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I'm gonna miss the sea...

2008-10-08T18:35:00.001-07:00

I'm gonna miss the sea..., originally uploaded by relaxing.

I'm gonna miss the snow
I'm gonna miss the bees
I'll miss the things that grow
I'm gonna miss the trees
I'm gonna miss the sun
I'll miss the animals
I'm gonna miss you all

and i'm gonna miss e'erybody when i'm gone...

Buy the music: E. 1999 & Eternal | Another World

And you shout out loud

2008-09-29T21:37:00.001-07:00

it shouldn't feel like it is ending, originally uploaded by relaxing.

And you're bursting with pride
'Cause they don't let you talk
And your heart is finally mending

Buy the music: Architecture in Helsinki - Fingers Crossed

one more thing before i go

2008-09-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Plotting the course of light through our days. Thanks, Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Yesterday was the autumnal equinox.
That means from here on out
it's nights longer than days.

(it's only a matter of science.
and knowing is better than not knowing.)

Download: Low - Murderer
Buy the album: Drums and Guns

see what you've done

2008-08-03T19:22:00.001-07:00

when she smiles at me.

i forget all the doctrines i've been fed
and contested

by what branch (branch of science)
you and no one else, no one else who can

fill my heart up with roses
(instead of the dark thoughts in my head)

Download: Box Five - Doctrines [Solo Version]
Buy the music: Fen

the little heart beats so fast

2008-07-27T06:09:00.000-07:00

Heaven, won’t you stay with me for all time
Oh girl,
stay within me and be always mine
Feels, feels just like I’m in heaven
And I know, Lord, that this feeling has just begun
Come down softly to my soul

Buy the album: Playing With Fire | From Here We Go Sublime

curtain call.

2008-07-16T09:34:00.001-07:00

sometimes i wonder how my life would be.
perceptions shaped, if i couldn't see.

do you like disco?

Download: blind
Buy the album: hercules & love affair

try to save your house

2008-07-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

try to save your songs
it's all boiling over, all boiling over
(( and i wish the part that lasts from 2:40 to 3:05 would go on forever ))

you took the house, you went and changed the locks
now i am stuck, living out of a box
i think I've been taken for everything i own
i've been hurt so badly, i'm alone, baby, i'm alone
you left me nothing

Buy the album: Thom Yorke - The Eraser | Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville

distance

2008-07-01T19:45:00.001-07:00

distance, originally uploaded by relaxing.

she knows what god gave her eyelashes for,
she knows what god gave her eyelashes for,
she knows what god gave her eyelashes for,
she
knows
it
must be recess in heaven
if they let the angels out like this...

Download: Girly Loop | Evangelista II
Buy the album: Moonshake - Big Good Angel | Carla Bozulich - Evangelista

dsc

2008-06-22T01:40:00.000-07:00

EXIF metadata (summary): Exposure time 1/40s. Aperture f/1.4. ISO Speed Rating 1600. Flash did not fire. Focal length 50mm. Focus control manual. White balance manual. Loss of focus, loss of control, loss of balance: total.

Download: Squarepusher - I Wish You Could Talk
Buy the album: Go Plastic

don't groom me

2008-06-21T04:12:00.000-07:00

the grating, unmelodic way i do things is working out just fine.

(alternate title: no singing lessons, please.)

Download:
wake up by the walkmen
peach, plum, pear by joanna newsom
you got what i need by biz markie

Buy the album:
everyone who pretended to like me is gone
the milk-eyed mender
the greatest hits

6.4 = Make Out

2008-05-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

just remember different people have peculiar tastes
        and the -

           glory of love 
 

                 might see you through

Download: Gary Wilson - 6.4 = Make Out, Kraftwerk - Computer Love
Buy the album: You Think You Really Know Me | Computer World

whales wave goodbye

2008-05-07T20:11:00.001-07:00

whales wave goodbye, originally uploaded by relaxing.

and you're trapped in your overturned body

under a blanket or burning car

Buy the music: Freescha - Kids Fill the Floor

Another chance

2008-04-21T22:03:00.001-07:00

Because I want a DJ night called 'Dance Music for Sad Children'.

Because everyone needs a little Toto in their day.

Because I don't like music videos where they fuck with the mix, but the concept for this one convinced me to absolve it of its misdeeds.

Because if I ever feel better, I'll go to the disco.

Because latin house just might have the power to change the world, even if it won't change your mind.

Because I am culpable, reprehensible, careless, jealous, and cruel.

Download
Roger Sanchez - Another Chance

Buy the album: First Contact

Scary. Yeah, that's my problem.

saudade

2008-04-18T20:28:00.001-07:00

i've changed the locks, originally uploaded by relaxing.

