11 posts from March 2008

Can someone please watch this and tell me if anything interesting ever happens? Also, what's up with Kim Deal not knowing how to work a record player? Dust cover off!

These are posts that I am doing to rediscover bands in my collection. It is an exercise in memory, and a way to compare what I’ve always thought about these awesome bands to shit that is online, which is sad, but where everyone spends there time musically these days.

Post Two. Loftus

Loftus

What Amazon User B Helfton or “Fugazi48” Says:

“I really miss the days of Red Red Meat, June of 44, and Rex. This album really brings back some of that warm feeling. There are 1 or two tracks that are a little to improvisational but the majority of this side project album is well crafted and beautiful. If you like Califone, you need this record in your collection. The cover appears to be hand made. There is sandpaper glued to the front and the jaw is screen printed onto it. The cover is of a fine paper. Perisable records really puts an effort into packaging.”

What Allmusic Says:

Side project record that was recorded by Bundy K. Brown (ex-Tortoise, Directions) and Brian Deck (Red Red Meet) after a 1995 tour with Red Red Meat, Rex, and the Grifters had a bunch of them sitting in on each others sets…sounding awesome.

What Ryan Says:

Dear Fugazi48,

I really miss the days of Red Red Meat, Rex, and June of 44 too! And yes the cover of this CD is hand made with carved sandpaper emblem and its always been one of my favorite CD packaging jobs. Why can’t these derivative Canadian indie bands learn to do packaging on this level? And why will the musicianship and recording aesthetic of visionaries like Deck and Brown continue to be unmatched? Hmmm…I guess people just lack taste and forget about magnificent achievements in sound like this album. And dude…too improvisational? WTF?

Califone and Calexico may get put in movie soundtracks and get a lot of love from the indie elite these days – but respect the architect people! And if you do not own this. I feel sorry for you.

This is so great!

Walking up to grab lunch today gave me my first Kyte video post series. First I took some footage of all the hippies and hipsters crashing their bikes on the ground for attention and the cops that had to deal with them. I think this was some sort of anti-war rally, but they weren't very organized with the presentation so it was hard to tell...

Then when I got into the mall to get my Chinese food, guess who was playing?? That's right, Skunkweed Junction. Wow, what a mall. What a performance. What a antithesis. Sing for peace Skunkweed! (Click on the player. Then click on icon towards the left to advance backwards. Weird. I know)

Ok, so The Boredoms show last night was insane. I've uploaded this picture I took of the layout. Again, they played in circular formation with the audience around them, which I guess is called "in the round," and I'm not sure who came up with that but I hope it's a lost in translation thing.

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The Boredoms put out a lot of crap, and their live show is sometimes a little overwhelming. However, there were moments last night (particularly during the first song -- anyone who was there back me up here!) where I was watching three drummers playing in syncopation, and Eye beating the shit out of like a Trident made of electirc guitars (see behind him in pic) and then the bass hits from his synth and I have to say I can't not love them for getting away with this shit. It is so over the top and amazing.

So my friend helped my buy one of their rare releases last not on vinyl (Rebore remix from UNKLE) and I realized that I only have their two best recordings (Super AR, and Vision Creation Newsun) on CD.

This needs to change, so I'm enlisting the help of TokyoMango blogger Lisa Katayama, to help me track down at least one of these on vinyl through a source other than eBay. I was banned on eBay. I can't remember if that was for inappropriate chat, or for something else, but I like can't buy stuff there anymore which is lame. 

In any case, maybe we'll find a great used record webstore in Japan!

I’ve been a champion for the underdog in music since 1995. Up until that point, I had a pretty lame CD collection but I was like 12. It was comprised of like Green Day and Counting Crows – and while some really great folks at my boarding school a year prior had been spinning The Smiths, Bad Brains, Beastie Boys, Minute Men…I was way to high to take in any of the artistry.

Then one day when I was driving around listening to Live 105, Archers of Loaf “Web in Front” came on the radio. I was instantly in love with them. That led to Polvo, that lead Slint…yada yada yada.

Anyway…what I’m getting at is that my record collection is way better than yours. Actually, if you are reading this, you probably don’t even buy music. You probably torrent it, and you are most likely a huge douche bag.

You can help yourself out by reading these posts I am going to be doing to rediscover bands in my collection. I am not doing this for you. I’m doing it for me because there is simply too much good shit coming out nowadays, and this is a great exercise for me to keep certain favorites in my alcohol soaked, short-term memory.

