Blatant Self-Promotion

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Two quick items:

1) M83 concert review for Melophobe



2) Tuneage on Casewag's burgeoning mixtape blog



That is all.

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YouTube Heroes (first in a series)

As far as I can tell, jetdaisuke's life revolves around his collection of synthesizers, shutter shades, and track jackets. Also, he reviews ramen:

Interview w/ Daedelus @ Stranger Genius Awards 9/13/08

Tighe and I went to see Daedelus perform at the Moore last weekend on the 'phobe's behalf, and were somewhat disappointed to found out we hadn't been scheduled for an interview. Undeterred, we asked the man for a few minutes of his time, and he was kind enough to play along. The whole thing's now up on mel.opho.be, complete with Tighe's super-sweet Holgaroid photos. Do check out.

EDIT: Tighe informs me that Daedelus was in fact aware of our pending interview. I maintain that my memory makes for a better story.

http://mel.opho.be/index.php/articles/interview-daedelus.html

Drunken Angel

Yoidore tenshi
(1948, Akira Kurosawa)

Sot doc cares for the underbelly.

Wavers between pretty darn good and amazing. Compact. Insanely fitting score. Never slow. Each portion lasts the right amount and adds upon the last.

Recommended

she was right, it really doesn't make a lasting impression

I am Legend
(Francis Lawrence, 2007)

Army guy fights virus, vampire/zombie critters.

ok, ok, ok. SO just realized I hadn't BLOGGED about Omega Man yet I'll go ahead w/ this since well here we are. OK several issues here: CG looks like shit. Why is Neville such a pussy in this version? Thanks for all the product placement. And loud noises after a pause do not mean INTENSE it means poor design. Pretty much anything that you'd think a film producer to think the public would find cool was here. I <3 how Neville's rifle has every goddamn accessory known to man on it, just like the cover of gun magazines! W/ Neville's character being such a candy ass my theory is that he was made such since most all Americans are candy asses and they need to be able to identify w/ the main character. Uh... lame-o conflict between top zombie and Neville. City was too destroyed. Didn't look right, looked over done like "OH SHIT THE WORLD ENDED, GET IT?" WHY did Neville not hunt down the zombie menance like in Omega Man and Last Man on Earth? What was w/ all the pushing God stuff? I was pleased by the effect of a grenade tho. Again, CG looks awful. Where were all the corpses? The deer in the city was kinda cool, but not really because the CG sucked. Cars driving around in CG... ok here's the rub. Looked totally lame and all floating like. Even the most basic car videogames the rigs appear grounded. WTH people? LAMEST method of building sorrow into the main character. A bit torqued by contemporary media's portrayal of military folks as wusses such as the squabble between the wife and he. GEEZ o petes. Give me a break. This was part 3 of a 4 part study around the story of I am Legend. Part 4 shall be reading the orginal text. Seeing how the films fall short so far Omega Man is the top film, The Last Man on Earth in second and I am Legend not even placing.

NOT recommended

why cant we be friends?

Hell in the Pacific
(John Boorman, 1968)

Marooned enemies face off.

Something of a character study. Nearly impossible to like Lee Marvin's character. Low amt of spoken word. WHICH IS SWEET. A bit of compassion shines thru the pre-established enemy-ship. Fairly rad about how little teamwork is needed to survive. It is quite clear that Mifune's character had things under control. Marvin is totally the loud asshole american. Choice scenery. Much in the way of stylization I'd say, but not a turn off. The intent of each moment is clearly shown and appropriately. Dug the colors. Dug the lack of subtitles. Two endings if you get the right DVD. I saw the theatrical release for the US. From what my real tyte homeboi tells me the other ending was released in other markets. Good luck! If you care. I didn't. Still don't.

Recommended

My hero!

Purple Rain
(Albert Magnoli, 1984)

Talented prick comes of age.