Frail By Design - Waiting Patiently
The Kills - Goodnight Bad Morning

"Saudade... Portugese word for a feeling of longing for something that one is fond of, who is gone, but might return in a distant future. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return."

All of our secrets are coming undone / what a beautiful state we are in
Goodnight another bad morning

Buy the album: Frail By Design | Midnight Boom

youth. teeth. seeth.

2008-03-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

i am really pulling for you to grow up.
because you are not getting any younger.

love,
mgmt

Download: the youth:mgmt
Buy the album: oracular spectactular

sometimes i get homesick

2008-03-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Tips:
one. london is not chicago.
two. politeness isn't the same as friendliness.
three. you're on your own, kid.
(footnote. swelling strings and chorus.)

Download
one. home i'll never be
two. american squirm
three. walked for hours
(footnote. chicago)

Buy the album:
tom waits - orphans box set
nick lowe - basher
gonzalez - gonzales uber alles
(sufjan stevens - come on feel the illinoise!)

rhythm comes in many forms

2008-03-15T19:39:00.001-07:00

the train rolled to a stop, originally uploaded by delicious aloysius.

"i often dream of trains when i'm with you"

Múm - Asleep on a Train
The Notwist - Off the Rails
Zoviet France - Amber

We're off the rails. Now we are trains ourselves. No wait and see, we're off this place, doesn't mean we're somewhere else. This is all I know: keeping still to watch the engines come and go.

Buy the albums: Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today Is OK | Neon Golden | Digilogue

we always knew we were different.

2008-03-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

or: Creepiness as a Light in the World

Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, released in March 2008, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?
- http://www.dana.org/news/publications/publication.aspx?id=10760

In their paper "How Arts Training Influences Cognition," Posner et al. argue that there are specific brain networks for different art forms, that there is a genetic factor for interest or openness to the arts, and that this leads to specific cognitive advantages, particularly when dealing with conflict.

What that means to me is, the people who understand. We're different.

Biological. I don't know why I feel the way I do. Let's merge our DNA.

Download:
Lindstrom - Music (In My Mind)
N.E.R.D. - Brain (original UK version)
The Future Sound of London - Cerebral
Air - Biological

Buy the album: It's a Feedelity Affair | In Search Of... [IMPORT] | Lifeforms | Talkie Walkie

If I Ever Feel Better I'll Go To The Disco

2008-03-01T08:38:00.002-08:00

This is a cry for help.

I've been sick all week and my honey bear is running low.

Download:
Phoenix - If I Ever Feel Better I'll Go To The Disco (Said the Buffalo Bunch)
Pivot - I May Be Gone For Some Time
Jesu - Medicine
Bonus Track: (will you rescue me?) Ultramarine - Honey

Buy the album: If I Ever Feel Better | Make Me Love You | Conqueror | Every Man and Woman is a Star

if you don't like this post,

2008-02-11T06:42:00.000-08:00

fuck it. i'm just keeping it real.

Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth - Lots of Lovin (instrumental)

The Ronettes - Baby, I Love You

Red House Painters - Silly Love Songs

Laura - We Should Keep this Secret

Buy the albums: Mecca Soul Brother | Mapping Your Dreams | Songs for a Blue Guitar
The Ronettes are, again, long out of print, and purchasing their album is left as an exercise to the listener.

Radiohead - Ceremony (New Order cover)

2007-11-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

(from this evening's "thumbs_down" webcast.)

Download: Ceremony
Buy the album: Radiohead - In Rainbows

succinct

2007-06-04T14:20:00.001-07:00

none of my wishes are coming true., originally uploaded by ms. roboto.

dandelions,
the color of fire

Buy the music: Geogaddi, Music Has the Right to Children

Mantra: If my choices are poor,

2007-05-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

I made them.

Download: Frank Black - Bluefinger
Buy the album: (...or is it Black Francis?) - Bluefinger

p.s. I think this is the first 'leak' we've shared on here, though I do find such hookups from time to time. From now on I'm going to try to be better about sharing in the pirate booty.

IMDB Plot Keywords: Snob / Aristocrat / Opposites Attract

2007-04-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

“I'm drinking Muscadet, listening to Rameau Harpsichord suites, I've just had some very citric salmon terrine on a french baguette and now I am frying some mushrooms in red wine and lemon juice, to have on toast.”

“i'm sat on the L platform with my giant backpack and a belly full of cheerios breakfast cereal, listening to the van halen classic 'hot for teacher'.”

Download: hot for teacher
Buy the album: 1984

"Smiling up from a dozen photographs...

2007-03-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

...the Girl with the Zeiss Ikon Eyes."¹

...he realized that the glasses were surgically inset, sealing her sockets. The silver lenses seemed to grow from smooth pale skin above her cheekbones, framed by dark hair cut in a rough shag. The fingers curled around the fletcher were slender, white, tipped with polished burgundy...

