Hi.

It seems as though I've neglected this space for a while, haven't I? Ah well.

It has been quite mundane for me lately, and I must say, I kind of prefer it that way. I've been staying awake long into the night, shuffling around in the basement doing things like crosswords (which I recently learned are crucigramas en español), drawing, wrapping, playing the guitar and taking photos. (And sitting at the dryer while doing many of these). I've been enjoying myself, yes. Not much else though.

My feet are cold... I think I'm going to go for now. But I will be back!

A Dinosaur and an Old Radio

Man, that dino's swanky.

Pumpkolantern

This is my pumpkin for this year. How nice!

Jeff Mangum and Julian Koster-- 'Engine'

'Engine.'
Here it is. With the recent Elephant 6 Surprise Holiday Tour begun some week ago, it has become common knowledge amongst us Elephant 6 groupies that our hero Mr. Jeff Mangum of the late band Neutral Milk Hotel has been playing in these shows with his friends' bands. And all of us were euphoric to see him playing with his mates again. But we all had a thought in the back of our minds, well, will those crazy E6'rs do any NMH stuff? And here it is. A poor quality bootleg of Jeff and Julian performing 'Engine,' the beautiful B-side to NMH's single 'Holland 1945.' Jeff's crooning and Julian's haunting saw make me shiver. I can't even say how happy this makes me. I guess when you really look at it, I'm just a lame fangirl that got into this band too late, but I'm so ecstatic. Dreadfully, I'm not able to make it to any of the shows, but that's all right. Oh wow, Jeff Mangum and friends are out again. Holy Crap.
Anevengreatervideoofthissongfromyouaintnopicasso...Merci to E6Townhall and Pitchfork for following this so closely, and all the photos and videos. The photo is by Josh Modell and can be seen Here. Oh, and of course youaintnopicasso.com.

An Orange Door

Beck + MGMT

Last night, I accompanied my mum to a concert to see her idol, Mr. Beck Hansen.
We were lucky enough to get right up to the fence in front of the stage, and had a perfect view of everything. The now-popular band MGMT were opening, and having seen them open a show before, I knew we wouldn't be disappointed.
MGMT began their set with 'Electric Feel,' keeping it going without many breaks between songs. 'Kids,' was probably the best, with that great song embellished with a trippy strobe light effect. My statement I made last year after seeing them open for of Montreal still holds true-- they're the best opening band EVER.
And then there was Beck. He was dressed quite dapper, as usual, and being quite the cutie. They opened with a rocking and high energy performance of 'Loser' that got the night going full force. They played stuff from all over his career, including newer ones like a beautiful live show of 'Chemtrails,' and 'Nausea,' as well as our favorite classics 'Where It's At,' and 'Devil's Haircut' (a personal favorite). And all those other great ones like 'Lost Cause', 'I Think I'm in Love,' and their counterparts, of course. The set was a really great and long one for a set these days, and the encore was four good songs, starting with a birthday song to Scottie the drummer, and including the new-ish 'Gamma Ray.' 'Tis safe to say nobody left disappointed.
Anyway, in the end, Beck is bloody amazing, and if you ever get the chance, do go to see him!
I don't even know where I found the photo...

916

So, it's 916. The significance? Well,

my favorite band of ever, the pillows, formed on this very day in 1989. So, today is their nineteenth anniversary, and for us fans, it's a tradition of sorts to recognize this day every year. So it leads me to wonder: what has the future in store for our beloved Sawao, Yoshiaki, Shin, and Jun? They're showing no signs of slowing, so I guess we'll have to wait and see, yes?

Band photo found on the 2005 SXSW site.

Quirkiness

I've been thinking about how wonderful people's strange little quirks are. Life would be terribly boring if nobody had an odd little habit they do regularly.
The other day, I was sitting at a bench at the mall, when I spotted a young-ish man, he couldn't have been older than 25, in a burgundy tee shirt, walking and singing loudly to himself. He strolled by singing some lovely song, and disappeared into the book store. At first, I thought, why, that's odd, because I don't generally see people singing to themselves when they are walking alone. But a few seconds later, after he was gone, I wished I would have stopped him, and at least asked, what song are you singing?
I really liked this fellow-- because he has a wonderful idiosyncrasy of singing aloud. These quirks are great. I love to see all the little eccentricities of the world come out.