To begin. See Saw

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What Amazon Says:

They don’t even have it. OMG I’m so underground.

What Allmusic Says:

Indie solo project from Trevor Kampmann, a former teen actor who made guest appearances on television programs including Little House on the Prairie, Who's the Boss? and Charles in Charge. He was also a pro skateboarder for a time.

What Ryan Says:

A lot of people do home recording ridiculously well. Ben Chasney, F.M. Cornog from East River Pipe, or those played out Sebadoh guys. Trevor should be placed at the front of the circle jerk for his knowledge of tape manipulation, love of weird keyboards, and all of that shit that use to make indie rock cool. Oh…and he writes amazing songs. Second project with the wife HoLLand is OK. But See Saw’s Magnetophone stands as his crowning achievement in my opinion, and if you do not own it, I feel sorry for you.

These posts will become weekly Tuesday things now.

Paul Ford is a Blogger examining Politics, Media and the social ramifications of Pop Culture through stories, recollections, rants and raves on Ftrain.

He is also a genius.

See his post for The Morning News on six word reviews for the enitre SXSW torrent file that select bands made available for scrutiny.

And scrutinze he does.

Genius.

iPods suck. I have been saying this since the first legit models started rolling in at Wired magazine circa 2005 when I interned there (Gadget Lab!), and everyone hated me then for saying it then because they are all drinking whatever massive tit of Stevie Kool Aid everyone is still drinking from – and yes maybe more people hate me now, but that’s for entirely different reasons.

Back to the point, the best MP3 player in the world, has been, still is, and always will be, the Creative Nomad Jukebox 3. Pictured:

Nomad_jukebox

Yes, that’s right. This voluptuous beauty is the gold standard. And yeah, it weighs like a 1lb…so what? Your music is not a fashion statement. And your music is not meant to be piped into your small pee brain via Oakley Thumps as you go base jumping because you have a small penis.

Here are some bullets to enlighten the uninitiated:

• Sound Quality -- If you actually care about music, you should actually care about the way your music is delivered to your ears!!! The Nomad has a 98 dB signal-to-noise ratio which still destroys everything out there for sonic clarity…and the thing came out like 12 years ago!!!
• Music Software that Actually Works -- Why does everyone think the iTunes is shit when it comes to digital music? I’ll tell you. Because they never tried Creative’s before they loaded that horrible resource sucking beast of a failed program. “Yeah but you can scroll through artwork.” Yeah but if you are doing that, musicians that are actually artists hate you. Because they spend a lot of time on LP packaging and artwork…which leads us to…
• Ripping LPs -- How does an LP sound when you rip it into an MP3? Gorgeous. Especially when you rip it on the higher 196-bit encoding that is so easily accessible from the wonderful jogwheel-enabled menu system design that Apple ripped off from Creative for their UI. Best part is, the Creative has a remote control, so you don’t even have to get up while ripping. Track out the sound file with the remote as they are going in, and then it’s a two minute process to get the separated files into the PC music library…named.
• You don’t get mugged or look like a douche bag -- The genius behind the Nomad 3 is in the foresight that the engineers who designed its sturdy construction had in order to make an MP3 player that looks like a CD player. Carry it around, and you look like a person who actually pays for music. If that doesn’t get you laid. I don’t know what will.

Do not fault yourself that you didn’t know any of this going in. And please don’t worry that you look like a huge douche bag with your shiny Apple iPod that need a case for the case that you hold the shitty headphones in. It’s no biggie. But when you see me on the streets rocking my Jukebox from 2002, respect the architect or I will hit you on the head with it, and it is big. Like Wham.

So it's my Birthday in a week, and I couldn't be happier about my gift to myself. Tickets to The Boredoms at the Fillmore on the 18th.

People in San Francisco can still be seen and heard wandering the streets of SF rambling on about the last time Eye and his crew of noiZZemakers were in town and played The Independent.

The Boredoms are a legendary noise band that sprung from the Tokyo art scene to become one of the most beautiful kraut-psych artists that nobody saw coming when the release "Vision Creation New Sun" upon the world in 2001.

Last Summer...Eye and the band unleashed a sonic experiment where the charismatic frontman orchestrated 77 drum kits in some park in Brooklyn. You can see lame video of it here, but for people there, it was life chaging as well, with mind altering substances and without.

I just read that the Fillmore show will place the band on the ground where the audience stands, and have the audience circle around them.

I will return with super powers ad be REBORE!!!!!!!! EYYYYYYYYEEE!!!