- "How do you cry, Molly? I see your eyes are walled away. I'm curious."

"I don't cry, much."

- "But how would you cry, if someone made you cry?"

"I spit," she said. "The ducts are routed back into my mouth."

- "Then you've already learned an important lesson, for one so young."²

Download the songs: AFX - Crying in Your Face | Gary Numan - M.E. | Vangelis - End Titles from 'Blade Runner'

Buy the albums: AFX - Chosen Lords | Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle | Vangelis - Blade Runner Soundtrack

Read the cyberpunk: 1. Burning Chrome (1982) 2. Neuromancer (1984)

so i wrote a fifteen-page paper about frank sinatra last semester.

2007-03-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

it only had to be eight pages long.

a note to the males in their twenties who are doing it all wrong -

first of all, you probably look like you need a good, thorough scrubbing. i mean really, hipster boys. i see you, and i think that you probably smell bad. oftentimes, you do. i realize that it’s very taxing thinking all those thoughts and reading halfway through jack kerouac books and listening to all the new bands a moment before anyone else does, but please. i beg you. grow up and take a fucking shower. because the ‘grubby eight-year-old back from playing dodgeball and poking dead animals with a stick’ look is not doing it for me.

secondly, you probably scoff at my love for frank sinatra. or you say, noncommittally, ‘oh, yeah, he’s cool’ and then move on.

*sigh*

let me tell you about frank sinatra. he was a terrible, fantastic, brutish, repugnant, dreamy man. when he found out that woody allen had taken naked photos of ex-wife mia farrow’s adopted daughter, he called mia and offered to have the mob break woody’s legs. i think that’s the most frightening, darling thing i’ve ever heard. he’s no casper milquetoast. but he’ll sulk, damnit, when he’s sad. he’s a bouncing bundle of contradictions that all add up to one hell of a man. the kind of guy, to paraphrase lois griffin, that you hate until he’s inside of you.

he has chunks of guys bigger than you in his stool.

and there’s a reason they called him ‘the voice’. it’s because his voice was liquid hot molten lava oozing sex.

so much so that it can still make the female portion of a college classroom *swoon*. which i learned during the presentation of my unnecessarily long academic love letter, when i played a video of him singing.

swooning, buddy boy. honest to god *swooning*. there were smiles that got so wide it looked like the bearers were tearing up. i heard sighs and uncomfortable giggles. a girl fanned herself.

do you see how stupid you are? do you see the kind of opportunity you’re missing out on?

here. take this loofah and this shirt without stains or holes. go wash up (don’t forget under the nails) and change. when you get back, i want you to pay attention to the following songs from sinatra’s years at capitol records. because you want to be like the dear friend i thought of continually when rereading my paper today. (he gets laid a lot.)

i’ve got a crush on you
the intro is saccharine. it’s true. but in the song, his voice deepens gorgeously, like it’s wearing glasses and gently lowering you onto a bed. his voice can talk nice to your folks, but sticks its hand in your sweater once you’re beyond the porch lights. his voice smells like cookies and sneaking out of your bedroom window at two in the morning. and you like it.

i’m a fool to want you
if this doesn’t produce a deep and profound ache within your being, you are a communist robot from hell. and you’ve never been in love with someone you continually forgive for breaking your little heart.

i’ve got you under my skin
this song is not about sex. it doesn’t mention anyone’s cock, it doesn’t request that you shake that thang, and it doesn’t have a chorus that consists mostly of the word ‘skeet’.

the pacing is that of a heartbeat. most of the song is a delicious, confident, steady build. wow. this instrumentation really knows what it’s doing. we’ve never felt like this before. and frank is so in control. here it comes. oh, here it comes. the trombone solo. oh god, the trombone solo…oh….god…oh! but the instrumentation has pulled back a bit. and we were *so close*. we can barely stand it. but oh! oh, here comes frank again. it’s building faster now, more intense. oh, he’s in our ears, he’s pushing us forward, he’s in control but just barely and yes! frank absolutely *howls* as he bends the words over his knee! we’re right there with him for the rest of the verse! yes! yes! oh, god, yes! spank those fucking horn cues!

and then it comes back down suddenly. where are we? what just happened? oh, frank. frank. his voice slinky and calm again, cradling us for just a moment before he tells us he has to get up early to sing another song. he should really get going. but we should do this again sometime soon.

um.

yeah.

Buy the album: frank sinatra: the capitol years box set

mantra: despite our best intentions,

2007-02-28T18:48:00.000-08:00

we sometimes fall in love.

Download:
The Pixies - Head On (Jesus & Mary Chain cover)

Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

LCD Soundsystem - Too Much Love

Buy the album: Trompe Le Monde | Off the Wall | LCD Soundsystem

less than three, infinity.

