Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Rote Tomb

Buried in a paper/ill-used Illustrator mess pavin' the road for Indianapolis 2k7: Makin' it One Week After the 500. Work conference. Just my style, a weeklong free booze event. That said, I'll still be back on the air this Friday in a full two-hours-of-glory 7-9pm set and oughta be back to Madison in time for another on the 8th. Still trying to get local paid werk doing it live and in person to help justify my record expenditures (though they've been down of late), so holler if you have a spare turntable, a mixer, and a houseparty/venue that needs hott limittted tuunes mixxxed poorrly.

'Nuff self-aggrandization. A hoot and a holler to the Daniel Carter/Evan Louison duo, whose Pilate Navigator (semireferenced last post) release God's Faithless Bride is proving itself to be
a primo guff-flutter maw-meld for my Dead Guy Ale-inebriated evenings. I keep both stereo channels working for you, my bros. Wind instrument laden incense type aural loungewear that doesn't sacrifice the energies of it all. An appropriately sequenced trackmix including a three-ways stretch all under a minute a piece. Nite blues, that soft humming throughout. Alleyway thwacks, amplifier cabbiedrones, I dunno whodunit. Keep doonit.

Anyways, found a couple of Wisconsin's finest river-tube-rides complete with cooler-tubes, so expect a sunburnt or drowned Hoist by next-coupla-months' end. Audio comin' soon...

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The Armpit Rose

And like that, the internet's back on. How? Why? Those are questions for the fools that man the connection, that fess up to the bill collectors. Not us. I told y'all that I'd be on this thing like a recent college grad on his last tasteful taste of undergrad 'gina, now off to collar'd shirts besides "the stripey" (but plenty more of those, too) and paychex that tap directly into "the leer". You know the one. (Bitter much? Yup. Well... yup...) Word on the street is that buttoning the top button is the new popping the collar... get up on it but quick!

Oh, gosh. I don't feel like offering up music news tonight. I'm sorry. I have no analysis worth offering. My "recently played tracks" is mostly bases I've covered here, 'cept for some Pilate Navigator gush, which is good... but another time, another time... My fave reading lamp is burnt out and uses special bulbs that I haven't bothered to locate, 'cause to afford before next Friday would be to sacrifice the purchase of one last twelver of longnecks, and it is too nice out, friend. Wouldn'tcha think? Wouldn'tcha drink? Anyways, but between this and my home 'net having been down, well, I haven't even been massaging my tonearm for the past coupla few days. No, I've been wallowing in the upper level, where the A/C don't reach too well, trying, trying, to stay focused on goddam Gravity's Rainbow and what the goddam fuck do you literary types foist upon us. References to engineering parameters in the same 'graphs as violent sex? No-ones allowed to re-read my earlier classtype dazes off to me w/out my permissions, I'd hope. Anyways, I perhaps blame this lazy jumble on my chameleonic need to make awful attempts at either assimilating or being assimilated by, not sure which... onwards! To kill the goodwill!

No, for tonight... what? Murder in Madison? Done to deth. Ha! Already. No, not funny. I walk there too. But... kinda funny, in bad taste. Okay, fugginhell, fine... Music. News.

Shit.

First, I'd bet more than I know already, but I saw a sign thing for a Memorial Day skree sesh featuring some fine "Cali" boardshorts types. 'S a block away from my place. 'S a fuckin' soundclash! Make sure to fill up on burgers first, cooked or otherwise. Donate, 'cause I'll be too broke to! Swank.

Second, just a note on weird overlapping of things. I attended this Starbass event last Friday, the one that I mentioned a post or so back. In a generally unprecedented overlap of my dull-ass life (it only means that I'm boring) and the occassional bit of semi-meaningful media that I manage to consume (in this case Martin Clark's latest "Month in Grime/Dubstep", a/k/a "The only Pitchfork link worth clicking")... aside from dear "Franc", of course, who very frequently manages to scatter worthwhile twitters about that I can find some kinna connexion to... anyways, in this particular overlap, well... I realized the potential of that agressive nature of "the 'step" at this event. I mean, the stuff was pretty hard up in there. It was off-putting. Headspinning. I mean, I lurve Armour's "Iron Man" but perhaps when everything is fully beatmatched strung together and EQ'd into a massive steamroller of a thing... well... I mean, I don't think that's my thing. "Meditate on the bass weight" and all that, THAT I can abide. No slight against Mr. cutFucker et al. They def had a grand selection (though outta personal pref I'd rather not hear Mims for at least one evening, but hey)... 's just... I think I like this whole bastard-techno branch idea more 'n more... keep the weight, but reduce the urging of people to do spinkicks. Again, just personal pref. And spinkicks certainly do need doing, too! What I'm sayin'... shit... I dunno what I'm sayin.... okay, nuthin' doin'... this Lamborghini Crystal tape has got my head but GONE... sorry... dun...