Spilled Milk

Scooters

Here are some scooters I have found parked on various streets. I really like the mod little transports, and you don't see them around very often anymore, so whenever I spot one I take a photo.

This is a pale blue Vespa ca. 1964. Ace, no?















This is a cute yellow Stella I found parked in Minneapolis. It has a little reference to a television series featuring the music of the pillows, so it stuck out to me.

Factory CD

I recently was on Ebay, and I stumbled across the coveted Factory CD from Japan. Released in 2000, it's basically just a silly compilation of different songs from different bands. It includes, however, a song that pleases me very much by a favorite band of mine, Noodles. It's called ヘッドフォンオーケストラ (Headphone Orchestra), and it's an absolutely wonderful guitar pop song. ヘッドフォンオーケストラ was only released on the aforementioned compilation, so I was pretty happy in finding this. I purchased it new for a mere $14 from Taiwan (no, not a bootleg), from a Mr. William Cheng (check his store out), and it arrived in the post a few days ago. You can check out a live of the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpqcwi0gLLQ

Happy Birthday, Nelson!

Ah yes, so today is our beloved Madiba Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday. 90 years young, he is. Cliché, yes, but oh, it's true. I think Mr. Mandela needs a little more recognition with the younger generation, and the world in general. We musn't forget about the man with the white hair. You're a hero-- Madiba, I salute you!

Glasses

I got some new glasses today, I absolutely love them. Walking bespectacled is so amazing to me-- I can see again! How novel!

Rock the Garden

Last Saturday, June the 21st, my dear friend Emma and I rocked the garden.
89.3 the Current along with the Walker Art Center were hosting an outdoor concert in their Sculpture Garden with a great line up of Eau Claire's Bon Iver, Minneapolis band Cloud Cult, Canada natives the New Pornographers, and Chicagoan violinist (and a personal favorite of mine,) Andrew Bird.

Bon Iver opened, and performed flawlessly. I worked my way up about 10 feet from the stage for Cloud Cult, another favorite of mine. They were absolutely wonderful and Craig really rocked out. They performed some of my favorite songs like 'Take your Medicine,' and 'Pretty Voice,' to which I sang along quite loudly. The New Pornographers were very polished, albeit bland in my opinion, (plus the sun was in my eyes) and ended their set with an Electric Light Orchestra cover. By then, I was three feet from the fence. Then finally Andrew Bird came on with Dosh and the guitarist whose name escapes me.

My HEROES!

I don't even remember what song he opened with, or what song he played second, or third for that matter, but every song was great. At some point, I asked him to marry me, but, he decided to ignore me. He did his lovely live rendition of 'Fiery Crash,' and I rocked out. He did a lot of stuff from Armchair Apocrypha, but a lot of older tunes as well. We pogoed to 'A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left,' and belted out the chorus of 'Plasticities.' 'Plasticities' was played right after a slight weather delay, if I remember correctly, and everyone sang along with no inhibitions whatsoever. 'Twas really a beautiful scene, Andrew and friends framed by the stage with the grey sky behind spitting out chain lightning. He played upon all of the audience's crushes and moved his little slight hips around very suggestively, all while jumping from guitar to violin. His sound was beautiful, just like his face. He finished up the set playing various songs like the Dosh-written 'Simple X' and 'Tables and Chairs' (which he requested we sing the violin part-- that sounded wonderful). He topped this day off by doing a wonderful solo encore with only his violin. I have to say, long live the Bird!
And then, it was done. All done. But much worth it. My feet won't ever be the same (stood in three inch heels for six hours, squatting down for six minutes once,) but I'd say that seeing four tremendous bands all in the same place was well, well worth it.
Andrew Bird photo from Mosaic Music.

The Breeders at First Ave.

So, last Friday, my mum surprised me with the news that we could attend the Breeders show at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Some eighteen years later, and we get to see one of my hero bands live. Needless to say, I was pretty ecstatic.

So we endured a lame opening band, and when those crazy Breeders finally came out, we kind of erupted. Kim and Kelley were pretty laid back, and they have such a charisma, we all were taken by their aura. They opened the set with a cover (not sure of what, however), and played a variety of songs from all over their career, including the Amps' 'Pacer,' and classics like 'Iris,' 'Fortunately Gone,' Beatles cover 'Happiness is a Warm Gun,' and 'Safari,' as well as brand new tunes like 'We're Gonna Rise,' and 'Walk it Off.' They talked about Dayton, and made fun of Mando, switched instruments and made everyone want to rock out. The Deal sisters are absolutely wonderful, silly musicians. I fell in even deeper love with them after seeing them live. I'm curious what the future has in store for them... eighteen years, numerous member changes, and they're still rocking.