2007-02-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

I had a dream last night that I had fallen deeply in love with someone I had just met, and we only had a short time to enjoy it together. I woke up feeling so good, like I've never felt in real life. I think it was the best dream I've ever had.

-hey anony-nony-mous.

power of love::the early november (huey lewis cover)
the love you save::madder rose (jackson 5 cover)
can't get enough of your love, babe::barry white (not a cover)
the brightest part of everyone::viva voce (listen to this under the covers)
la la love you::the pixies (rarely covered)
bizarre love triangle::new order (original gangstah)
eep opp ork ah-ah::violent femmes (jetsonian)

Buy the albums.

go without until the need seeps in

2007-01-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

I have never received any love letters. I haven't even gotten any good mix tapes.

Sometimes it is hard not having knick knacks to remind you of good times, laughter, tenderness.

But at least you have your memory.

Download: Prepared - Mission of Burma
Some Things Last a Long Time - Daniel Johnston
Favorite - Neko Case

Buy the album: Onoffon - Mission of Burma
1990 - Daniel Johnston
Canadian Amp - Neko Case

i had two very thoughtful posts ready to go

2007-01-24T18:01:00.000-08:00

but fuck that.
let's dance.

Download:
list of demands (reparations), saul williams
headsprung, ll cool j
b.o.b., outkast
rump shaker, wreckx-n-effect

Buy the album:
saul williams
the DEFinition
stankonia
hard or smooth

Bonus material:
instructional video

divert your heart.

2007-01-09T21:32:00.000-08:00

the lumberjack.
he would have built me a log cabin out of popsicle sticks, if i'd asked him to.

they say timing is everything. i think that's untrue. i sometimes say, that if it's the right person at the wrong time? it's the wrong person. that's not to say i don't want to believe that it's possible for things work out for people once they straighten themselves out. i've just never seen it happen, up close & personal.

i guess that i find it hard to believe that anyone who adapts, changes, & learns from their past ever could. try to relive it. there is no such thing as starting from scratch.

and i'm truly sorry for that.

say hello, to the rugs topography.

the intellectual.
too many lovers in one lifetime, ain't good for you.

if there is such a thing as a perfect distraction,
this was it. the accent didn't hurt, either.

the boss.
it was inevitable.
distraction can sometimes leave you wanting more.
and sometimes distraction feels like more.

i fell. just once. but it was impactful.
boom. miscalculated the height i was at, too.

he made my ears ring. i guess that's why i hardly heard him warn me that he really couldn't stay long.

still. best boss i've ever had. so far.

the nadir to my zenith.
we are parallel. we are polar. we use each other, i think. it creates an energy that is alive and alert. like coffee cold, without all that sugary shit.

Buy the albums.

preaching to the choir

2007-01-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

recently i received an email that included the word ‘devotion’.

the use of this word, in the context of this email, made me turn to my widgets for a definition.

devotion:
- love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, place, or cause
- religious worship or observance

is there really much of a difference?

maybe we all need to subject ourselves to something we can forgive again and again.

and people may break your heart, but they don’t smite you with plague and floods and pro-football fans.

so congregation, if you will? open your hymnals to the book of eno, and let us begin singing the traditional songs of yearning and eternal absolution.

Download:
I - i’ll come running – brian eno
II - love me – elvis presley
III - i will run after you – frank black & the catholics
IV - perfect world – liz phair

Buy the album:
i - another green world
ii - elvis’ golden records
iii - black letter days
iv - whitechocolatespaceegg

RCS: The Year in Review Charts

2006-12-29T19:12:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, straight from the access logs of our jolly pirate server, the top 5 downloads of 2006!

#5, with 399 hits, was Lou Reed's Coney Island Baby. Original Post.

#4, with 493 hits, was Slow Burn by David Bowie. Original Post.

#3, with 758 hits, was Lady Bug from the Bumblebee Unlimited. Original Post.

#2, with 927 hits, was Mr Wendal by Arrested Development. Original post.

#1, with 1125 hits, was The Word by the Beatles. Original post.

Thanks to our contributors Jaime, Jessica, and Kim, and everyone who came to listen. We hope your 2007 is filled with creative output and good music.

i don't resolve

2006-12-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

i reflect.

glimpses of my 2006:

january - interesting drug by morrissey
the one that you took. tell the truth. it really, really helped you.
post-car accident painkillers. extreme fatness, sadness. the sims.

may – i must not think bad thoughts by x
the civil wars and the uncivilized wars.
the negotiations and the casualties. the friendly nations and secret treaties. the comfort of leave.

july – drive-in saturday by david bowie
she’s uncertain if she likes him, but she knows she really loves him.
and sometimes the things that she’s most certain of are the things that breed the most uncertainty. what? exactly.

november – gin soaked boy by the divine comedy
i'm the twinkle in her eye. i’m jeff goldblum in ‘the fly’.
(no comment.)

december – move, bitch (remix) by ludacris
fuck that shit. get out the way, ho.
from the south side to the north side.