And then there was Purple Rain. OMG. Part way thru this film I realized this is about me! I like motorcylces. I am a temperamental, sensitive, highly talented, and highly misunderstood artist. I have a sweet hair cut. I look gooooood naked (maybe 30% of the film Prince is shirtless). But yeah, killer OST. Killer costuming. TOTAL BOOB SHOT. Geez, that Apollonia chick is my-tee-fyne. Can't really get enough of that, nossiree bob. Acting is uh... spotty. I get the feeling many of the actors were really musicians? OH MAN, love the stage sequences. The domestic disputes! Prince all being hella badass "Come out here mother fucker!" THE DRAMA! Highly entertaining. One of the few what I shall consider "rock" movies that is worth viewing. Just tons and tons of fun.

Recommended most definitely

subtly hardcore

The Last Man on Earth
(Ubaldo Ragona, 1964)

Aging Everyday Man fights off hordes of zombies.

100% w/o a doubt the best use and portrayal of zombies. Second part of four part study concerning the book I am Legend. Nearly completely lacking in soundtrack. Wife character was pretty hot. Little girl character was pretty much the reason why I do not want children. Nice desolate atmosphere, but perhaps a bit trim for the apocalypse. LOVE the voice over commentary/monologue of the main character all like narrating what he's doing. Not entirely sure what to call it. Total cheese, but still pretty BA. Big fan of the lathe in the living room. All makin' heck of stakes. All spending the daylight hours driving them thru the hearts of zombies. SO LEGIT. Also legit was the lady from the group. I have no idea where they found her, but holy cow... brutally attractive. Sure do not see em like that anymore.

Recommended as a sit around w/ friends and beer movie night

Of course no one in jail is guilty!

Down by Law
(1986, Jim Jarmusch)

Losers get a bit more than they deserve.

A bit fantastic in the second sense of the definition. Lots of panning, mostly to good effect, but somewhat old or ho-hum in execution at parts. Acting wavers betwixt believable and teleprompt. Little middle ground in this film. Any given scene is either "on" or "off." Which makes the film intensely satisfying and "wow I should just turn this off now" at the same time which then of course therefore by extension hurts the piece overall. Very much a rough draft in filmmage centering around character study, yet not entirely sure this particular piece could ever be brought to full polish. A bit too art student in the undercurrents of flavor.

I would never recommend this film, but I would not discourage it either.

satchel foot

The Third Man
(1949, Carol Reed)

Broke a** writer gets ear deep.

One heckuva film. Way legit on the opening creds popping up over tingling zither strings. Sure, bit on the illegible side, but radder than others you'll agree (unless you = communist). Quite deep on the compelling side, dare I say even peggin out the meter? No I don't, not that compelling (for real compelling see "Straw Dogs"). Plenty of little twists and turns, certainly a longer feeling production, but not in the boring sense. All bits are of purpose and therefore give a whole buncha bang for the buck (or in this case walk. thank you library system!). Fairly certain the zither was the only component comprising the soundtrack, which is a fine fine thing. Plenty of atmosphere and mood. Quite understatedly tense at times. Oh! and what wonders are there when the THING the actors are looking at is not shown! Oh! old Hollywood making us use the imagination! How dare you make our brains work and make your productions better! Totally recommended by the illustrious Npod. Completely spot on. MURDER MYSTERY.

A fantastic anytime film that requires no special mood... Recommended Heartily

Once a whore, always a whore

Ba wang bie ji
Farewell My Concubine
(1993, Kaige Chen)

Woman destroys perfect male relationship.

Edging dangerously close to trippy if not crossing the line more than once. A stitch of gender bending, but in a natural sort of way (not like the over-the-top annoying Hedwig manner). Took the better part of the films early stages to scheme the gender of the other leading role. Colors straight from Capt Insane-o's swatch book, wild wild wild costumes; emulates the real Beijing Opera I'm sure (if there was one, did not fact check, but so ornate gotta be a real thing eh? Hold up... ok appears to be a totally real thing. Some bits of this existance cannot be simply procured just for 172min of epic mayhem). Ok, so definitely epic, definitely not a "musical," definitely a romp thru the ages (which yeah ok fine is another way of saying "epic"). Forgot that Gong Li is kinduva a babe. Convincing acting on her part and really all around. HENCE best film of Sundance or something like that, Golden Globes? I can't recall. Alls I know is that some fancy pants full of em selves types deemed this as good and I conquer! Here's an oddity... what's w/ actors early in the film "looking" Chinese and then later appearing generic or Western? Perhaps some sort of commentary?

