HELP

I'M NEVER GONNA GET HPV

WHY DO I NEED SHOTS FOR IT

I'LL NEVER GET IT EVER

THIS SUX

Kool

I love the Wii, Mortal Kombat, and I have a soft spot for the letter K. Maybe this'll be awesome! The fatality sucked though

K. TOP 1: YOUTUBE MOVIES OF ALL-TIME

SOMEONE MADE THIS COMMERCIAL FOR ME, I KNOW IT. I MEAN, JUST LOOK AT THIS BLOG

Where Have I Been?

I can't stop listening to Hrvatski's Swarm & Dither. How have I not heard of this earlier? I like KFW, especially Multiples, but--man! This is amazing! Seriously! I guess the immature, childish side of me is so appealed to this record because of the "crazy noises" and the rapid ADD-like changing of focus (track 4). Sudden stops, forte-pianos, musical freak-outs: these things appeal to me a lot of the time (TAN!'s Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief; The Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat). The aforementioned track, "2nd Zero Fidelity Mandible Investigation", was what pulled me in; sometimes when my friends and I make music, it sounds exactly like those first 20 seconds. Except not this jaw-dropping. The minute detail here and there, the omnipresent percussion, and the innumerably high number of different voices all make this one of my favorite albums of right now. He can just as easily make a beautiful track as he can make a disturbing one, or a painful one, or a dancey one. This is so amazing.

Other great things that I'm discovering

Whitehouse - Asceticists 2006
This was too real for me the first time I listened to it. Wolf Eyes can't scare me as much as this can, and Hair Police has to work pretty damn hard to reach this level.

Arthur Russell - First Thought Best Thought
I guess a lot of people are getting into this guy as of recent. I just listened to this because Broadcast chose it as #1 for 2006. It is beautiful in a way that is difficult to explain.

Steve Reich - Early Works
I'm turning into President of Steve Reich fanclub. This collection stands out because it's probably some of his most interesting work. The best here is "It's Gonna Rain", which I saw "performed" at the Whitney Museum, along with "Clapping Music" and some others. There is a transcendent moment somewhere near the beginning of part 1 where the sound suddenly isn't coming from the speakers anymore. It's flying around me.

Oneida "Up With People"
I can't turn this off. Maybe usurping "What You Know" for 2006????????? I've known about Oneida, but no one's ever told me they can be this good!

Louis C.K.
This guy's hilarious!

Music Video Review - Beach House "Master of None"

Okay I won't really review this, but let me say this was one of my ALL-TIME TOP SONGS of 2006 and this video doesn't work. Obviously the quality is terrible; maybe I'll change my opinion if I ever see a better version, but this video treads the exact territory that it is expected to. Bright colors, blurry images, etc. etc. etc. not even done that well makes it seem way too "Beach House-y", as in the stereotype of Beach House. Check the info about the video and you'll find out that the director is some dude who's best buds with the band. I bet you anything that this guy doesn't even like their music, was asked to do this thing, listened to the track, heard the word "parties" and decided to make this.

Sorry, the whole thing just feels like nostalgia thrust in your face. Anyone who argues "well, that's Beach House's schtick" is wrong. Maybe the songs all evoke smeared visions of nostalgia the first time you listen to them, but the album is much deeper than that. The video is just trying to look like beautiful memories. The low quality, the slow shutter speeds, the close-ups of bright lights, the shaky and handheld feel of the entire thing is so overused that the bad acting of the entire video just sends it over the edge. I remember the first time I fell in love with this track was at my friend's house, a few days before Christmas. We were hanging out with our friend visiting from California who just moved. She hates it there. We watched some stuff, then turned off the TV and I played this from my iPod.

The video has one great thing: there's this beautiful scene around 2:10 when the lights rush by, making it look like a car's view of New York City, but then the image stops, the contrast fades and you see that you're just looking at a leaf.

A Fun Little Thing

hahahahahahaahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

I just discovered something neat while listening to a bunch of new music on shuffle. The track "Reject Itcus" from Merzbox 16 Dying Mana Tapes Vol.2 begins with Korean music--the kind my parents listen to. It's really distorted, sounds like it's being played through an old radio with a weak signal, and there's this high pitched squeal (obviously Merzbow's contribution) that makes the music much more painful than it actually is. Regardless, it's Korean pop: old woman singing the melody, with an instrumental flourish appearing virtually every time she stops singing, creating a kind of call-and-response between the vocals and the keyboards. A few minutes of this and it ends. Later, another Korean song starts up, even more beaten-up than the one before. Then there's people talking for a while, and honestly I can't tell what language it's in; it's too faint and there's a humming noise along with it. I have no idea what Merzbow is doing with this, like usual. I still enjoy it.

When my parents first heard The Arcade Fire, when Funeral was the greatest thing to ever have happened to me, they told me that "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)" sounded just like Korean music. I generally agree that they sound somewhat similar. Win's singing travels from high to low and back in the same fashion as any of the singers on the CDs I hear in the car.

I download lots of music from different countries, but I never thought I'd find this. Maybe Merzbow is making fun of Koreans. He likes doing that, I think. The music that's so pleasant to my parents' ears is now harsh, cold and unsettling. Pretty disturbing. Okay, I'm getting tired of this--12:59/23:14. Who can take more than 30 minutes of this? I want to listen to some UP WITH PEOPLE YEAHHHHHHH

NP: Oneida - Up With People

huh

Who is Kimberly Chun?

Pazz & Jop Lite

Here is my Idolator Jackin' Pop thing.

The top charts seem pretty accurate as to what Pazz & Jop will be like... More importantly, what was I THINKING with this ballot?!?! Maybe they messed it up, but this thing is totally wrong. Except for Man Man @ #1 artists. Pazz & Jop is definitive, at least for the next few days.

Pazz & Jop, Beach House, Concerts 1.2007

First, did anyone have trouble doing their Pazz & Jop this year? I kept getting this error message and the guys at the VV never wrote me back, so I just emailed my ballot in. They'd better get it.

Winter break was great. Lots of music was involved.

Planned concerts

1.5.07
Black Dice, Sightings, Excepter @ Vox Populi
Black Dice and Excepter = two of my favorite bands. Still trying to figure out how to get to this.

1.12.07
Man Man @ FUC
Going with my friend Chris. It'll be awesome!