Buy the album:
january - bona drag morrissey
may - more fun in the new world x
july - the best of david bowie 1969 - 1974 david bowie
november - a secret history divine comedy
december - word of mouf ludacris

Now please stop sampling that 'Funky Drummer' break already.

2006-12-25T12:22:00.000-08:00

Who would have guessed early-90s rave would be so relevant this holiday season?

(Boot up your samplers... now! Woo! Yeah! Woo! Yeah! Woo! Yeah! Woo! Yeah! UH!!)

Download: LA Style - James Brown is Dead (1993)
Buy the album: LA Style

The Snoop Doggy Devotional

2006-11-13T09:59:00.000-08:00

Note: The Snoop Doggy Devotional will be an ongoing series reflecting on the message, meaning, and place we hold in our lives for the lyrics of rapper/actor Snoop Doggy Dogg. Peace.

...then my ThinkPad was straight fucked at work (it was in my bag while I was walking in the rain). I'm sitting there with it upside-down on my desk, occasionally powering it on to see the screen come up totally garbled. My co-worker goes, "You're being very Zen about the whole thing. How do you not look more angry?"

I'm deep...
- Andrew James Tosh III

"Deep / Deep like the mind of Minolta..."

Listen to "Serial Killa"

The mission of G-funk as invisioned by ex-NWA member Dr. Dre was to combine the freewheeling West Coast aesthetic, represented by P-Funk-inspired beats, with the harsh realities of inner city life, represented by aggressive hardcore rapping. Snoop Doggy Dogg's landmark 1993 album Doggystyle can be considered the first and possibly the only perfect implementation of the G-funk aesthetic, combining gangsta rap and funk attitudes in equal parts. As a "concept album" of sorts, track 7, "Serial Killa" (along with the preceding track, "Murda Was Tha Case,") necessarily play the dark side to the "Lodi Dodi" and "Gin 'n Juice"'s of the G-funk duality.

The line for reflection, delivered Death Row Records rapper RBX ("Reality Born Unknown"), opens the third verse with the single phrase: "Deep." This can be read as a reference to the last line of the first verse (sung by Dat Nigga Daz,) a threat against those who disrespect his crew. Daz raps that those who "don't understand" his group Tha Dogg Pound will end up "dead then motherfucker, creepin and sleepin / 6 feet deep in." Following this, RBX sings the chorus of "Serial killa" to reinforce the veracity of his claim.

"The mind of Minolta" is a reference to the camera maker's slogan "Only from the Mind of Minolta," which promoted its product (a 35mm SLR) as a conduit or enabler of the artist's creativity. After more violent imagery, RBX states "then I release def cuts / Brutal, jagged edged, totally roughneck," which reaffirms the neccessity of graphic depictions of street life in the G-funk aesthetic.

"Deep like the mind of Minolta" is therefore a simile comparing a camera to inner-city gang violence, both an integral part of the artist's creativity.

As we each reflect on our inner lives, we can consider the message of "Serial Killa," and remember to slow down the pace of life, take time to observe our surroundings, and gather inspiration from it.

Buy the album, biatch: Doggstyle

Sixth Floor Office Blues

2006-10-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

Because cameras are not allowed in my workplace, I can't show you a picture of the scene outside my window right now. The fog that blankets the treetops as the leaves turn color and fall in the rain.

But here are some pieces of music.

Download:
Mogwai - Radar Maker
Proem - Socially Inept
Jóhann Jóhannsson - The Sun's Gone Dim And The Sky's Turned Black

Buy the album:
Mogwai - Young Team
Proem - Socially Inept
Jóhann Jóhannsson - IBM 1401, A User's Manual

fuck simplicity.

2006-10-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

here's to fall.

and winter
and spring
and summer

let's fall.

Download:
bachelorette::björk
the heart's a lonely hunter::theivery corporation feat. david byrne
daydreamin'::lupe fiasco

Buy the album(s):
björk::homogenic
thievery corporation::the cosmic game
lupe fiasco::food & liquor

A Postmodern Space Opera in 5 Chapters

2006-08-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

I'm doin' the catapult.

Chapter 1: Our 21st century hero, world-weary of the Mediterranean climate and high pressure dealings in the great metropolis of the American Southwest, boldy resolves to rock his way out of his air-conditioned rut. Track: Space is Gonna Do Me Good

Chapter 2: The answer: a new home in outer space. Our hero packs up what belongings he cannot sell and takes a ship into low Earth orbit. Track: Leaving This Planet

Chapter 3: The blackness of space fills his window and the tug of the rocket motors fades away. This is elation, with gravity's pull little more than a memory. Track: There Goes the Fear

Float with the noise...

