They're even more organic though; it's just really hip stuff. I don't know how easily you'll be able to find it, so anyone that wants it I'd love to send it you via aim.
Tomorrow is looking to be another busy day. Besides classes, I have to figure out how I'm going to get out of this test Friday afternoon so I can go to Chicago to see Slint with this dude Andrew (my former music editor) and Evan (my current music editor). I also have to go see one of my teachers Mark Kirschenmann, and his group (indluding Prof. Gould, Glenn Kotche's drum teacher) play this show. Well, I suppose I don't have to go, but I'd like to.
If you got all the way through that, congratulations here's a reward:
http://turbine.slackworks.com/robots/Dave/springtimeinny.mp3
Seeing as it's starting to warm up, Jonathan Richman's "Springtime in New York" is becoming more and more appropriate. Guaranteed to put you in a good mood, resident of that fine city or not.
Lloyd out.
M Ward- Transistor Radio LP. Now I burned this from WKDU a couple weeks ago so it wasn't really an essential purchase, but it was only 5 bucks so how could I pass it up? I really like this album by the way, it's one of those records that you just get lost in.
The other thing I picked up was a copy of Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire." It's not my favorite Schoenberg thing, but it's still pretty fuckin cool. It's one of his less dissonant things and I like the fact you only need about 6 people to perform it.
After Encore it was off to Borders to pick the latest issue of Fader. Getting that out of the way I went to go get some Sushi and read my magazine like the good hipster I pretend to be. Flipping through I stumbled upon an article about Nomo, and that reminded me I needed to update about one of the best weekends I've had in awhile, before the drunken memories fade.
St. Patricks Day actually started off pretty shitty. I had an English paper due the next day and I couldn't skip any classes so I didn't even start drinking till 11 or so. Joey and I decided not to leave my room, so we just drank car bombs and other assorted drinks with Aaron and his girlfriend Kelly in my room. Evidence:
Oh by the way I don't think I told anyone what happened with my camera. I mean, you all know what happened to my old camera (it was put through the washer AND dryer). So anyway after an ethical debate I convinced my Mom to try and return it to Costco. She did and well, now I have a camera thats much nicer. Yeah, it's pretty sweet. Apparently they didn't even look at the camera, they just let her take an equivalent one, and since my camera technology has increased while prices have dropped, my new one is nearly twice as sweet. Anyway, thats where these pictures are coming from...
So yeah we got pretty wasted and good times were had.
So yeah that 7 page English Paper I had due the next day at 3 before I went to work? I didn't start it. So I got up at like 12 and got cranking on it. I got it done in time, but completely neglected the fantasy baseball draft for our newspaper league. And that hurts, a lot... cause now my team sucks. Oh yeah, you really care. Anyway I finished my paper about Mark Twain and Charles Chesnutt's use of vernacular in two of their short stories in time, in part becuase I took up way too many words analyzing Black Star's lyrics in ways that can only be vaguely considered relevant to the topic at hand. Bah, I'll probably get an A anyway, my last one was even more pure bullshit (Thoreau and Melville's attitudes toward "mental freedom").
Work was fine as usual. It was a little slow so I went digging through some of the crates underneath the shelves and I found a 3 dollar copy of this Gene Ammons record:
What makes the record significant (well other than the fact it has a killer line-up) is that it's Coltrane's first recorded session on alto sax (he played alto in Diz's big band from like '49-'51, but none of that ever got released). The only other record I can think of that his him playing alto on it is A Love Supreme, but it's very possible I'm missing some if ya'll can think of any.
Anyway after I got off work I had to go straight to the newspaper for summer elections. These elections are mandatory for everyone on staff at the paper, or else you don't get paid for the entire month. They're brutal though as everyone has to squeeze into the arts room for 12 hours of the most tedious, boring bullshit. Of course everyone gets wasted (it's college) but unfortuneately I was there long enough to get pretty drunk, and then completely sober up. I managed to take maybe one or two non-blurry drunken pictures, here they are:
That's Evan, technically my editor now, but more of a friend really.
It was real fun getting up the next day for work, but I somehow made it on time. Saturday means working with Will, which is always a pleasure. He burned me this album, which I've been listening to a lot:
It's real edgy, sparse post-punk that doesn't sound the least bit dated. You can hear the influence they've had on Interpol, as well as dozens of other watered-down wanna-be's.
At the end of the day I also picked up this masterpiece:
This collection of his ABC/ Backbeat sides absolutely slays. Produced by Willie Mitchell, (Al Green's producer) he's got that killer drum and organ sound that makes you feel like you're on Mclemore Avenue in Memphis. This guy is for sure one of the most over-looked soul greats. I wouldn't put him up there with Al, but a voice this gorgeous deserves more.
