Shouldn’t we design buildings in a way that anticipates what they will look like in the event of an earthquake? Where are the examples of a salt the earth philosophy in architecture?
Jul
23
2010
grapes from the estate
The craziest thing I ever heard about Oren Ambarchi is that apparently someone from the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a big fan of this dude, and that apparently he jammed with them during an encore of theirs in New Zealand, and it bummed out an stadium full of their fans. That sounds like internet apocrypha, but I believe it anyway.
I think Grapes from the Estate is probably the most perfect record I have ever heard. It is mostly sparsely arranged tones and sine waves and such. But at times it gets impossibly complicated even if it still sounds sparse to someone who isn’t paying any attention. It all comes together for me on “Girl With the Silver Eyes”, which is the second track, but I have the double LP with one track per side, so I have maximum flexibility with my listening experience of this album, and I usually let that track serve as a conclusion.
You can’t really listen to this album on a computer; there is nothing to hear on a computer speaker. I heard an anecdote once that the key to selling expensive cars was a great stereo system. So how come no one tries the same thing with computers? Or homes? You could plug your computer or record player directly into your house, and the walls would be speakers. Or why even plug anything in? We have wireless internet connections, and wireless guitars, how come nothing like that for our audio sources? Everyone I talk to seems to agree that you can’t make money anymore from music. There was never much money to be made in the first place, and now there isn’t anything really. They are probably right, but it could also be that people are just waiting for a new way of experiencing music to buy into. I see lots of arguments about the ethics of downloading music. I won’t get into that because I don’t find it that interesting. I like talking economics – like in the Wire, the forces beyond any one actor’s control. The economics are that music is a surplus commodity, and that the fiction of intellectual property that made it profitable has become impossible to rigorously enforce. Ultimately I think people are going to need not new things to listen to, but new ways to listen to music if anyone is going to make money again.
Jul
15
2010
mega-blogg
This Lil B riddim is so great.
Super Early Kraftwerk (Vintage ’71)
Scissor Girls, “Mr. Poison”. I always forget how great Chicago no-wave was.
Don’t remember where I downloaded this from, which are the best downloads. The band is called Population, and the album is called “Practice”. So Google is not much help. Anyone know anything about this? Fucked up post-punk jam. Seems like the internet made us all forget we are on the brink of annihilation.
UPDATE: I still haven’t shed any light on this band, but WFMU reveals the original of this cover Eisbar. Categorized as Swiss art-punk. Works for me. The original has some funny saxophoning at the end.
And, of course, the classic Samuel L. Jackson B-more Club mix.
That’s probably good for now.
Jul
12
2010
spain are the world cup champions!
The celebrations are still going strong in Spain, but here the World Cup is over. It has been a lot of fun, but now it is back to music blogging for me. I have a bunch of shit to go through that I’ve been meaning to up, so expect a random assortment of music in the next couple of days.
For those of you that missed the World Cup, here are the highlights, set to some sort of old Nintendo soundtrack (much better than the music you usually hear on soccer youtube videos, believe me).
Jul
05
2010
in your lands i’ll dance
Squelching acid-y bass set to lyrics about how beautiful a place Israel is, the kind of place where you just might want to dance. Video has the Anglophone world guessing, and guessing, but while people play the frustrating and unproductive speculative-irony game, little attention seems to be paid to, you know, the actual music, made by Gaby Kerpel, part of the Buenos Aires Zizek collective, much respected around these parts.
Jul
05
2010
quarter final wrap-up: netherlands, uruguay, germany, spain
Party in the Hague! The Netherlands conquered Brazil, and they didn’t even play that great! But Brazil played even worse as soon as they were behind. At that point all the Dutch had to do was watch them self-destruct. Netherlands taking over!
Uruguay won a cheap victory over Ghana, so they get a cheap video featuring some sort of 80s throwback track. I have no idea if this is even Uruguayan music or not, youtube says it is, and that’s about the maximum amount of due diligence I have the patience for with this team.
Germany’s young team crushes old idols. Funky handicap indeed.
Remember, how I said that I would take any excuse to post a video of the Ex? Well, Spain’s victory over Paraguay will count for that too. This is a track from their record/book release, 1936, which is a document of the Spanish anarchists’ struggle against Franco.
Stay tuned for the semi-finals tomorrow!
Jun
29
2010
yesterday’s news: netherlands & brasil advance
Will I use any excuse to post a video of the Ex? Why yes I will. Nothing could be more appropriate anyway, the Ex are big football fans. The Dutch style is based on a freedom of movement, and incredible individual virtuosity (though you wouldn’t know it from this year’s team). Improvisation seems to inform all of this. Anyway, this particular lineup of the Ex was my favorite, I remember seeing those solos live, and it would give you goosebumps.
As for Brazil, they are all set to culturally take over the world. I’m not too impressed with Dunga’s team, but there is no doubt they are the most likely to win the World Cup at this point. When the Netherlands & Brasil face off this year it won’t be as impressive as this:
Jun
29
2010
paraguay & spain advance
Seems like everyone in the world was rooting for Japan, which is too bad because Paraguay is awesome! This is what their traditional music sounds like, and it all really sounds that good. I think they are gonna get destroyed by Spain in the quarter-finals, but this is there first time ever getting this far so at least they can go back home with a sense of accomplishment.
What to say about Spain? I’m really rooting for them as they have yet to win the World Cup, yet they have the best style of all the teams. Cauto is based out of Barcelona, and does the dubstep thing.
Jun
27
2010
yesterday’s news: uruguay & ghana advance
Uruguay, a country I basically know nothing about, advanced. Anyway, sick beat.
Ghana beat the U.S., they were totally a class above the U.S. players, so congratulations are in order to the only remaining African team in the World Cup. Ghana has so much great music, and this hit song is a perfect example of perfect summer lounging around music. Highlife indeed.