Chapter 4: Confronted with the possibility of infinite space while bounded in a tiny vessel, he realizes the joy is not sustainable, and this is no home at all. Track: Now There's That Fear Again

Chapter 5: Sated, not defeated, our brave hero returns, down to the spaceport he first departed. His old home is restored, but his life has changed yet again. Track: Back to Earth

Buy the album:

1. Frank Black - Teenager of the Year
2. Charles Earland - Leaving This Planet
3. Doves - Last Broadcast
4. Múm - Finally We Are No One
5. Dave Brubeck - Countdown: Time in Outer Space

A Cursory Glance at Class and Economic Mobility in the Author's Ancestral Homeland As Narrated By Three Soulful Hip Hop Tracks

2006-07-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

That's it, that's my song...

Fig. 1: The 1980 Census

Vital Statistics: In 1980 -- 15 days before my birth -- in the town where I grew up, the median salary for males was $36,338.40 (today's dollars.) 65.8% of the population were high school graduates, and 9.5% had completed a college education. Percentage of children living in poverty: 13.8. Track: The RZA, "Grits."

I won't front and pretend I had a hard life growing up, but being one of 4 children meant there were not a lot of luxuries around the house. Now that I'm old enough to know the meaning of "disposable income" and "spoiled brat," I'm thankful both for what I did and didn't grow up with. Track: Kanye West, "Family Business."

Fig. 2: The Homeland ca. 2000
Click for aerial view

For the year 2000 Census -- 3 months after I left for college -- the median salary was up to $41,609. 87% now had high school diplomas, and 13.3% has college degrees. Modest improvements, but not statistics that support a tech industry. There's always a part of me that would like to go back, but chosing an out-of-state college has put me in the path of a different culture than the one I grew up in. Track: The Coup, "ShoYoAss."

Download: one , two, three
Buy the album: The RZA - The Birth of a Prince / Kanye West - The College Dropout / The Coup - Pick a Bigger Weapon

Another Themed Mix

2006-06-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

"No mistaking the bass," said Shoukinkasegi. "The tunes are that, sexy."

And it's true, though I don't always know why. Even if I could explain it, I'm not sure that I'd want to. Lyrics and visuals aside, there's something there. Visceral, it exists only for its own sake. Moves because moving is all it can do.

So clear out your schedule, pump up the bass, and if you know the film reference, add 20 trashy cinema points to your current score.

Download:
Secret Knowledge - Sugar Daddy
LaTour - Blue
Suicide - Cheree (remix)
Booty Bass Ballads - Time After Time
Thom Yorke - Atoms for Peace

Buy the album:
LaTour - S/T (1991)
Suicide - S/T (1978)
Love You Down: Booty Bass Ballads '99 (1999)
Thom Yorke - The Eraser (2006)
(Unfortunately the Secret Knowledge seem to be long out of print, so finding their recordings is left as an exercise to the downloader.)

in Which my Life is A musical Mad lib.

2006-06-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

One day, I will find one job that pays all of my bills. It will also have international travel, dental and medical insurance. Maybe it will also have a little responsiblity. I won't shy away from it, if it promises those other things.

If you log into the WMFE website, and sort through the Arts Connection archives, you can hear me reading off a laundry list of arts activities over the airwaves. Most of the time, I pronounced everything correctly.

Whenever I see somebody on their cell phone, smoking a cigarette, with a small LCD screen blaring a television program in the front seat. I secrety think to myself, now that is the art of driving.

Pretty soon, i'll be all packed up and tripping over boxes. Shortly afterward comes the moving process. Finding a Job. Getting an apartment. You know, the dirty work.

xxx
j
Buy the album(s):
Nobukazu Takemura: Hoshi No Koe
Kraftwerk: Radio-Activity
Black Box Recorder: The Facts of Life
Aluminmum Group: Wonder Boy Plus
Steely Dan: Can't Buy A Thrill

24 hours a day i'll give you love

2006-05-04T03:34:00.000-07:00

Well kids, it’s that time of year. Spring is upon us again, and you can tell. If you walk outside, you see flowers blooming and all sorts of animals doing it. Humans follow suit: people are getting together, breaking up, or generally trying to find someone to spend a somewhat-special fifteen minutes with.

Today’s musical delicacy comes from the 1979 LP Sting Like a Bee, the only record released by Bumblebee Unlimited. Gregory Carmichael and Patrick Adams, prominent disco producers/songwriters (Universal Robot Band, Inner Life, Phreek) wrote songs from one of the least represented points of view in popular music: insects—specifically, bees and ladybugs. I don’t know much about nature, but I can only hope the dialogue is an accurate interpretation of how insects reproduce.