If you're feeling like an epic then this one comes Recommended a bit higher than just 'recommended'

Payphone phreaking? What is this, 1995?

I am waaaaaaay too lazy to build myself a Skype payphone (much less reverse-engineer a SIM card), but this is the sort of thing that makes me wish I were a better electrician.



Citizen Engineer via Boing Boing

blemish

White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(2007, Steven Okazaki)

Memories of the survivors. Memories of those who dropped.

Powerful, but not overwhelming. Comes across as a documentary more than other contemporary documentaries I've seen whereupon it's obvious they are not trying to document, but rather persuade. Using all manner of trumped up emotional appeal, visual stimulation, tense music. Rather this was simply a string of interviews and period media shown as is w/ no soft lens. There is a bit of 'no nukes' in the film, but coming from people who have been nuked makes such message not the point of the film. Though, in all manner of speaking, it is like a product that sells itself in that way.

Recommended

All manner of interesting new folks

Less Than Zero
(1987, Marek Kanievska)

A rather quick decline.

Mostly convincing portrayals all around. Music always spot on w/ solid choices of commercial release and original score. Lovely ambiance. Sluggish for a bit evolving into the lowest level of gripping. In a manner of speaking plenty of little cliffhangers keep things interesting w/o being too predictable throughout the viewing experience. The leading lady was oddly attractive.

Hovering around the neighborhood of 'good' though to be clear no lower than good, but certainly not as high as great

Oats are there to be Sown

Romance & Cigarettes
(2005, John Turturro)

The Beast barely contained.

Though range of emotions is clipped, the few focused upon are attacked in such a variety of manner that the subject matter does not become stale. This is most certainly in part due to the musical nature of the work. Thankfully not 'show tuny' at all whereupon all songs sound the same w/ expected turn arounds. Perhaps, and most certainly due to the majority if not the entire catalog consists of quote real songs end quote. Thrilling in a just above reality way so as to bring emotional satisfaction where the disconnect w/ reality via choreographed portions disallows a more cathartic sensation. Well cast. Well shot. Well directed. Cannot find any negatives. Surely the overly picky and the boring will pick at the dead limbs and flaked skin.

Nearly Highly Recommended, but certainly Recommended

Big Nude Ideas

Excellent remix of Radiohead's "Nude" (f/k/a "Big Ideas (Don't Get Any)") by James Houston.

via Retro Thing

Bus Simulator 2008

I think this may be the raddest game concept I've ever seen.

The.. good ol' days of air travel?

Ah, so many mixed feelings right now.

Wired via Boing Boing

Metronomics

Some dumb fun:



via Music Thing

what do you think of adult?

Batoru rowaiaru
(2000, Kinji Fukasaku)

Teens pitted against one another in lottery for mockery of adults.

Eh, it was ok? Translation quality was spotty. Flashbacks confusing. Characters had ~3 names each. Initially thought the characters were in their 20s. So hard to tell w/ Asians. Sorta neat fight scenes. Felt kinda like FF cut scenes temp-de-temps (feel free to post corrections to my French, I'll do my best to ignore you). Not terrible, but also not rad.

Not recommended

disappointment

Electroma
(2006, Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo)

Boring as f**k.

In fact this film was so terrible I could not stay awake through the entirety. Even the Ferrari sucked. However, do chase down the OST.

Not recommended (not even for fans, which I am a huge Daft fan, but s**t, I could have done w/o that)

I CAN HAS THEREMIN?

via How to Spot a Psychopath

Buchla Music Easel

Those with even a passing interest in sound synthesis and/or the bending of circuits owe it to themselves to check out the following video, also available in HD.



via Music Thing

Sanshô dayû

Shanso the Bailiff
(Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)

Family (royal) torn asunder, sold into servitude.