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Dos Doses

A short post to continue my onslaught. This one to give shine to two upcoming events in our rapidly-draining-of-students area that I may or may not be present at. I hope to attend both, but there are... issues... at play.

First, Pink Reason returns and plays in a place that I assume is preferable to the Klinic. Though I'm not sure, 'cause I don't think I know "Luke". But check out the Reason's MySpace for some (vague) details. I was told this was gonna be fairly low-key, donations and BYOB, so I'm not gonna throw up the address. But I bet Kev'll let you in on it if you ask. If not, you oughta be more polite!

Another thing that I really know about nothin' about except time and place is some kinda DJ thing at the Mercury Lounge on Friday. Now, I haven't been to the Mercury in some time so I cannot vouch for their "system" but this is supposed to be bass-ish, as in it is an "event" titled "STARBASS". My main interest here is the presence of one "cutFUCKER", who comes up just under "Vito's Madison Grill" when you google "Madison dubstep". I know very little about what to expect here... absolutely nothing about the other DJs. As so, I wholeheartedly urge you to go. Stalking Browsing his myspace info, I can see a respectable stepper pedigree amongst his friends list, and also he apparently earns significantly more than I (possibly at a job that my girlfriend once interviewed for; fuck) so his stacks will probably just make me give up, not to mention the implications of actual technical abilities at this kind of thing. Roll one. Not sure about cover or time or whatever.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Siftin' Cream of Wheat thru my Underdeveloped Fingers (Searchin' for that Fellow Chaff)http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif


Aardvark: Resurrection


I've been catching up on all the internets that I missed out on whilst off on "donate your wits to the foreign kids" duty (they learn nothing, those "types"). After finishing off looking through at the coverage of BEST NEW WAYS TO WEAR PANTS+SHOES (hey, some of us need extra help... like you weren't in remedial reading or something), I eventually got around to checking out what people were sayin' about all the great new music that I can play softly in the background of my apartment while sorting bills-to-ignore or cutting the bad parts offa carrots (for guests; I'd never waste like that for myself) or what-have-you.

The gist of what I've seen is that 2007 has been a pretty great year for most musics (sorry, rap [at least saleswise]). To echo a large cross-section of my readings, music steez is hitting on many cylinders this year. We're closing in on the halfway mark and already enough heat has been brought that global warming is threatening to become something more than just a total myth. Folks' collections are so burgeoning that they don't even have time to pore over the liner notes, effectively putting all that remedial reading tutelage to waste. It even seems that on some level the peoples are starting to call out mediocrity-peddling-via-blog-hype type outlets in perhaps as constructive a way as could be more or less hoped for, though perhaps I've just put on higher-angled blinders or that's just some kinda retaliatory meme in and of itself. I'll save that for another dark day of typecraftery.

Anyways, amongst the things that have somehow managed to excite me outta my gourd is the promised continuation of Arthur mag. Yeah, I know plenny of people who were all but bored outta their skullbits by the last few issues; I didn't even bother to check 'em myself. But I'd be an even bigger choad to not fully admit that Arthur played a huge part in blowin' up my mind a mere four or so years ago. Sure, not every issue was a total knockout, but fuck it was more consistent then this here digisquat and yer reading this aren'tcha? The Babcock man has made some remarks as of late insinuating to those of us outta-the-general-loop that the new control structure may allow for some rejuvinated hijinx and quote-unquote name naming. This would be great for those of us generally separated from true, "on-the-street" zine-culture and in constant thirst for scene-politico-gossip. It's kinda a glue that keeps the broad underbelly of our grand Weirdoworld (I'd have to say Plastic Crimewave in the Kevin Costner role and maybe Paul Flaherty as the odd moleman in the oil tanker, but I'm flexible on this as these choices were made completely arbitrarily) stuck together, allowing a revitalizing huff of fume to those of us stranded far from "the arteries". Lifeblood!

Actual tune-wise I'm going to try and bring up a few sides I haven't seen mentioned much, though there's a great many choice cuts deserving of mention that this necessarily omits. Dig 'em up elsewheres; that sidebar clutch of links isn't there 'cause I ignore those fine scribes.

First up, the Siltbreeze renaissance is truly a glorious thing for those of us too busy sagging our Foundation Super Co bigshorts in 95 to know "whassup". Much has been said here and elsewhere of Pink Reason, Times New Viking, er, GBV... y'know, Lax does good. I haven't seen large chunks spewed re: Sapat's newish (so far as I know) album Mortise and Tenon. Well, I like it and want to say so. These Louisville huggers share members (huh) w/ the likes of Valley of Ashes, Virgin Eye Blood Brothers, etc... and there's certainly some longform percussive roachburners that harken back to the schtuff I've heard by them fine shadowdwellers. Here these are mixed with a grabbag of stuff that makes at least some of use think of maybe spytheme biker-rock, stargazing cudgel-tosses, twang-drive sax mope... often in the same track! Makes me think of those glorious moments of revelation had once in a blue moon within the confines of gravel parking lots.

Next up, Ruth White's Seven Trumps From the Tarot Cards has the distinction of being the first Creel Pone I've had the pleasure of manhandling. Why I waited so long to nuzzle this label can only be explained by the fact that I'm an idiot. This lil' doozy, containing a work consisting of 6 tracks representative of the mystical symbolism of the tarot deck and a clutch more from a commissioned work titled Pinions. Scads of knob twiddle ranging from electro-forest mushroom-pixel waltzes to pink clouds gauzing over harpsi chord strikes to moments of sheer melancholic beauty that I just wasn't ready for. If you get your hands on this, be advised that the liner notes are copied in a larger, legible manner here. One of those labels that now stares me down, wishing to reserve a full section of my stacks for its own purposes. Damn.

Lastly, I'd like to touch base on a couple 12s that have been gang-raping my pitiful home "system" as of late. First up is the Scuba - Braille Driving/Martsman - Step Up (Berlin) snazbot on the mixed-couples Hotshore label. Scuba, for his part, keeps things creeping just below the suface with a surfeit of pongs, swoosh, and one hell of a gnarly set of distorted bass-stabs. The beat keeps from getting too flashy but maintains that knock. Martsman kicks things off with a foggy crouch and the ghost of a TI-85 before suggesting via some filtered phantom snares that you stroll a bit faster... shit, too late. There's the bass. Snagged? Yussr. Fine, pummel away all you like... then a bit of a break and the damn TI asks if you've had quite enough. No? Here, smell my finger... I mean these flowers... makes me wanna shout "JOHNNY CAGE".

Next up is Disrupt bringing things fully back ganjawards with Tubby ROM Module/Foundation Bit selections on the Werk label. Surriously, the headspace that both these sides bring to the table melts me shoulders down every time. Puff, indeed. The horn skank leering, the riddim on both side just doin' it's masseuse thang, the oh-so-subtle synth bits... I fuckin' love this. Total salve.

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My last post contained just a bit of a fib: I didn't post up my last set of the semester. To make things right, here's that rolla. Another dubstep-heavy beatpie.

Insufferable Picks 04/27/07 (Sendspace lynx)
  • Random Trio (Cyrus) - Indian Stomp - Random Trio EP
  • Quiet Village - Can't Be Beat - Whatever We Want
  • Digital Mystikz - Misty Winter
  • T++ - Space Pong // Philus - B1 (pH EP)
  • Kromestar and Walsh - Panik Room
  • ???/Max Romeo - One Step Forward (Edit)
  • Loefah - Rufage
  • Loefah - Disko Rekah
  • Todd Terje - Eurodans

Friday, May 11, 2007

Assholes Without Clout: Quincy duz Paris


Irresponsible, irrepresible, and full of that ol' panache, I neglected to inform you that I was gonna be abroad for a week. I can tell by my jealously watched and obsessively inflated stats page that you fine folk (both of ya!) were consistently slathering at the bit for fresh content. Not quite sure if this is gonna sate the need since I've been pretty much detached from sonics and the other assorted bullshit that usually finds its way onto this veritable Outlet of Disapointment; awash in a babble I cannot comprehend and exposed to nothing but fibrous hi-cultural type vistas I would be lying if I spoke of anything but Air India's superior beverage service or the Parisian's rigorous appreciation of exact change.

That said, now I'm flat broke and all cultured out. So consider this post the harbinger of a deluge of boredom. Join me as I lurk out the rest of the month in squalor. I won't have any new audio links for two weeks or so, until WSUM's summer schedule kicks in. But then... oh, then. The fools gave me two full hours a week, so I'll certainly be getting closer and closer to cursing on the air as I try desperately to fill up my alloted timeslot. Until that starts, tho'... expect more, I dunno, reviews and sun-baked hysteria straight from my dust-caked brow. Promise + threat.