Monday, November 28, 2005

GAWKERIZED

Gawker's Team Party Crash was at the scene of the crime last Tuesday for the MyOpenBar.com launch party. Not only did they snap my picture (with Ben Simington at my side), but they published it. Not as the headline photo (that 'honor' went to Heidi from Quarterslot) but just below the 1 paragraph of text.



Also a nice picture of Mr. Michael Leviton (also of the spectacular La Laque) manning the decks downstairs (and very well, I might add).

I spent most of the night listening to bands play or Michael DJ downstairs, so I missed talking to my favorite NYC DJ/crush upstairs, but was able to take some nice photos of my own. Of two bands I really liked: first, the impressive Fresh Kills for their Wire-y sound, and then Ms. Quarterslot herself for her photogenic erotic intensity. Check my pix at Flickr.

11 Glorious Days


It was good while it lasted.


And, I love this photo:

The caption:
"After meeting with reporters in Beijing, Mr. Bush tried to exit through a locked door. Realizing the mistake, he made a mock grimace, and an aide pointed the way. He joked: "I was trying to escape. It didn't work.""
Thanks, New York Times.

Also, I'll be buying this shirt soon. Maybe?

Good Johnny Boy News

The JB's got back to me... here's the scoop:

The album has a release date 28th Dec in Scandanavia... no mention of future release dates but the label putting it out in Scandinavia is Wild Kingdom, and the place to purchase it is at Sound Pollution.

How am I going to navigate a website in Swedish???

QC

Got home from work at 12:30 or so and proceeded to read the first 236 episodes of Questionable Content, and I couldn't recommend it more. Another few hours and I'll be up to date. I'm desperately fighting the urge to buy at TEH shirt.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

this is dedicated...

I'm putting up a YouSendIt of Johnny Boy's song "Johnny Boy Theme". Johnny Boy's album has apparently been completed for some time, but it's release has still not happened. When I last talked to Davo and Lolly, the album was expected to come out in Scandinavia in October, but that was in August, and as far as I can tell nothing's come of that yet. I've been desperately awaiting this for a long, long time. I really hope it gets sorted out quickly.

Check out the excellent label What's Your Rupture. I missed Love Is All at their show in NYC last week because I had to work.

I have no other news. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

"Better Off Dead"

When I was little, I didn't know punk music.
Just like I didn't know what people eat for dinner in the Himalayas.
But eventually, it all filtered in through the airwaves, mostly through WZBC in Boston.
Their Top 90.3 Songs of All Time is arguably a list of the Top 93 Songs of All Time - punk or otherwise - as of 1998. (year-by-year lists available for '98, '99, 2000, '02, '03)
These lists were my guidebook, like finding a treasure map in the sand and being consumed by a desire for a shovel.

#20 on the list: "Better Off Dead" by La Peste

Stereogum has an mp3 of the DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 cover, off their new record. I've been rocking it CONSTANTLY... so good it nearly equals the original.

He's also got the La Peste original, so get it if you don't know what you're missing. Essential.
Enjoy.

Monday, November 21, 2005

false return

The Observer tries to decode blogspeak

Prefix interviews some hyped Monkeys

Pitchfork News reclaims the Line-of-the-Day scepter:
“Hey Andrew, how about saying "And I hope Jeff will reunite Neutral Milk Hotel and record another album" at your next show? Please?”

MisShapes to move?
Update: this was just cited in BrooklynVegan... the parade is movin' up in the world.

Let the Boss make the Laws

Nick waxes ridiculous/insane on the new Strokes

Getting more and more genius every day… yes and yesser

Will Bowers just drops amazing tracks left and right for your mixtape pleasure


That's it for today... i don't even know where to start... GO TO THIS

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Pete L'Official Line of the Day (Monday edition)

Seriously, he's the fucking champ:
"Less a song than a rebuttal to the prosecution, "Exodus" proves three things: 1) "Ja" is not short for Johnnie Cochran, 2) Johnnie Cochran is dead, and 3) Murder Inc.'s Irv and Chris Gotti are totally fucked."

though it was very nearly rivaled/surpassed by this comment left on the blog of everywheregirl Ultragrrrl:
"you just have reasonably commendable musical taste for everything that has been recorded since 1980 by dudes in eyeliner, but i think this stuff shakes it out just as hard." - lewi | 11.14.05 - 4:21 pm

Tuesday's Pitch was weak-witted (no Official P in sight), so here's the best I've got:
"The Strokes recently completed the video for First Impressions of Earth’s first single, "Juicebox". Far more entertaining than the song itself, the clip features David Cross as a clueless radio disc jockey, hot guy-on-guy and girl-on-girl action, and vomiting."
Really it's the "and vomiting" that makes it. But, I think vomiting is funny. as long as I'm not doing it.