Second viewing of this fellow. Amazing stuff. Pretty freakin' heavy tho. I can see where most aren't going to like since they'll have to think while watching. Makes a stitch of sense why the ancient French dug on this shiz. Feminist types should enjoy for study of women's role in JP society. Heavy on social commentary on other levels as well. Might be the first old JP film I've seen where I did not recognize any of the actors. Feels longer than it is. BEAUTIFULLY shot. Dialog is pretty sharp, recall the same for umm... what was it... Ugetsu monogatari (which got me a bit emotional and the Books have sampled).

RECOMMENDED (but more for academically minded)

nnnnaaaahhnrgh nrrrr

Dead Man's Shoes
(Shane Medows, 2004)

Vengeance exacted on retard's behalf.

What a lovely little corner of the world the British Isles are! Wonderful costuming. Seemingly appropriate musical scoring. Totally sweet bolt action action! Best usage of the word cunt in a film from 2004, I'm sure. All characters are very "so-what" or nobodies. A story that could be anywhere really, but something more interesting about it being quieter versus big city. Shades of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, perhaps?

Recommended

Ay, there's The Rub

NYC-based hip-hop DJ collective The Rub have apparently been hard at work on a series of historical mixtapes—one for each year since 1979. More importantly, all of the releases, which so far stretch to the end of the millenium, can be had on mp3 at their website for frizzle.

via RapidShare

No End in Sight

(Charles Ferguson, 2007)

Outlines the poor decision process which yields today's Iraq.

Documentary. So pretty much goes into detail about various poor choices which has made Iraq an absolute cluster fuck. Lessee... from the film it doesn't look like the administration was in it for oil, democratization, uh, peacekeeping? More like somebody just really really really had the need to beat down Saddam and didn't think about anything else. Fortunately, no weird 3D photos in this one. Fairly mellow soundtrack, could have used a bit more ambient sound. Bit heavy handed w/ montages at the fore and aft. Just give me the plump, I do not require the appeal to emotions. That will be handled thru media snippets and interviews. None of the interviewees came across as wackos. Sane, straight forward presentation. No sensationalism. Suggest watching also The Power of Nightmares.

Recommended

Crazy Love

(Dan Klores, 2007)

Loose nut gets woman to cave.

TRUE STORY. DOCUMENTARY. Yeah, well probably the best example of not letting go until the goal has been obtained, despite the lives ruined along the way. Ah... New York Jews don't age well? Like these people were uglier than usual. And then there was the fellow who looked a bit like the character art from the flop gaming title Kain & Lynch. Hrm, pretty standard documentary fare. Awesome soundtrack (until the end). Cool photos, however, many of them were ruined by that "let's make them look 3D and zoom around in them and stuff" manner which I guess is supposed to attract attention. Felt odd, as though the documentary wants you to sympathize and be cool about how things turned out. Sad really.

Not recommended

Det Sejunde Inseglet

The Seventh Seal
(Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

Doubtful Crusader seeks respite to seek knowledge in the face of the plauge.

But really the star character is the squire. Tough, true to his, witty, and centered. All aspects of the story feel well developed. AND HOLY COW! What they've to say about SVENSK ladies is true... even the kinda ugly one is still pretty hot. Dialouge is sharp! Esp betwixt death and Antonius Block (raddest name ever) & to a fairly even degree just about anything his squire utters. Stark, well composed, no need for cultural knowledge.

Recommended

GIZMO

Got 80 minutes to kill? You do now. YEAH....

hot/cold chicken noodle salad

1) bake some chicken yesterday
1a) hopefully you put it in the fridge, otherwise FAIL

2) today, boil your fav noodle, but not too long. firmness is desirable

3) get out chicken and cut into pieces that are pleasing to you

4) drain noodles and let sit until you get bored

5) put noodles in a receptacle appropriate for eating

6) add red pepper flakes (like pizza joint) to noodles

7) add chicken bits

8) add pepper to the top of it all

9) observe your creation

10) masticate

Baby Dee @ the Triple Door 2/11/08

I won't bother recapping here, since the full review is available over at mel.opho.be.

Keep Bus Prices Down, Vote Republican!

W/ the runaway success of the recent Democratic Caucus bus prices will be rising effective 01 Mar 2008 by 25cents for concerned parties.

http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/fare/fare-kcfare2008.html

Do your part!

Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me

(David Lynch, 1992)

Hick town underground has related murders?

Pretty rad. Good soundtrack. Gets a bit eraserhead at times (certainly shared visuals/ideas, i wonder if his other works are like this... well dune certainly isn't, but you understand i'm sure). goofy cripple from the shitty hbo show carnivale appears. Nice and thought provoking, the mind certainly does not stagnate during this piece. Titties.

Recommended

SHOTGUN FILM REVIEW (µnh!)

it has been many a while...
there has been many a film...
quickly now, before it escapes...
quickly now, quickly now...

Gojira (Ishiro Honda, 1954) - dawn of time lizard Fs the S outta Tokyo, "I hope I didn't survive Nagasaki for nothing!"
RECOMMENDED

Tears of the Black Tiger (Wisit Sasanatieng, 2000) - boy's life ruined by bratty chick. leading lady is freakin' hot.
RECOMMENDED

Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985) - ruskies run for their lives from the ss. insanely gripping.
RECOMMENDED

Da wu wei (i think that means "6am") (Adrian Kwan, 2004) - fucking terrible, whatever dialect is spoken in hong kong is the most grating thing i've ever heard in my life, only hot chick was a milf so that's pretty cool. makes no goddamn sense whatsoever.
NOT recommended

Severance (Christopher Smith, 2006) - arms mfr peeps hunted by ruskies. campy, enjoyable as the dickens.
RECOMMENDED

Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952) - pitiful city worker rocks the hood. highly emotional, came close to cracking several times myself.
RECOMMENDED

Tengo to jigoku (High and Low) (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) - limo driver's kid swipped, shoe ceo loses ass, sick man hunted. JDM TYTE detective thriller.
RECOMMENDED

Kumonosu jo (Throne of Blood) (Akira Kurosawa, 1957) - great general driven to unreasonable ends by selfish wife. think samurai macbeth.
RECOMMENDED

Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961) - ronin plays gangs against one another. pretty much last man standing or any cowboy film (now you know where the plot vehicle got popular) but w/ swords and shit. kinda hardcore.
RECOMMENDED

Tsubaki Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa, 1962) - ronin steels motely crew to win over unjust. waaay light hearted, sequel of sorts to yojimbo.
RECOMMENDED

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Mike Hodges, 2003) - retired strong arm returns. think cowboy bebop in england recently, killah jazz soundtrack, anticlimatic
RECOMMENDED

Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) - dipshit wants to lead a gang. hecka growing pains, missing of the train, etc. leading lady is uber hot which is rad, screwy experimental soundtrack.
RECOMMENDED

Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) - ... yeah don't look at me. awesome AV experience, attempt to interpret if you dare.
RECOMMENDED

Tetsuo (Tetsuo the Iron Man) (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1989) - d00ds totally turn into weirdo metal mutants. uh yeah... basically a japanese eraserhead, but makes a little bit more sense. fun experience.
RECOMMENDED

Once - just straight fucking blows, i don't know how it even got funded, i'm not dignifying it by writing a synopsis or listing director and year. If anyone asks you see this film w/ them punch them in the face and run.
NOT recommended

A Bridge Too Far (Richard Attenborough, 1977) - account of market garden. terrible, terrible film. failed to capture the absolute cluster fuck the operation was. however, for pushing 3h did not seem that long.
NOT recommended

It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934) - spoiled runaway hooks up w/ sod reporter. Actually funny, actually romantic. odd how that works when your cast can act and your writers can write and all sexuality needs to be implied not just straight up boob shots and mad finger blastin'.
RECOMMENDED

The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960) - barely lovable loser climbs to the type via favors. kinda cute, kinda bland, a bit too long.
NOT recommended

The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945) - sorry excuse of a man can't climb out of the bottle. think leaving las vegas, but actually good.
RECOMMENDED

Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957) - incompetent decision paid for w/ private lives. an incredibly short kubrick film. sweet war scene, nice sets, a bit of emotion.
RECOMMENDED

The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) - smart ass dick outwits treasure hunters. taught, fast paced, snappy dialog.
RECOMMENDED

The Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1934) - gin soaked PI finds the real crook. wildly charming.
RECOMMENDED

Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) - Gman makes spy out of traitor's daughter. O-M-G, Ingrid Bergman is crazy gorgeous! Right amount of suspense and intrigue.
RECOMMENDED

You Suck at Photoshop: A Love Story

The first in a lovely, unsettling series.



Bonus action: If you make it to number four, here's the relevant ebay auction.

Top-Notch Knob-Twiddled, Synth-Drenched, Loop-Ridden, Click-Infested, Hyperreal Tweaker Jazz of Yesteryear

f/k/a "Top (200)7 Electronic Albums of 2007"

originally published at mel.opho.be


Why seven? Because there were only seven good electronic albums released last year.

That I heard.

Often.

Enough.

To remember.

In January.


..AHEM..


7. Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)



For some unfathomable hasn't-read-Pitchfork-since-2004 reason, I'd managed to avoid all news of this album until roughly the end of last year, when the entirety of the hipper-than-me interwubs trumpeted its minimalist genius and prodded me into dim awareness. You know what? It's rather good. I like it. If I'm slavishly working on something in a dark room with big headphones and the remnants of a hangover, "Untrue" fits that mood. On the other hand, it belongs to a flavor-of-the-month subgenre known as "dubstep," which is unfortunate, since what that ridiculous label says to me is that a) it's British; b) it's probably another dubby, garage-y soundalike with differently configured doodads; and c) it features vocals from someone who sounds uncannily like Craig David and whose voice will ruin any possible enjoyment until, through aural attrition, it fades to irrelevance like so much forgotten Kodachrome.


6. Doveman - With My Left Hand I Raise the Dead (Brassland)



There's this local radio show, "Expansions," that sneaks up on me late Sunday nights while I'm navigating Seattle's too-few thoroughfares, wending my way home through idiots in Lexi. Oftentimes, at some point during one of the show's 45-minute ambient freak-outs, I happily stumble upon what I'm convinced is a sort of spiritual tether with the DJ. He has chosen this particular song at this particular moment because he wants me to remember a late-autumn Tuesday in the fourth grade and I am taking that journey with him and it is good. Inevitably, Mr. DJ later pipes up to say "that was Doveman with his latest white label release, 'some crap I recorded on a Playskool microphone in the bathroom.'" This here album may not feature the above track, but it's worth a listen nonetheless. Oh, hey, plus! He (Doveman) took part in a Stereogum-sponsored "OK Computer" tribute project, an idea of which I can't quite seem to disapprove. Please do check out his take on "Airbag," which reminds me a hell of a lot of Mr. Yorke's once-upon-a-time collaborations with Sparklehorse and U.N.C.L.E. Funny, that.


5. Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings (Carpark)



Now that trance and its various deformed offspring have for all intents and purposes gone the way of the glowstick, the word "anthemic" no longer gets tossed around with the abandon of years past (albeit with one notable Arcade Fire exception). I suppose that's probably for the best, but my god if Dan Deacon's hyperactive drums, schizophrenic arpeggios, and plaintive, mutated nonsense lyrics aren't absolutely, unironically anthemic. Something like early (i.e. good) Orbital or Underworld, only with the way-too-excited-to-be-here naivety and energy of Danielson. Could be I've just fallen for some slick postmodern joke. I hope not.


4. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (DFA)



Um.. So you may have heard of this album. It's pretty okay. Lend an ear to the sequence of "North American Scum" through "All My Friends" (emphasis on the latter) for a 20-minute object lesson in how to structure a generational soundtrack. And this coming from a guy who tends otherwise to lavish scorn and indifference on LCD Soundsystem at every opportunity.


