Minimal Empathy...

My day is past, night is gone...a way to forget, is nowhere shone.

The Field - Night

Would Someone Please Send in the Goddamn Clowns

Well, its Friday and I'm about the leave for the Caspa show. But first I thought I would include another exciting edition (first and only to be exact) of "Remixes of Already Amazing Songs, Done only Slightly Better and Without Forfeiting the Hooking Essence That Made it Amazing in the First Place Friday."

Classic tracks that need no discussion include "Must be the Devil" (reworked by Diplo), MFA's "The Difference it Makes" (Petter's Version) off MFA's 2003 EP, and Datassette's version of "Untitled" by Interpol - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

The Pixies - Must Be the Devil (Diplo remix)
The MFA - The Difference it Makes (Petter's Different version)
Interpol - Untitled (datassette version)

The Beck addition is a little bazaar but give it a chance, you won't be disappointed. Villalobos takes a seemingly forgettable ad-pitch song and transforms it into the minimal anthem of the fucking century (or at least the last few weeks). After you're pleasantly locked in electro-land for a few minutes, not wanting to emerge having heard a mere day-maker, just wait because it plays for another eleven minutes. Enjoy

Beck - Cell Phone's Dead (Villalobos Entlebuch Remix)

Finally, after seeing Simian Mobile Disco perform over SXSW I can honestly express my understanding and absolute love for their chronic, sometimes overly-cheesy pop-synth approaches. Listen to this remix from the Teenagers and forget about those fucking clowns. Later

Simian Mobile Disco - Its the Beat (The Teenagers Remix)


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Electricland Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Club

My new friends over at Electronic Austin are posting some great things regarding the ever-present, but admittedly grounded, electro-club scene here in Austin. "Club scene" obviously can have a particularly vague and ominous subtext. However, this site has found a way to circumvent faulty translation and misdirection, as well as avoid tiresome sub-genre categorizing: THEY DON'T POST SHITTY MUSIC.

Having said that, I now feel confident enough to humbly pass on their words of recommendation regarding some of the better live shows going on in town. Though such major events are few and far between, it is important to commend venues like Plush, Beauty Bar and Room 710, who churn out great dance parties on a weekly basis (depending on the spirit of its promotion).

One such event will be happening this Friday (11th) at Room 710. Dubstepper Caspa, from London, will be playing a set with residents DJ I/O, Innerlign and Tyrant. It's not to be missed, no matter your preferred escape, e.g. grime, minimal, prog-house, dubstep [Insert obscure, irrelevant sub-genre here].

You can pick up some old Caspa mixes here. Otherwise, I included a few other completely unrelated tracks here to help set the mood for the weekend or if you just want to hear some more amazing snap-clap digi-dancehall (legitimization on genre pending).


Daedelus - Fair Weather Friends

Mathew Leutwyler - Jovencitas

Late of the Pier - Space and the Woods (Toxic Avenger remix)

Bonus
More Electric Gypsyland:
Smadj Kocani Orkestar - Mi Bori Sar Korani

Feels like a Collective Day

Today had me making some very important decisions regarding the welfare of my collective conscience. I made the important decision early to surround myself with noise, fleeting convention while immersed in essence. I included some tracks in this post that, while not necessarily adhering to these designed specifications, still maintain to enlighten, intrigue and rally feelings of pure amazement, sprinkled with a sort of indescribable nostalgia. Hopefully by collating these emotions, a new scheme can emerge and our present concerns will become obsolete.

If one were to try and gather as much Animal Collective (related) sound as possible they would surely not even begin to crack the surface. Their art is copious and everywhere. Even when idle, their influence, individual or otherwise, spans cultures, continents and classifications. I have a few fairly rare recordings that prove the vitality of this presence:

From the amazing Electric Gypsyland 2 (2006):
Animal Collective/ Kocani Orkestar - Oi Bori Sujie

From the Planet Claire Sessions (2005):
Animal Collective - Flesh Canoe (minimal)

From the Rare Book Room Compilation (2007):
Avey Tare - I'm You're Eagle Kisser

Bonus Recommendation for when its all said and done:
Animal Collective - Sleeper Factory

Does Anyone Remember That Game "Joe and Mac"...

...for SNES? I just picked it up yesterday at this local retro-gaming store. It's undoubtedly a classic, despite its numerous flaws, e.g. length, control lag, difficulty level, etc. I managed to conquer the final "half-cherub, half-devil" boss in just under forty minutes, faster than my girlfriend could get primped for the Xiu Xiu show.