This is my ode to you, Deal sisters! ¡Viva los Breeders!

Do You Hear That?

Yep, I made that little boss music player down there on the screen. It hasn't much songs on it yet, but it will. I was pleased to find the song "My Dreamgirl Don't Exist" from the Jeff Mangum Live at Aquarius Records Bootleg. And little Smiths Britpop... we all need a healthy dose of that each day. Boss, no?

Boss.

Art Show at the High School

The High School Art Show is tonight, and from what I've seen, it probably will be pretty amusing. My Birkmose Park painting (no photo, sorry) is hanging up in the antechamber, and it's neato to see all the pictures students have created.
My cousin Kristine has a purple painting of a dancer that is absolutely amazing hanging in the hallway, and I stopped to look at it earlier today, and was a tad confused by the title.
Later, at lunch her friend Gunnar informed her that her painting was entitled Cholera. I corroborated with him, and Kristine wasn't all too happy to hear that. As it turns out, Kristine had asked her friend Jessie to print out a label for her, and Jessie thought it would be funny to rename the piece Cholera. I must say, it was pretty hilarious when I saw it.
And that, friends, is the story of Cholera, the painting.

The Breeders: Mountain Battles

The Breeders' long-awaited new album has been out for over a month now, so I suppose I ought to write something with regards to it.
The packaging of the CD is beautiful and artsy, so one's anticipation for the actual music inside rises as you peel off the celophane.
The album opens with 'Overglazed,' a short anthemic tune to sing along with. The single 'We're Gonna Rise' is the highlight track four, and debatedly the best and most nostalgic song on the record. It moves along until the final song, 'Mountain Battles,' a mellow, broken down weep & sleep.
The album was good, because it was by the Breeders, but in all honesty, a bit confusing. My biggest complaint over the whole thing is its non-cohesive-ness. Each song alone is good, but when you have 'Bang On,' 'German Studies,' 'We're Gonna Rise,' Eastern 'Istanbul,' Spanish ode 'Regalame Esta Noche,' Tasties cover 'It's The Love,' and 'Mountain Battles' juxtaposed next to one another, it makes for a choppy, many-part record. I think the Onion AV Club said it best... it's more like a collection of Kim b-sides. Nevertheless, it is the return of our favorite Kim Deal band, and the album is a keeper.

Take a listen to the single 'We're gonna rise':
http://www.zshare.net/audio/539566526ffc63/

the pillows: Pied Piper

My ever-prolific favorite band the pillows have a new album slated for release entitled "Pied Piper." They've been pumping out the singles like mad(and genre-jumping from pop to ska to grunge and back to indie, not to mention), and we've finally gotten confirmed word on the record! The track list is thus:

曲目リスト

1. PIED PIPER

2. New Animal

3. No Surrender

4. Last Holiday

5. Tokyo Zombie(The knock came at dead of night)

6. Across the metropolis

7. Purple Apple

8. Tokyo Bambi

9. Ladybird girl

10. That's a wonderful world (song for Hermit)

11. POISON ROCK’N’ROLL

Looks interesting, no? Strange how a B-side makes it on there, but Across the Metropolis is a wonderful song anyway. Hopefully this record will be a nice surprise... I'm not saying I didn't dig "Wake Up!^3"...I'm just saying.

Nelson Mandela's Upcoming Birthday

Whether you've heard already or not, my man Nelson Mandela will be turning 90 years old this July 18, 2008. For his party he's going to be having a big concert in London with various names from the music industry. I just checked out his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and I intend to begin reading it tonight. He really is a hero. My favorite African news website follows him pretty closely: http://www.news24.com/

P.S.How does this pertain to my blog, you ask? The book is art and Mr. Mandela is part of a culture.

Hey You!

So now that I am the proud parent of a blog, I'll get to share my musings with all the people of the interwebby. I've succumbed to the trend of talking to essentially nobody about things you've got going on, but I find it a tad interesting. I often find myself on someone's blog reading their thoughts, and realizing the vast number of humans out there. A bit mind boggling at times, yes, but neato compleato at others...