Speaking of Al Green, his appearance on the Daily Show was quite possibly one of the best interviews I've ever seen in my life. I would absolutely love to sit down and talk with Al Green. Oh man, how great would that be?
So ok, keep in mind that I haven't really gotten drunk since New Years Eve and now it's been two nights in a row of heavy drinking. Planning on taking the night pretty slow I skip out on one of Joey's music school performances and sit around and play video games with Aaron. Thinking I was just gonna sit around and go to bed early, I made myself a big mug of tea and sat down on the couch. But oh, it was not to be... Joey called me up and told me he was going to be sitting in with Nomo later and if I wanted to come I had to come down and meet him at the music school right then. So of course I got off my ass and went down there so I could get picked up by Dan Piccolo, the drummer for the group. Apparently Nomo got last-minute booked to play this after party for the Ann Arbor Film Festival at this hookah bar/club called Oz. It was a cool place that I normally wouldn't be able to get into, but since I was with the band I got to walk right around the ropes. Not only that, but free drinks all night! Shit, I was in heaven. Nomo put on their usual tight set, and Joey wailed his brains out. Literally, blood started gushing from his nose during one of his solo's- it was totally bad-ass. The band is super tight, and is best described as Fela Kuti-esque afrobeat. You really oughta check out their website - nomomusic.com and download some of the mp3's (but avoid "moving in circles," i won't vouch for that piece of shit).
After their set this european dj dude went up and did some cool shit while I put away white russian after white russian. To my surprise co-worker and all around good dude Forest was there:
Ugh ignore my general disheveled state. Yes I know I badly needed a shave and a kleenex, cut me some slack I didn't know I was going anywhere.
As for people who looked better than me, here are Ross and Andrea, two of my eldest friends:
Here's Andrea with Leena and Dan Piccolo:
oh, and Here's Joey and me enjoying our white russians:
So yeah it was pretty cool being able to walk up to the bar and just order a drink. I think I'm gonna go ahead and drop the hundred or so bucks it takes to get a good fake id, I have a feeling I won't regret it.
So after the dj, Dykehouse came on. I don't know if any of ya'll are familiar, but Dykehouse is a shoegazer-esque act on ghostly thats actually pretty cool. At this point I was pretty wasted though and everyone was leaving for this party at Elliot Bergman's house.
Now I know that name doesn't mean anything to you, but the dude's in Saturday Looks Good to Me, His Name is Alive and Nomo so I was pretty excited about getting to hang out at his house with like 15 other people. I mean, I wasn't all like hey can I get a picture with you, I'm not that lame Borna, but in my drunken state I was like ah, this is what I have to look forward to in Ann Arbor. It was a nice to feel sort of connected and in with things. Anyway I ended up getting even drunker, but luckily I caught a ride home with someone and passed out safely in my own bed.
Sunday I worked with Forest, who wasn't all that sympathetic to my lack of sleep. It was a good day anyway though, cause I got to pick up the new Prefuse 73, as well as the Hideyaface 12".
The 12" is pretty sweet; The El-P remix is almost better than the original, and Prefuse always sounds better on vinyl. The album itself is fantastic as well. I usually don't care, but for this one I avoided the leaked version thats been floating around for awhile. I highly reccomend going out and picking this up on Tuesday. Tuesdays a huge day for new releases, off the top of my head:
MIA, Prefuse, Decemberists, Yo La Tengo retrospective, Eno reissues, Dino Jr reissues, Bloc Party, Brendan Benson, etc...
I was gonna grab a copy of Arular on vinyl as well as the Sunshowers 12" but we were running low so I'll wait till we get some more in before I pick those up.
I think I can wait, I've been listening to lots of other new stuff recently.
Here's a record I think a lot of you might like:
This group, black moth super rainbow, reminds me a lot of Boards of Canada in that they have that real analog, tape-warble feel. They're even more organic though; it's just really hip stuff. I don't know how easily you'll be able to find it, so anyone that wants it I'd love to send it you via aim.
Tomorrow is looking to be another busy day. Besides classes, I have to figure out how I'm going to get out of this test Friday afternoon so I can go to Chicago to see Slint with this dude Andrew (my former music editor) and Evan (my current music editor). I also have to go see one of my teachers Mark Kirschenmann, and his group (indluding Prof. Gould, Glenn Kotche's drum teacher) play this show. Well, I suppose I don't have to go, but I'd like to.
If you got all the way through that, congratulations here's a reward:
http://turbine.slackworks.com/robots/Dave/springtimeinny.mp3
Seeing as it's starting to warm up, Jonathan Richman's "Springtime in New York" is becoming more and more appropriate. Guaranteed to put you in a good mood, resident of that fine city or not.
Lloyd out.