With high pitch vocals (buzz buzz, moan moan) and a thumping bass line that doesn’t quit, Bumblebee Unlimited should be the soundtrack to your spring, whether or not you can find someone to sting.

Love,
Kim

Download: Lady Bug (I Just Wanna Be Your) - Bumblebee Unlimited
Buy the album: Sting Like a Bee -- Bumblebee Unlimited

Pardon this interruption...

2006-04-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

Our jolly pirate server is moving to a new colocation facility, so mp3s will be down for a few days. We apologize for any inconvenience.

l.h.o.o.q

2006-04-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

i was gonna preface this,
but my text gets in the way.

i am le tired!
you know you love me.

Download:
clinic:mr. moonlight
byrds:mr. spaceman
tv on the radio: mr. grieves (pixies cover)
brigitte bardot: mister sun
arrested development:mr.wendal
Buy the album:
clinic:walking with thee
the byrds:greatest hits
tv on the radio:young liars ep
brigitte bardot:initiale bb
arrested development:3 years 5 months & 2 days in the life of

A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens

2006-04-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

Download: Ashra - Kazoo
Buy the album: Belle Alliance

what happens when a vegetarian tries to go high protein

2006-04-07T07:38:00.000-07:00

alternate title: the fundamental principles of omelette making

(one) get your bearings

(two) obtain eggs from the appropriate foul

(three) make sure there aren’t any vegans around, then crack those suckers into a pan

(four) add cheese

(five) cook until cooked

Download:
(1) man is not a bird by broadcast
(2) know your chicken by cibo matto
(3) kinder murder by elvis costello
(4) hey ya [outkast cover] by richard cheese
(5) slow burn by david bowie

Buy the album:
(un) haha sound
(deux) viva la woman
(trois) brutal youth
(quatre) i'd like a virgin
(cinq) heathen

verbiage.

2006-03-24T06:34:00.000-08:00

This morning one of my favorite things happened on the way back from my spinning class. I sat in traffic.

I was behind a van that had the word "EDIBLES” in large,
red letters. The entire stop & go journey home immediately became exciting. Quoi?

It might help to know, that I am an anagramming fool. I always feel the urge to anagram. This desire borders on obsessive. Billboard signs, license plates, bumper stickers. You name it, I will rearrange it. Not just on the road! For all intents and purposes of this update & my morning drive, i'll publicly admit that few things in this world are more satisfying than being behind a van with lots of words on it, while sitting traffic.

I mean, you can REALLY make some words happen. 42, to be precise.

Granted, I didn't come up with every word (I checked), but it’s probably one of my favorite, caffeine free, ways to wake up.

And to further delve into my morning mind, dear reader/listener, I was horrified to discover that the side of the van read Edibles ETC as I turned into my apartment complex.

I was peeved. that Extra E could have come in handy.
Clearly I am Scrabble starved. It’s been well over a week.

xxx
j
Download: All My Little Words - Magnetic Fields | Alphabet Aerobics - Blackalicious | The Word - The Beatles
Buy the album: 69 Love Songs (Box Set)- Magnetic Fields , A2G EP - Blackalicious, Rubber Soul - The Beatles

Songs for Homosexual Men in Masculine Roles, Part One

2006-03-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

As the Hollywood megacorporations pat themselves on the back for being so progressive, it's good to remember the artists who've been laying it all out for years...

"Montgomery Clift debuted on film opposite John Wayne as 'a new kind of leading man -- sensitive, intense and handsome.'"

And the straightest dude / I ever knew was standing right for me all the time / So I had to play football for the coach

"...by the mid-1980s, rumors had begun to circulate that one of Hüsker Dü's members was homosexual. Many assumed it was Norton, due in part to his handlebar mustache. Mould reports that Norton took the whispers and occasional taunts in stride..."

A vodka bottle gave you those raccoon eyes / We got beat up just for holding hands

Download:

R.E.M. - Monty Got a Raw Deal

Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby

Hüsker Dü - Could You Be the One

The Magnetic Fields - Take Ecstasy With Me

Buy the album:
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People / Lou Reed - Coney Island Baby / Hüsker Dü - Warehouse - Songs and Stories / The Magnetic Fields - Holiday

pantalones en fuego!

2006-03-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

the new liars album is excellent. honestly.

my friend zachary says that the album
sounds a little like animal collective, but,
i don't know. i draw poor musical comparisons.

in fact, i was once told that i will never
be the president of the similar voices society.
whatever. coldplay & dave matthews
sound exactly the same, most of the time.

i digress.

after listening to this album all day,
i started wanting to share it with you (familiar).
but, since this is just a site for sampling
here are two of my favorites.

enjoy.