EMI sent me an email because they have this "which rock star are you" game based on their catalogue... I got:
Pete Doherty
"Ok, you're ticking all the rock and roll boxes. You have been wild and wasted, you've been in trouble with the law and hang around with people who make a living from being beautiful. But without the tunes it's not big and not clever, so stop it right now."
and I thought Eddie Argos was harsh.


also, I finally got around to seeing some new movie trailers. the best:

Memoirs of a Geisha
I'm surprised by how excited I am to see this. Though the cast is... spectacular
Brokeback Mountain
Munich
Breakfast on Pluto
Neil Jordan directs Cillian Murphy in makeup in '70's Britain.
Match Point
My sources abroad tell me that this is perhaps the darkest, most psychologically adept movie of Woody Allen's career. For the 1st time in a long time it looks like he's doing a movie I would want to make and watch. (Plus, I'd go to the cinema to watch Scarlett Johansson make toast)
Also, The Libertine looks like it has potential... I mean, Johnny Depp and Sam Morton?


I also saw The Passenger the other day... which was cool, if not especially revelatory. there was lots to like about, to be sure. Maria Schneider's screen presence. the disorientation of the plot's first 15 minutes. The confusion over what inspires David Locke to become Robertson. And that gorgeous long take that is nearly the film's last shot, slowly moving toward and then through the window...

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

So I'm at the Guggenheim (that's in New York)

Saturday night continues... well into Sunday afternoon.


So, after negligible sleep and a long night out, I took the train from Williamsburg where I woke up to the Guggenheim on UES. I had a 1PM meeting scheduled outside the RUSSIA! exhibit and I meant to keep it.

There were some amazing works in the exhibit but it felt more than a little disjointed. It's hard to argue with seeing - in person - Malevich's "Black Square", or some actual icons painted by Andrei Rublev. Still, we (Jason, Nicole, and I) came away feeling more "Russia?" than "RUSSIA!"

I'm not even sure what to say about this... I enjoyed lots of the individual pieces but was nonplussed by the exhibition as a whole (considering how much it had been built up). It's also hard to spend 4 hours focusing on art if it's such a grab bag of styles and time periods... much more exhausting, say, then seeing Matthew Barney take over the building.

After the exhibit I bought tylenol and then we ate Italian food. Then I went home.

More art thoughts to follow? Actually, probably not.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Good Weekend

friday... plans to go to Stolen transmission / Art Brut afterparty fell through as I left work at 1230, went home, and somehow never made it out again

Saturday, I volunteered for the 'early' shift at work in order to make it out in time to see Art Brut at the Tribeca Grand. I got there around 11:30, and after 5 minutes or so in line made it downstairs. The guy at the door waved me in without bothering to check the list, and I headed immediately to the stage. There were already lots of people in front of me but I had a good line of vision and wasn't too far from the stage. By the time the band came out it was after 12:30 and the people in front of me had grown 6-8 inches, so I decided to leave my new camera in my pocket and concertrate on rocking out - I hate having to hold my camera high up in the air to get a shot of the band.

The band came out without Eddie and starting playing an AC/DC riff... Eddie came out and it turned into "Formed a Band"... they did this sort of thing all night long, interspersing bits of rock history into their songs (though generally it was Eddie's singing that did the referencing). Wait, do I remember this right? all these details are possibly wrong, though none are made up... it's my chronology that's at issue.

So, some out-of-order highlights as I remember them:

In "Formed a Band", Eddie changed the lyrics to say "We ARE the band, that WROTE the song, that made Israel and Palestine get along. Up next is India and Packistan. Easy - Peasy."

Eddie started off every song with "Are you ready Art Brut?" He had a killer thin mustache and wore a great hat and wasn't afraid of his untoned/untanned torso.

the pre-"Emily Kane" banter was about how he actually saw Emily Kane after writing the song for her and she thought it was a joke, and she laughed. And he sounded heartbroken as well as resigned.

oh, this is the best:
the intro to "Rusted Guns of Milan" was "This is a song about Valentine's Day, 2001." Then, mid-song, he went on an extended, detail-filled riff about his experiences of Valentine's Day 2001... which was as heartfelt and serious as it was ridiculous. It made me a little nervous with how filled with candor it was, yet it was riotously funny while also kind of uncomfortable. This one song proved that Art Brut is not ironic as much as it is serious. Perhaps better said, Art Brut should be the official soundtrack of the New Sincerity.

also, at one point Eddie said something like: "I have a very good memory for faces. And I'm coming back to New York. And when I do, I'm going to find you, I'm going to track down each and every one of you. And when I find you I'm going to grab you by the arm and ask you if you've formed a band. And if you say no, IF YOU SAY NO... I'LL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED. I'LL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED."

awesome pictures at Brooklyn Vegan.

I hate to disappoint... I'll have a band together by the time Eddie gets back.

Let me say that new guitarist Jasper Future is the new indie-rock matinee idol I'll never be. guy is gorgeous (he's the blonde, obviously).

I almost bought a "Popular culture no longer applies to me" T-Shirt, since I've been feeling that way for a year or two now. Some might think I make a play for hipness, while in fact I try to seal off my influences to create a singular culture that has nothing to do with the broader culture. Instead I came away with a "Modern art makes me want to rock out" shirt, which I put on under my button-down in the cab ride to Williamsburg (where I don't live).

After the show I called Casey to see where he and Fin were; they were at a bar in Williamsburg whose name I've forgotten (Roebling and Grand, right on the corner). I went out to meet them and got there around 1:30-ish. When the bar closed at 4 Casey and Fin and new friend Ashley were the only ones still rocking so we went first to buy beer, but since it was 4 AM on a Sunday we had no luck. Instead we went to a diner and ate a breakfast of sorts before going back to Ashley's place (a few hours before she was moving out). Casey went to crash in her bed while Fin, Ash and I sat on the couch and started watching the Family Guy movie... which lasted about 10 minutes until we all passed out. When we woke up it was light (was it light when we got 'home'?) and the menu sequence was on repeat and it was nearly time to leave the house and get breakfast (again). I wasn't hungry but drank a much-needed vitamin water and sat outside with Fin and Ashley while Casey went back to Queens to change clothes or shower or something. Fin and Casey had already planned a group badminton excursion in McCarren Park, but I had plans to meet Exeter friends at the RUSSIA! exhibit at the Guggenheim... to be continued...

Thursday, November 10, 2005

RETAHTED

free tribeca grand Art Brut show is SATURDAY.
finding new ways to look like an idiot seems to be a subconscious hobby at this point.

I’m pretty sure at this point that Pete L'Official has a bet with Dom and Julianne that he’ll win the most Line of the Day nods this calendar year. He’s definitely in the lead; every word of this review feels like a bid for today’s award.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Haven't read the NME in so long, don't know what genre we belong


Art Brut - best band alive
Art Brut fans - best week ever in New York
Art Brut in concert - best thing I'll be doing Friday Saturday
Art Brut in concert for free Friday Saturday at midnight, Tribeca Grand - best reason to email these folks immediately
Art Brut afterparties - one more reason to <3 Ultragrrrl



Yes I wrote that but don't tell anybody.

don't need to sing to me in french

see above

delay

real post to come soon... i've been very busy
but not too busy too recognize this gem.

see you soon.

go to an Art Brut show or 2 this week... Friday is the way to go. (get yourself on the list)

word is the ZX has finished mixing the album and is preparing to release... info to follow


sarah, congrats

best,
dave

Friday, November 04, 2005

I Live By Night

Juelz Santana line of the day:
"When will Bush stop bombing these people?/ He won't, cause his father was evil/ It's in his blood/ Pardonin' people/ Pardon me people: we s'posed to follow these people?/ Ptttch."

Also, there is some seriously ridiculous (and hence appropriate) R. Kelly-related discourse in Interrobang (?!) #10

awesome amazing song/band discoveries of the week:
FEMME GENERATION
Latst year's 6-track album Circle Gets The Square was really great. catchy postpunk/newwave + My Bloody Valentine guitars with a dose of Walkmen piano/keys magic. Tracks I've heard - available at their website, among other places - from the forthcoming BROTHERS AND SISTERS, ALONE WE EXPLODE (Jan '06, Permafrost Records) are really very good (though I think I like the old tracks better?).

"Truth or Dare" by They Live By Night
cop it here (still?)
this song is totally on repeat in my head/ipod/life. it's the perfect pop song by way of heart-on-sleeve jagged/fuzzy guitars, Walkmen drums and magic backing vocal harmonies. This and the new Madonna are my favorite songs right now.

these days I only listen to music I can compare to the Walkmen.

later today: the Julez Santana/Walkmen comparison. I promise.

I keep forgetting that there's a Schiele exhibit up at NEUE GALERIE NEW YORK.

X to play a show in New York: 12-09 - Roseland Ballroom

David Cross's David Cross impersonator response.
I used to hate Gawker but they've been slowly winning me over for the last year and a half or so. But now that they've shown me this... I have officially come around. It's even funnier without sound... at least i think so - I haven't actually heard it yet.

Update: Gawker was right. the sound is essential.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

P-fork Line of the Day, 11.2.05

Today, a tie:


Choice A -

Speaking about Tony Conrad, the truly legendary experimental musician and filmmaker:
"Several Conrad ensembles featured some dude named John Cale, who co-founded some band called the Velvet Underground, which you may have heard "hip" people talking about at your local Urban Outfitters."

In context.


Choice B -

"Are bounds overstepped in calling Juelz Santana the best MC whose name rhymes with "bandana"? Think naught. Revel in it, despite (or because of) this: "I'm the shit/ Get me/ They can't get/ wit me/ I'm all that and a bag of chips(!)/ Yes, the chicks dig me.""

from today's review of the song "Pick It Up" by Juelz Santana [and featuring Lil Wayne]. by Pete L'Official (best psudeonym ever? or possibly just the odds-on fave for the Most Gangsta Pitchfork Name 2005)

you are so fucking serious


Rock! Paper! Saddam!



the best way to experience this particular news item is through this perfect blog post.


I'm like the 800th person to get on this bus, but the video for Hung Up is fantastic.



I'll be not giving a fuck at Moveable Hype tomorrow. if I feel like it.