3. Apparat - Walls (Shitkatapult)



I briefly considered turning this column into a "top ten albums to listen to at work." That is, until I realized exactly how little anyone might care about said category. And yet! Had it been so, this gem of a record might have stood a chance at garnering the coveted top spot. It's mesmerising! Adaptive! Rewarding! Constantly varied yet thematically unified! Still not as good as his "Orchestra of Bubbles" collaboration with Ellen Allien! Oddly, the album's lone single, "HoldOn," stands out as one of its weaker offerings. Of course, this may have something to do with my aforementioned distaste for the breathy, sweat-dripping male vocals that pervade European dance pop. I much prefer when Mr. Ring treats voices as yet another plaything, to be chopped, juggled, dropped on the floor, stomped on, and ultimately sculpted to serve the greater good (cf. "Limelight"). Or better yet: the instrumentals!


2. Justice - † (Downtown/Ed Banger)



Huddled toe-tapping masses: Arise! Leap! Contort! Dance! Participate in violent head-bob action! Punch the air so hard you leave welts and bruises and it escapes to a battered elements shelter! Harder! Wish you were French so you too could make the world's best dance music! The only dance music! Remember why you fell in love with Daft Punk and forget why you ever stopped listening to "Homework"! Yup, that's Justice all right. Too bad it now reminds me of car commercials. Or maybe not? It's an unsettled and intensely personal question, thank you very much.


1. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime (Kompakt)



So I guess the Swedes can excel at something other than disco-pop and orc-metal, huh? Rad. Actually, The Knife should have taught me that lesson, but until I consulted The Librarian, I honestly had no idea that the two shared a homeland. Fortunately, they also share that rare alchemic talent for transmuting base materials into something quite otherworldly. Suddenly and devastatingly off-topic, I am returned to the halcyon days of my "techno"-spewing youth, when decent samples were nigh impossible to come by, a four-note sequence of stolen 303 burps constituted a melody, and "user-friendly GUI" meant you could choose the background color of your craptastic DOS-based keyboard-only 8-bit shareware. Ah, them were the days. Now any old chump off the street can instantly assemble a collection of professional (aka "illegal") samplers and soft synths, dump the results in Reason or ACID or Ableton Live, and BAM! you've got a world-class indie-electronic producer. Or, well, not so much. Turns out that no matter how drastically the entry bar is lowered, the measure of success remains what you can do with the tools at your disposal. (-END TANGENT-) "From Here We Go Sublime" is not an exciting album in the way that Justice's hump-the-subwoofer kinesthesia is exciting, nor the way in which Radiohead's cheap-as-free publicity stunt pricing model is exciting. No, it's exciting in more of a transcendentally meditative, gently throbbing, endlessly looped carnivorous brainworm migraine of a chord progression sort of way. The way electronic music should be exciting; which is to say, not exactly. But goddamn if it ain't brilliant.

LOC <3 Flickr

The Library of Congress just uploaded 3000+ copyright-free photos to Flickr. Take that, Getty Images!

One can only hope that this is but the first easily accessible drop in the LOC's 14 million-gallon bucket of images.

"Linda Linda Linda" (2005)

"How could anyone possibly think this would hold my interest for 114 minutes?"

+

"Japanese school girl punk cover band? Awesome!"

=




..oh, and don't forget the source material:

That's a mouthful

This/last year's Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (aka "worst opening sentence" contest) grand prize winner:

Gerald began--but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them "permanently" meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash--to pee.

Discovering Electronic Music

Far and away the best thing I've ever seen on the interwubs. This afternoon.

[VIDEO NO LONGER AVAILABLE]

Or, in the colorful argot favored by YouTube denizens: "lmao gay"

All hail the button-masher

Never let it be said that one man with an MPC doth not a band make.

Okay, so I ran myself a little search, and it turns out that no one else has ever actually said that. FINE.

Video courtesy of Anticon's Jel, and his one-off blog.