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...