Today's Top 10

• This looks like it JUST happened.
• My friend's family restaurant was selected as Miami's Best Seafood by the Miami New Times: Boater's Grill. I need to go.
  
• The best home parking space.
• Geeky graffiti.
• I enjoyed this, Bob Dylan cover.
• Travel for your mascot: Petairways
• I had a databank once. These are fancy.
• Facebook vs. Twitter [pic]
• Iranian Election Crisis, some content not suitable for everyone. [link]
• Advertising FAIL

Not much of a top 10. Seeing as I haven't made one of these in a while and am rusty these will only get better since I've been posting more. Trying to get back into the swing of things.

Sonic Youth - The Eternal

Sonic Youth - The Eternal (2009)
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I've been meaning to get this. I first experienced Sonic Youth prolly on MTV's 120-Minutes in the very early 90's. One word comes to mind: Experimental. This word was slapped on the band everytime anyone would speak a word of them. Noise and Alternative were common associates as well. At the time of my first listenings I was a young buck and music seemed to be changing or at least I was conscious of music in a deeper sense than ever before.

Anyhow this post was inspired from a conversation last night were the evolution of music and how people experience it has changed over time. An example of that is how in the 50s most of the music culture was more Rock and Roll a-la Elvis. I don't mean to diss Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, or other amazing musicians of the time. The point is that with the entrance of the 60s music took on a different position on the world. So much so that the whole country was changing. The conversation went on to wondering on when would we be able experience a musical or artistic revolution as relevant as 50s to 60s?

But then the conversation caved on itself. Take into account how much information we are fed on an hourly basis today and compare that to the amount of information people would be subject to in say, 1957. I think the news we'd get in one day is equivalent to two weeks in the 50s. There's so much information and such a faster rate of generating ideas that its possible that we wouldn't be able to detect a musical revolution if it happened right in our face.

Anyway, I think there will always be time to enjoy Sonic Youth. Monday, Sunday, or Friday - doesn't matter. They deliver a sound thats easy to revel in, dance or sulk. Despite the progression of their music which has also become more clean, less noise (with this album). You can still here their signature in the vocals, instruments, and the musical structure of the songs. It's quite beautiful I think.

Daydream Nation, Goo, and Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star, are prolly the three records that I engage with the most and I don't do enough of that either.

Isis - Wavering Radiant

Isis - Wavering Radiant (2009)

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Buy the vinyl record from their store.

I saw Isis in Austin on May 19th at a great venue called Emo's with several indoor and outdoor rooms complete with graffiti, flyers and printed artwork, useable bleachers, and all on various levels/floors. It was actually on a trip for work and had to do a presentation at 7am the following morning but I didn't care. It was also a plus that I found out about the show from a work colleague in Austin who also provided transportation to the show, a very cool guy who also appreciates metal and Isis.

I had heard Wavering Radiant before attending the show so the material wasn't brand spanking new but the live experience was. I think, because of the cleanliness in the sound of their new material and the exploratory ventures having more of an ambient or atmospheric ecosystem, I have to say that the recorded media experience is better than the live experience. Not because they suck live, the performance was actually quite incredible and was very well delivered. Its just that I enjoy Isis moreso in a private setting when I'm doing my own thing. This over standing in the same spot nodding my head in a sea of heads. As the band progresses their music is more and more something that I play in the background to zone out, drive my car, or to help me get in the zone when trying to do other things - be productive, etc. This is what happens when I listen to Isis.

Radiohead Covering New Order

Checkout this studio performance of Radiohead covering New Order's Ceremony. (You Tube link)



A friend of mine showed me this the other day and since then I got on a Radiohead and Joy Division binge and its never been so good, well almost never. I'm as much curious as I am cautious about covers. Most times they don't reproduce the original artists intentions but maybe thats not the point. I think the point in this case is just to turn down the suck and turn up the awesome.

I don't know if Radiohead is even in the business of doing covers. I think it does show that they do have great appreciation for this song and the artists behind it. If you haven't seen it, I hope you enjoy it, as much or more than I did.

Home, is where I want to be ...

I've been in this weird place/phase lately where nothing and no one feels like home. This video and this version of the song reminds me that home does exist. It just needs to be rediscovered. The video shows off David Byrne's on-stage kookiness which I'm sure made him great during his hay-day. His outcries during the song make me get up and holler the lyrics to the top of my lungs. Checkout this display of synchronicity. (You Tube link)

Talking Heads - This Must Be the Place (live)



I've never been a big fan of Talking Heads. Some of their songs I really like (this one, Once in a Lifetime, Psycho killer, Road to Nowhere), and some I don't care for. The studio recording of this song sounds completely different so be aware before you run off to getting it.

My brother, from another mother, who is a struggling genial architect, shared this video with me and since then I play this video at least once a week - which is more than I see him!

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2007/2008)
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On Tuesday, June 9th, 2009 in Club Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale I attended a Bon Iver show. Bon Iver is pronounced Bon Ee-vair in case you're wondering.