Download: The Liars - The Wrong Coat For You Mt. Heart Attack | The Liars - It Fit When I Was A Kid
Buy the album, here

it ain’t so much a possum as it is a dixon

2006-03-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

the year was 1993. i was in eighth grade and rob zabrecky, lead singer and bassist for the band possum dixon, was making me harder than chinese algebra. i listened to their first album so much, i’m surprised my cassette copy still works.

and then? the band was gone. whither goest thou, possum dixon, alone and raving in the night?

when i got my first soul-sucking full-time office job, i resurrected the self-titled possum dixon tape and listened to it on my walkman whilst filing. (sample lyric from the song ‘nerves’: ‘i hate work / i’m a mailroom clerk / oh, linda! stop me / from making mistakes!’) ah! i finally get the corporate drone angst! and the fact that there are always twelve middle-aged women in an office named linda!

here we are over ten years after the album's release. me? i’m getting out of the ubiquitous office soon to attend a prestigious art school. zabrecky? touring l.a. with his show of amazing prestidigitation. not so different. i know i look better than i did at thirteen, and rob’s looking a little like noah taylor from the life aquatic. never mind. we always have the memories. and the songs. oh, the songs!

p.s. - from what i can tell, it’s pretty much a requirement that i form and/or join a terrible band while in art school. future bandmates take note…we are performing these songs. and i get to sing.

Download: watch the girl destroy me, elevators
Buy the album: possum dixon

the dead are risen rockin'

2006-03-10T11:55:00.000-08:00

there’s a lot of prejudice against the undead.

but i love them. the funny moaning noises. the stiff dance moves, so awkward they’re endearing. the undeadliness of it all.

i think about zombies a lot. today, i’ve done so with the aid of these songs. they are my zombaid, if you will.

Download:
exquisite dead guy ~ they might be giants

nights of the living dead (live) ~ tilly and the wall

they are night zombies!! they are neighbors!! they have come back from the dead!! ahhhh! ~ sufjan stevens

the oscar meyer theme ~ billie holiday comes back from the dead in the body of author david sedaris to sing about bologna, as is expected

Buy the album:
factory showroom they might be giants; wild like children tilly and the wall; illinois sufjan stevens; the david sedaris boxset david sedaris

the chase, etc.

2006-03-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

i spent my entire day at home
hardly communicating with the outside world,
& listening to french music, mostly
although my understanding of
the language is entirely broken.

for dinner, i had some ice cream.

i am feeling thematique.

Download:
Bonnie & Clyde - Serge Gainsbourg / Bonnie & Clyde - Stereolab

bonus Serge, reminiscent of my days at Burberry.
where the best part of the job, was the music.

Ford Mustang - Serge Gainesbourg

Buy the album:
Serge Gainesbourg - Initials S.G / Oodles of Stereolab

Taurus... and my name is Kim

2006-03-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our little mp3 blog, folks. I hope we'll have lots of music sharing fun!

I've been mildly obsessed with this song for a few weeks now, blaring it while driving around the not-so-mean streets of Louisville. I first heard it through my friend Kim, a prominent Louisville DJ (Louisville locals check out the Dirty Soul Party, Concrete, and Global Grease).

The group was formed by members of the Detroit Emeralds and achieved a number one R&B hit with this song in 1977. The song also reached number two on the pop charts, but the Floaters never achieved much success after the majesty of "Float On."

You may be wondering who my favorite Floater is... and I'm going to tell you, hands down, it's Larry.

Download: Float On - The Floaters
Buy the album: Float On - The Floaters

two cups, two lids.

2006-03-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

four hands.

my life isn't very cinematic, but i always
enjoy seeing what happens next.

hello, march. this song inspires nostalgia, makes me
wish i was still in chicago, where people drink warm
beverages to keep warm, not just habitually.
here's to stardust & wanderlust.

xxx
j

Download: Aguas De Marco (Waters Of March) | Antonio Carlos Jobim & Elis Regina
Buy the album: Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook

Beginnings...

2006-03-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

My oldest memory of anything musical is the 1985 soft-rock ballad Sara by ~~Jefferson~~ Starship. Why did this 4-minute slice of AOR etch itself into my 4-year-old consciousness? I clearly remember how I adored the descending melody line in the chorus, along with the backing harmonies. (I still have a soft spot for vocal harmonies.)

Thankfully, the next pieces of music to touch me were slightly more hip. Several family road trips in the mid-80's were accompanied by a box cassette tapes that included Paul Simon's Graceland (1986) and the soundtrack to Stop Making Sense (1984) by the Talking Heads. The strange singing in Zulu and French kept my mind busy on the long hours of highway driving across middle America.

Thank you, David. Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Grace.

Download: Starship - Sara / Paul Simon - Crazy Love Vol. II / The Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Buy the album: Starship - Knee Deep in the Hoopla / Paul Simon - Graceland / Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense