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...