Their live sound was more enjoyable than the original recordings because they mixed it up a bit. Some songs engaged the audience more than not and the percussion performance was much more pronounced than expected. I honestly remember very little as I was talking near the bar for most of the night but everything I remember I enjoyed and felt happy to be there. This post really sucks but it's an honest one. Hey at least you get something in the end. I've also been asked for a link on this material a few times this week. Enjoy.

I doodled tonight: w0rm

I was going through a green duffel I use and somehow found this curled up worm on my bed. Not really a worm, probably a part of the millipede family. I picked it up with a sheet of paper and was going to flush it down the toilet. On my walk to the toilet I figured - how weird is it that this is what humans do now? After thousands of years if we find a worm in our house we throw worms in the toilet or put it in the trash. So, I decided to doodle him first. It posed for me in its curled up position and I did my best to capture its beautiful stripes and curled up toes.

When I was done I mistakenly dropped it and it uncurled and started running away. I was amazed at the fact that it was alive and that we had experienced that together. I picked him up again and threw him in the grass in the backyard. The End.

Russian Circles - Station

Russian Circles - Station (2008)
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So I visited Austin about 3 weeks ago and went to a Pelican/Isis show was very impressed with Pelican's live performance. I told all my friends and they all pointed me to this band. This is the first record of theirs that I deluge my ears with and I think I clearly understand why the band was recommended to me.

I've been enjoying the record all morning as it's helped me get through the day way faster. I drove to work with them on shuffle and I sat at my desk and got to work with my Sennheiser HD 580 Precision headphones on playing stations starting from track #1 titled "campaign." I don't know much about the meaning behind the songs as I've done little research but the record is definitely a campaign in well-defined, kick ass music.

Well-defined is to say that the songs and their recordings do an excellent, clear, job of expressing what each instrument intends to convey without a mash-up of sound in a series of longish, brooding eulogistic metal overtures.

As I listened I thought the music would be great for anything from a serious zombie movie or a super secret black ops film. I imagine the opening credits to a movie where passenger jet is being escorted to the runway for take-off. I don't remember the rest of the ideas that came out of that imagination daze. Anyhow, enjoy the record.

I doodled tonight: ChArgE

Now with film grain.

A Band of Bees - Octopus

A Band of Bees - Octopus (2007)
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I got inspired to download this entire album after watching this YouTube video that they are not allowing to embed anymore. I thought it was pretty cool and I very much consider myself a listening man. ;)

The music is very easy listening pop that carries lots of psychedelic and garage influences. They're a 6-piece British band that I think will compliment this coming summer very well. Enjoy!

I doodled tonight: I call it (6,4,5) by 2

Bicho raro. Rocketorch hexagon and blockeyelash parallelogram being absorbed by a pentapus black hole.

Today's was a weird/off day. At least I got to play some Left for Dead. Actually, I was on the phone and someone actually said the word "ridonculous." Could that word be so popular right now? The person who said it is actually a blogger. Two weeks ago some guy in Austin used it as well. Dear reader, if it happens again I will let you know.

So this is the second doodle post. I'm finding it therapeutic doodling and think will start a doodling series on here. Why not. Actually there should be a blog 100% dedicated to doodling. I'm gonna search for such a blog now.

I doodled tonight.

I never doodle. i took the shot with my iPhone. The shapes come from a guitar pick that I traced over and over again. Towards the bottom of the picture there's a golf hole. I think the inspiration for that was to draw a cornered flag and a window with a view to a place with thousands of pomegranates.

That's my subconscious telling me to eat healthy - I think.

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest (2009)
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I'm going through my first run through this record. I'm on track 5 right now. After track 2 I knew I wanted to keep listening and I haven't flailed in the slightest.

Lately my writing has gone to shit because I find myself wanting to write about gardens and greens and everything that makes me feel like I'm in a garden with some kind of running water. I know its fucking horrible. Maybe I'm thinking of Hawaii, maybe I'm LOST-sick and am too anxious about the next season not happening till 2010. Today, for a second I decided I didn't want the series to end - ever. Maybe this record should be a part of the last season. Maybe it fits in with the island and the black smoke monster.

One of the excellent things behind the seemingly gentle music on this record is the impression that the band made a heavy investment in producing every recorded second to attain some kind of esoteric and intense sound. On every second the music carries many layers of sound with texture and depth within the instruments and within the voices. The record is a meandering in dreams and memories.

This stuff may never air on the radio. At its lowest point you may find this to be the soundtrack in some trendy clothing store. At its highest level it could find itself in a Kubrick-like remake 10 years from now. In between it would fit well in 80s classic The Abyss or a LOST episode.

These songs are soft, confident, and compelling enough to earn a whole record listen - and they do. I recommend this record when moving slowly or just wanting to relax, preferably with dimmed lighting. Seriously though, I think this will become a favorite for many. It already is.

I would love to hear your own thoughts. I feel some of these tracks like Fine for Now and I Live With You are like Jeff Buckley meets Super Furry Animals meets Animal Collective.