The Xiu Xiu concert...thats what I want to discuss. All in all it was an amazing show, minus the absurdly misguided hecklers that tainted the Mohawk sky deck. Their observations managed to bleed significant insight, "You're music's wierd!" However, the ever composed Jamie Stewart managed to cast off their words with some light comical retort:


Alright, its not that hysterical but I do thank these guys so much for making my week. I was also excited that they decided to keep "Clowne Towne" in their setlist, having at least one track to lip to. I did buy the new album a couple weeks ago but my dog managed to eat it before I could finish listening, or uploading...so there's that. Anyway, below I included three tracks with three very distinct messages of jubilation...for my night of equal emotional value.


Xiu Xiu - Ceremony
Joy Division - Ceremony (live)
Galaxie 500 - Ceremony

Bonus, to mix a bit:
Xiu Xiu - Bishop, CA (Kid 606 version)


By the way, who was that guy masturbating on the front of the band's t-shirt?

I Had the Wierdest Fucking Dream Last Night

You weren't there but alot of yelling and commencing was involved, as well as an abridged manifesto put forth by my cousin Lindsay of all people and also four cities of equally neighboring distance, soley bent on detroying each other's arsenal of cannon fodder and first-borns. Vincent Gallo made an appearance and so did Michael Showalter and my old cat.

What transpired suggests one to imagine a high dive above an ocean, so raised as to completely diminish any shimmer of seaway, which should be impossible given that there is only water surrounding this elevated plank. When jumping from this height imagine no wind hitting your face. Only the subtle whistle of exposed button slits indicates your free fall, again a seemingly impossibility.

Finally, imagine hitting a surface, initially taught while generating only a slight bounce, but upon redescention becomes increasingly pliant, slowly melting into an abysmal mess of sin, hate, pain, evil, sadness and talking vampires. You wade through without movement, only to emerge the other end of whatever wherever, able to make that now obvious decision to heed your own rationale and scratch that itch that's been piercing your nodes since last Wednesday.

In this themeless post I included some tracks I've been kicking around lately, a few old, a couple new, all sexy. The first is more minimal magic from electronic guru Deadbeat. Based out of Montreal, he stays pretty rogue for the most part, but still manages to generate alot of press for himself on the global circuit (wherever that is)...and rightfully so. Snap-Clap Digital Dancehall...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Deadbeat - The Heckler

Next is the Boards of Canada remix of Why's Good Friday that I may have mentioned in a previous entry. Again, it deems all other variations obsolete while simultaneously blowing kisses to disinterested bitches...such is Anticon.

Why? - Good Friday (Boards of Canada remix)

Next is an old Matmos track that I just heard for the first time a couple days ago. If I dreamed in fluid streams rather than frenzied flashes these guys would be my favorite digital experiment, but alas Odd Nosdam still holds that position. Cable in the Sky is a long track but hold out 'til around the 3:40 mark and the rest will come smoothly and effortlessly...and selflessly.

Matmos - Cable in the Sky

Now comes a track from one of my favorite films, All the Real Girls. I don't know much about Mazinga Phaser, but they've perfected the dancing-clown genre, and not a moment too soon...watch the film to witness semblance...and prestine irony.

Mazinga Phaser - Apocalypso

And finally to celebrate Xiu Xiu coming to town on Saturday I included a classic song (to me anyways) from Fabulous Muscles. If anyone is in Austin this weekend, Mohawk is happening. Yes, even if that means missing Octopus Project...for the third time. Damn your efficiency or: dam your efficiency.

Xiu Xiu - Clowne Towne

Honey Claws: Honey Claws

I caught Honey Claws over SXSW week kinda by accident and they have managed to stick in the back of my mind for the past few weeks, so I though I might spread the relentlessness. This exper./electronic Austin quartet manage to combine an assortment of different candies in order to arrive first and foremost at an unapolgetic rant of digital mayhem, not unlike the robo-giraffe beast from Northfork, had he been wearing a power glove and a wet-suite.

If you want a review read a magazine, but until then just trust me on these guys. The hip-hoppy "July" is what initially turned me on to these guys, not totally unlike the hooking lyrics of a Why? or Hood. "Villains" is very beautiful but pretty conventional pop. The HIGHLY RECOMMENDED is "Easter Sunday", a low-fi meditation about a never-ending evening. Listen please and LIKE.


Honey Claws - July
Honey Claws - Villians

Bonus:

Honey Claws - Easter Sunday

Take a Bow, Take a Drink, Take a Pill and a Nap

THE WHISKERS are here for you. Why aren't these guys more popular. I kind of wish I had found their album a few years ago before deciding to buy Antics, then maybe my love for drone-rock could have survived maybe another six months. I'm sure this band is tired of the Interol reference by now though, so I'll just say if you've ever been obsessed with Stephen Merritt at any point in your life (kind of a catch-all) you'll think The Whiskers are just the tops. Also, think Wolf Parade, The Liars, ILiKETRAiNS or Casiotone...but with Jareth the Goblin King as the front man.

"Idle Rich" and "Sails" are both amazing songs but "Roses" is the definate standout. I never thought a song about Nazi's, sailboats and Ghostbusters even existed let alone be so unrelentingly insightful (unless Destoyer did it, yeah they could probably do it...and so could my grandpa...and Jareth the Goblin King).

The Whiskers - The Idle Rich
The Whiskers - Roses


Whiskers, please come to Austin!

The Whiskers - Sails

More and More Psycho-Fuzz

It's now 9:00 AM, the drugs are wearing off and I shall soon be retiring for what should be a calm, meditative weekend...even if it is only Thursday morning...wow, that's pathetic. No, what is more pathetic is thinking someone will read this.

No, that's great, I can type whatever I want and sing it too..."I heart nazis, poop-hands, abortion-abortion, I want Ann Coulter inside me, poop-hands again, I steal silverware and batteries, cops are useless (unless your my cousin Jeff, and in that case, Jeff keep making the family and the force proud)."

Uhh Anyway, to assist with my come-down are four tracks from four artists who have absolutely nothing to do with each other. They all just make beautiful psycho-fuzz. No really guys, the psycho-fuzz is here and it is happening. Psycho-fuzz is alive and at no time in history has it been done as well as its being done right now.

You think back to all those times psycho-fuzz let you down: your eleventh birthday, the first time you got mono, that time when you were masturbating in the shower but couldn't concentrate because the dog kept scratching at the curtain, and also when your uncle got really drunk on Easter and tried to "measure" your girth for next year's Christmas slacks, and you had to let him because his tears were just too real. Yes, even then.

Not this time though:


Artists: Polmo Polpo, El Guincho, Animal Collective, Eric Copeland
Theme: None...well, maybe drugs...ok none
Race: Endocrine
Soup: No, the oven's broke, I want my goddamn Life cereal (cinnamon)
Status: Unemployed but radiant
Symptoms: drug-induced delusions of humor, comprehension and cohesiveness
Guilty: Yes
Of What: Hating myself when there's no drugs, and hating magazines that use the term psycho-fuzz when describing Eric Copeland
Greatest Fear: That someone will read this
Greatest Sadness: That no one will read this
Greatest Attribute: ...inflated sense of sensing sensitivity
Genre: Psycho-Fuzz

MP3:
Polmo Polpo - Acqua
El Guincho - Final de Archipielago
Animal Collective - Street Flash
Eric Copeland - Spacehead

I can no longer lend myself to digest this scathing rhetoric, its morally reprehensible, inadvertently asinine and dubiously relevant. (Your post, not mine)

They Talk About the Weather Like There's Nothing Else to Say

Still on my Anticon kick I inlcuded in this post a few gems I've been kicking around: first, the new Why? track from their upcoming LP Alopecia (by the way if you can find the Boards of Canada remix, its ten times more enjoyable.)

Why? - Good Friday

Also, There is a couple Sole, Skyrider songs from last year. I caught them live a few months ago here at Emo's and it was defineatley on of the better live acts, so if you get the chance I would highly recommend it. (Sole's solo instrumental stuff is really good too.)

Sole and The Skyrider Band - Shipwreckers
Sole and The Skyrider Band - The Bones of My Pets

There's also an old Thee More Shallows track thats one of my favorites, straying away from the electronic/hip hop style of their peers, this band still holds up as an amazing listen, and live show.

Thee More Shallows - 2AM

Finally, I threw in a few songs from Meanest Man Contest, who aren't actually on Anticon, but I thought they worked in this post and there new album is just right, so if your'e a fan of Anticon's stuff you should really...just listen.

Meanest Man Contest - We Wouldn't Want it Any Other Way
Meanest Man Contest - Throwing Away Broken Electronics
Meanest Man Contest - Some People (Just Get Off on Breaking Hearts)

Odd's Oddities

Pitchfork reported today that my favorite Anticon shoegangster, Odd Nosdam is releasing a remix/rarities compilation next month. This is exciting news for anyone who is a fan of his previous work. I was able to catch some of his peers at the Anticon showcase this past week and I must say this label continues to stand out. The demise of cLOUDDEAD I feared would dampen my spirits a little, but albums from Why, Odd Nosdam, Sole, and Telphone Jim Jesus were on repeat for quite awhile this past year.

By the way you can expect to hear some Anticon artists on the Odd comp, as well as a few elsewhere artists: (Skyrider, Bracken, Sereena Meneesh, Alias & Tarsier, Boards of Canada). I attached the Black Moth Mp3 from the new album and couple other tracks from Nosdam's evergrowing library.


Odd Nosdam - Forever Heavy (shoegangster/JB remix/Black Moth Super Rainbow)
Odd Nosdam - D's Chamber
Odd Nosdam - Untitled One

Lost in Austin

I have included in this post a few of the great acts currently playing around Austin. If you get a chance you should definately check them out. I think they all share a similarity in that every band is discernably different in their approach. I am considered new to this town, but already I have found some great entertainment that's not composed of mediocre covers of FM hits, appealing to the oakie crowd that shuffles into town every weekend (my apologies).

It is going to be interesting to see how Austin evolves over the next ten years, given its already dramatic transformation during the previous ten. If one thing is certain however, it will remain a young town full of pretention, ambition, and self-righteousness, paving the continuation of unique personal expression (he said with an overwhelming sense of pride).

{{{Sunset}}} - Man's Heart Complaint
Yellow Fever - Cats and Rats
Yellow Fever - Metable
Octopus Project - Vanishing Lessons
Octopus Project - Ghost Moves
Le Loup - we are gods! we are wolves!

Minimally Speaking

If anyone pays attention to this blog, all two of you might come to realize I am a huge listener of minimal techno and all its minimal glory. Clean, consistent rythms with tiny variations in speed and tempo exemplfy a subtle genius that can only be appreciated with headphones or on a dancefloor in Hungary, apparently.

Labels like Kopakt, Tenax, Revolver Canada, Minimouse and Dial have been churning out these tracks for a while, perfect for anyone getting started with this genre. I posted a few mp3's that I still listen to regularly, and hopefully one day get to experience live. But I do live in Austin, not the ideal place for said music. The Ebony track doesn't quite fit, but I included it because its just so sexy.

James Figurine - 55566688833 (The Field Mix)
claudio prc - So Close
Supermayer - The Art of Letting Go
Ebony Bones - We Know All About You
The Field - A Paw In My Face

Its...a...Miracle?

I recently found out one of my very good friends is having his first child. Due to his somber tone of voice and constant head-dropping, I could tell it was by no means a planned event. Some might say miracle. Some might say simple chemical reaction. Some might say parasite. I say not for me.

I would definately be there for him, but I can't help but think about the overwhelmning boredom that will transpire when I can't play frisbee golf because my newly "blessed" pal has to take his son/daughter to the pediatrician. How could he be so selfish? I dont get it.

Anyway, I included some tracks that ambiguously celebrate lifes greatest gift...no, not ginger beer.

Animal Collective - Baby Day

The Shaggs - Who are Parents?

Patton Oswalt - The Miracle of Child Birth (mp3 link)

FuckMyButtons?

Ever since Fuck Buttons released there new album I've had the perfect soundtrack to accompany my prolonged self-loathing, mostly due to my lack of patience when choosing an appropriate career. Oh well, if their spirited screeching and tight-knit drum rythms don't make you feel like you're pounding babies at an old high school rave then these guys might not be for you, (I assume everyone likes feeling like this). Reminds me of the first time I heard AC's Grass.

I am so pissed I had to miss them during SXSW all four times they played...damn you Anticon Showcase...but I just found out they're coming back next month with Caribou. So now I am ready to pound babies all over again...enjoy some music from Street Horrrsing.

Fuck Buttons - Bright Tomorrow

Fuck Buttons - Little Bloody Shoulder

Hello People...Isn't it Remarkable

Hello everybody...since this is my first ever post on my first ever blog I thought I might indulge you in my favorite group to come out of my maturation years...enjoy

clouddead-physics of a bicycle (mp3 link)