Was a radio show hosted by yours truly in the sub-basement of now-dormant
Rainy Dawg Radio
Collected here now are my head scratchings, nuggets of internet gold, thoughts on new trends in "electronic music" and, maybe more importantly, heads-ups on mixtapes and very loud basements.
Having two personal blogs is dumb
(For me at least.)
Until I decide that they need to be collected elsewhere, I’m going to put all of my further thoughts on music on my blog at gadzook.net. Less for you to have to think about. I’ll let you know if I become part of some super cool music blogging collective, but the sci-fi one is probably enough for now :)
Cheers!
“Toddler Wobbles Dubstep Dance Hits For Kids”
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B005DXIPOW
“child-safe electronic dance music”
I’m just gonna leave this here
Hello, Lovelies
I am going to revive this old dead thing, although I don’t expect to post on it as much. Most of what I’ve been doing involves getting a new job (if you know me, you can find out where pretty easily), and writing for a new sci fi blog project called Stasis Chamber that I’m getting off of the ground with a few people. I still have opinions about music, though, even if I don’t still get the same deluge of music that I experienced as a college kid at Rainy Dawg Radio (who are still awesome by the way, pick up their 2011 best-of ‘zine if you can).
Speaking of reviving old dead things, Venetian Snares just dropped four tracks out of nowhere.
“Affectionate” is IDM like I’ve missed hearing it. While it may not be the widely rumored Aphex Twin comeback we’ve all been waiting for, the Winnipeger is back in as good a form as ever, getting your mind gears turning, buzzing, and whistling with two three minute “radio friendly” tracks and a couple of six minute IDM epics for good measure. The patches, blips, bloops, and beats are still definitely in the unmistakable style of the genre, perhaps making it hard to differentiate the “Vsnares” of a decade ago from this release, but if it ain’t broke… Well…
“Affectionate” is available streaming for free, or any-format download for $5 at his bandcamp.
SARGENT HOUSE: What's Next: Gypsyblood
From the moment I heard this bands demos I have been nothing but obsessed. Well, they have gone and released a FREE 3 song EP (but I recommend donating something if you can because more music from them is a MUST! )
I concur with the nice record label tumblies. This is some serious dream-fuzz-awesome-catchy-blah-blah-genre-words. Can’t wait for further material from the Gypsybloods! Toss the nice boys a couple bucks.
Then toss that other band you liked on bandcamp.com a couple bucks too.
Then buy yourself something nice to drink. You deserve it, kid.
Altered Wallpaper Zones
If you covet the background images on Altered Zones anywhere near as much as I do (read: a lot), here’s the master list of background images as of today. Holy excellent wallpaper batman (some assembly may be required…)!
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/childnebula.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/deepwaterhorizon.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/dunewalker.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/hurricanesky.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/justsomecrazyshit.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/lavafall.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/mothershipontheplains.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/sunsetdreamer.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/tetris81.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/theredplanet.jpg
http://c1928952.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/volcanotown.jpg
The United States of America
The American Way of Love
After finding this record by way of the post on Jive Time Records Turntable, I decided it sounded like a perfect way to spend a sunny Wednesday afternoon in Seattle (c’est la vie unemployed). It turns out I was right. This record may be a throwback, released in 1968, but it’s somehow timelessly interesting. Aside from looking like an ad for the Art Institute, this record is really (imp/prog)ressive.
True to its technical college-esque artwork, United States of America’s self-titled — and only — LP incorporates quite the deluge of soundscaping. Not four minutes will pass before another wall of sound washes over you, bathing you in bits of sound, perhaps re-appropriated, perhaps meant to show you exactly what the United States mean to them. The songs are definitely in place with the “acid music” movement, as my talkative friend Kevin at Vinyl Excursions* in Lynnwood would put it*. Lots of television-clean organ and guitar driven rock and roll appears, accompanied by interesting and sometimes lengthy splashes of musique concrète. I have to admit, the latter category interests me far more than the former, but it manages to fit together in a cohesive manner.
“The American Way of Love” manages to stick out as a particularly effective collage of ideas. A scrapbook of American heritage — honkey tonk pianos, marching bands, guitar freakout jams, oscillator sweeps, and tape-delayed choirs struggling to find a way to stick together. It works though, building up to an emotional crescendo that sounds just as at home in the 60s as it would on a Books track, the freakiness and warped traditional sounds, very appropriately, building up simply to about ten different ways to say the word “love.” Take a listen and see what I mean
(* If this guy believed in the internet, I would link his page.
… He doesn’t believe in the internet.
However, if it’s between Friday and Sunday, and kind of nice out, you can show up to his place at 21130 22nd St. W Lynnwood and get all sorts of awesome vinyl and casette tapes. Feel free to give him a call at 425-672-8839 to be absolutely sure he’s open if you’re wary of driving to Lynnwood for no reason. Most of it is priced at less than 15 dollars, with rarities deservedly priced higher. However, many valuable records are priced VERY well and he tends to apply “reverse tax” at the time of purchase, discounting around 5 or 10 dollars. Groovy. )
F*** You
Oh yes.
I’ll be taking a peep at this pretty soon.
No, seriously. F*** You if you don’t like Cee-Lo’s latest Motown/Jamie Lidell-inspired ode to gold diggers.
I transcribed the bass line for your pleasure. I like how simple most of the song is, but how obese the fills are in the bridge section. Maybe you agree too?
Tera Melos - “Patagonian Rats”
My friend Derek Blackstone put it best when he said something to the effect of:
“there is a good chance that i have only ever been less excited for other albums to be released than i am for patagonian rats. woah.”
I think I agree.
I have listened to the album a bit since I wrote the last sentence, and I can safely say it’s the best they’ve written so far. And probably on my top 10 for this year so far. It could be their band’s crab t-shirt that I bought freshman year hypnotizing me, but their ascent from absolutely insane three-minute-long guitar hooks into more traditional but still-abstract song structures has them in territory with the greats. The parts of me that love Hella, cited influence The Pixies, and grindcore-style noise jams are high-fiving right now. (I may try to stay away from bunch-o-hyphens reviews from now on, but it hurts oh-so-good right now.)
(posthumous insert:
Just because y’all might not want to listen from start to end, highlight tracks for me include headslammer “The Skin Surf,” 9-minute-riffer “Party With Gina” which is presumably a followup to their previous 5+ minute (correction, 2-and-a-half-minute-but-still-)epic “Party with Tina,” and (comparatively) darker, creepier track “Westham United.”
insert-insert:
It was hard to pick these.)
They have the good hearts to release it on their bandcamp, since we dirty thieves have evidently broken the last barriers of their moneymaking spirit. Stream it here!
You can also buy the pre-order packages on their website featuring either just the album, or a bunch of merch to go with it. Their t-shirts are pretty sweet.
Cee Lo - “F*** You”
In the good way.
This song’s gonna blow up. Think Motown with a big giant parental advisory sticker on it. You’re gonna hear this one dropped at every single party ever in a couple of months. Just watch.
And yes, kids. NSFW.
Gadzook
Not In Those Pants is where my music stuff goes. Lately, when I have things to say about nerdiness, computer science, and the internet, I use Gadzook.net, my other blog which I recently resurrected. Right now it’s entitled “Where Is Sam?” as it used to be hosted at whereissam.org. I guess I’m still emotionally attached to the old name or something.
NIGHTNIGHT by DEDDY
