The Breeders: Fate to Fatal

The Breeders have a new EP coming out on Tuesday entitled "Fate to Fatal," about which I am feeling pretty happy. They're releasing with recognition to Record Store Day, which quite possibly is my new favorite holiday. With Mountain Battles out just last year, it's good to see another release from the Deals, who are wonderful. And hopefully, a tour, so I can see them again. The "Fate to Fatal" video is up now, and it's a really cool song. It's just... cool. So keen sounding. Here, have a listen:



And don't forget about Breeders Digest.

Andrew Bird at the State Theatre

Saturday the eleventh of April, my mum and I watched Andrew Bird play his lovely violin at the (historic) State Theatre in Minneapolis. We've both seen him before, but this time was really smashing.
His buddy artist Haley Bonar opened up for him, and although I can't say I'm a huge fan of her style of music, she's got a beautiful voice and represents Minneapolis well. She made another appearance later in the night, but I'll get to that in a moment.

So, our dear Andrew came out playing his violin and removing his shoes. He moves his stockinged feet and sways those hips just to make us swoon, I think. He played lovely pieces on his violin, and after awhile the rest of his band came out to join him. They played a lot from Noble Beast, including the wonderful 'Masterswarm,' 'Effigy' (which he explained was about that guy who sits at the end of the bar, sketching weird things in his notebook), and a jazzed-up version of 'Fitz and Dizzyspells.' And a bit later, 'Armchairs.' (Oh, wow). Time's a crooked bone, indeed. Of course he did the regulars, 'Dr. Stringz,' and 'Nervous tic motion,' during which he sporadically threw his head to the left. And later, he recruited Ms. Bonar to sing with him on 'Scythian Empires,' which was quite beautiful. They finished with 'Fake Palindromes,' which was a final burst of energy, to say the least, but he wasn't quite finished. He came out and did an encore, which included 'Table and Chairs' and another one in which he spoke along the words while playing his violin, as if it is a part of him. He painted pictures with his arms and hands, with all these flowery gestures that we never got to see at Rock the Garden. He belongs onstage in the theatre, I think. After that, he left the stage, only to come back for a second encore. Nice.

Dreadfully, all the photos I took are blurry enough to cause seizures, so I'll sample one of the better ones here:

[I know, it's pretty bad.]

The Music Tapes.

On February the 24th, I enjoyed myself thoroughly at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis watching the Music Tapes. Go see them. Do it. You won't regret it. I promise.
Of course, we can't forget that our beloved Brian Dewan and Nana Grizol were opening for Julian and friends.
So, I talked it up with a friendly kid who was into Elephant 6 a lot, like myself, and we waited and observed. Everyone was bouncing about the place, setting up, and there was a perpetual line for the toilet, but that's besides the point.
Brian Dewan began his wonderfully strange set on one of his swanky machines. He sang delightful songs of Charlie who lives at the hardware store, mechanical arms, and cadavers. And, a nice little cover of a rap tune about Pres. Obama. He manned the accordian and autoharp while slamming back a beer, and the wonderful Laura Carter played the melody box- thing on his final song.
I didn't know much about them beforehand, but I learned that night that Nana Grizol is cool. Some bands have that. They're just cool. Nana Grizol is cool. So, they played some energized songs for us, and Theo (handsome) told us a joke about a panda who went to a restaurant and "eats, shoots, and leaves." Oh ho, Theo, you're clever. Their set passed fairly quickly, and before I realized, they were leaving the stage.
We then watched a short colored film strip by Mr. Dewan called The Age of Innovation (I think). It was partly humorous, but also partly thought provoking. I think that Mr. Dewan is probably quite brilliant, wouldn't you agree?

And then, there were the Music Tapes. Julian and everyone were just... great. They played a bunch of Music Tapes songs new and old, and Julian told amusing anecdotes throughout. Static made his appearance during "a Ukrainian folk song that encourages singing televisions to sing," and our portly old Metronome kept some steady beats. Julian happily stummed his banjo and bowed his reliable saw, playing us music to make you happy. There was something euphoric about it all. His closed-eyes vocals were ethereal... and it put me in another world. Just brilliant.
After a while, Julian came down onto the floor and sat on a euphonium case, as we planted it around him. Like a campfire, almost. There, he coaxed his saw Badger to sing us The First Noel, and mentioned how Badger's grandparents were there that night. Then he told us about the game. Which I think I should keep secret, to preserve the mystery. But I will say that it involved fire and bells. Anyway, after the game Julian said that they were going to play "a song we don't know very well... called 'C'... oh no it's called 'C#.'" And so they played their 'C#' beautifully, ended the night with the epic song. Afterwards, I talked with Julian briefly, getting a photograph and hugging his sweaty frame good night. He's an absolutely amazing person, and honestly, this might have been my favorite show yet. Go to a Music Tapes concert sometime. It will change your life.

For Your Reading Pleasure

My grandparents just returned from vacationing in Israel a few weeks ago, (a gutsy move right now, wouldn't you say?) and brought back for me a souvenir Israeli newspaper, plus a German one from their Frankfurt layover stop.
Anyway, here are some samples:

Of course, I'm sad to say that I don't know a lick of either language, but I get this child-like fascination with things I don't see everyday. That probably sounds a tad geekish. Ah well, I can still look at the pictures.

Lefty.

I have supported the new President of the U.S. Barack Obama for some time now. Since I started following the campaign I liked his plans and ideas, his beliefs, that charisma, and in all vanity I have to admit, he's pretty handsome as far as a president goes. You cannot deny that much. But just this week while watching him in action on the telly, I learned something new and exciting about the Pres. Something that only about 15% of the population can say they are (source).
Yes, President Obama is indeed left-handed. A Zurdo, if you know Español. Since I myself am a Zurda, I feel a special connection to other lefties. It's stupid, I know, and we have had other left-handed presidents, but I still maintain that we lefties are an interesting sort. We can understand one another when we complain about the sides of our hands getting all dirtied with pencil from having to run them over all the words we just wrote. Anyway. I just thought I'd mention it.
You know, it sort of made my day.

Simple X

I found this old school bell in a desolate corner of my high school a bit ago. Not only does it conjure nostalgia for me, it also bears the name of a dandy song by Dosh and/or Andrew Bird, so it caught my eye. I'm not sure if I should say it is by Dosh or Andrew Bird though. I know Martin Dosh wrote the original song, but that's called 'Simple Exercises,' whereas the one with Andrew's voice and lyrics is actually called 'Simple X.'

Either way, what I'm not so smoothly trying to segue into is the news that the mum and I are going to see Mr. Bird again in April! Cannot wait. I can't give my opinion on his latest Noble Beast (mostly because I haven't gotten to the record store to buy it), but I'm sure it's brilliant, like most everything he's done. I liked the singles that I've heard, so here's to hoping the rest of the CD is good too.
And for what my little praising and recommendation is worth, go visit both artists on their websites:
Dosh. and Andrew Bird.

Of the Lost and Found

I found this handsome bass in my basement last night for the first time. How long have we had this? Years, apparently. Oi! I had no idea. It's really quite lovely, and I hope I'll have time to play it up soon.

It's been a while since I was last here. I will try to come back more, although I know I'm writing essentially to myself. But I've been known to do that anyway. I like it. Now it's just electronic, too. But I haven't forsaken my old ways, oh no.

Well, to end on a sour note, my great uncle Butch has died. He's gone to sleep in my memory, and now his back and hip doesn't have that itch. Many found him to be aloof, which he was, but if you did get to talk to him, it was nothing but a pleasure. I enjoyed his company, myself. He was the only person I have known who could pet those chipmunks.

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...