There Are Some Magazines

yes, some magazines still exist in their real, hold-able, page flippable editions, printed on paper!

there's a great one that we've had a couple issues of lying around the office here which i finally picked up when i noticed HR of the Bad Brains on the cover, it's called waxpoetics and it covers all kinds of music in what it calls "the African American musical tradition." great stories about obscure records which will make you want to hunt them down, plus in depth interviews / features as well. good stuff!

This Is Happening UPDATE

here at the office everyone's just trying to get a little work done leading up to the big XX Merge festival coming up...well apparently we are all just a little uptight and needed some sweet tunes to lighten our load! so two ladies took it upon themselves to park their Jetta (i know it's a Jetta because there are giant ROCK THE JETTA logos all over it, along with pictures of one of the ladies) outside our office, set up a small PA (not small enough) and serenade the denizens of downtown Durham with some serious sub-Lilith Faire fare. i can't tell if they're advertising the singer lady or the car or the laptop the other woman is holding.

UPDATE ok so of course this was not accidental (that she was on our sidewalk) -- Karla Davis is trying to get signed! and apparently headed for Yep Roc after this. it's funny that people take the time and effort to go on sidewalk promotional tours but don't take 2 minutes to look at a record label's catalog or website before commencing the serenading.

You Should Be Dancing Yeah

it's summer in Durham which means the American Dance Festival is in town. it's a bit like Full Frame Film Festival in that there are a ton of great things happening and i rarely get to any of them, but we try. good article in the Times yesterday about choreographers at ADF this year exploring the meeting points of modern dance and ballet. Unfortunately Mark Morris' company is appearing on the same nights at XX Merge so we won't make it to that.

All kinds of dance will cross paths with Merge music at the Merge With Motion event July 18th at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. Choreographers have created special pieces to accompany Merge music and will perform them to the recorded versions of songs by artists like Destroyer and Caribou, and there will be two works to accompany a live performance by the Rosebuds. Should be a great night! And a good warmup for the events to follow that week...TICKETS HERE

Happy 4th!

predicting the soundtrack to an excellent 4th of July here in NC:

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil
Prince - 1999
Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali
Wilco - Wilco (The Album)
REM - Reckoning
The new Clean album (Mister Pop)
Smart's Palace (Numero Group)
Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Beg, Scream & Shout Box o' 60's Soul (Rhino)
(check this amazing clip of William Bell singing "You Don't Miss Your Water")
New Order - Technique
Jackie Mittoo - Keyboard King at Studio One

and in a nice bit of news to take to the weekend, the HELP committee has produced a health care bill containing the public option, at a lower cost than the CBO had predicted, and even our NC holdout Sen. Kay Hagan has signed onto it! the bill has some weaknesses, but it's a great start.

have a good one, everybody!

Music Sounds Good

when you listen to it:

Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker
Sparks - Angst In My Pants
Archie Shepp - Steam
Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship
Wilco - Wilco, the Album

Betraying the Planet

The Kroog has a great Op-ed in today's Times, it's a point so obvious that you wouldn't think that someone would actually have to say it: how can you look at a plan to save the planet and decide that it's "too expensive"?

Listening:

Nicky Siano's legendary The Gallery - Original NY Disco 1973-77
The Futureheads - This Is Not the World (an awesome album so slept-on it's not funny)
Parliament - Gold

Ouch, We're Losing A Theater

Wow, went to look at movie times for this weekend on the off chance we could get to one, and read that the owners of the historic Varsity Theater in downtown Chapel Hill went dark after last night's shows and closing its doors. Very sad! I mean, it was not perfect -- uncomfortable seats, films starting without sound occasionally, generally shabby feel, but still, it was an old theater in the middle of town and i saw tons of great movies there...in recent years the "Hollywood" quotient has been higher than in the past, but in the 80's it was the only art house theater in town, a high school weekend ritual...i definitely sat through multiple viewings of fine films like "Stranger Than Paradise," "Liquid Sky," "Betty Blue," "The Thief, The Cook, His Wife and Her Lover," and much of the David Lynch oeuvre at the Varsity. So many more through the 90's and was there more recently to see "Slumdog Millionaire," "Milk" and something i can't remember...there are other options in Chapel Hill, but the screens are smaller and the vibe slightly...antiseptic? Tough times. The Indy has the story.

Icons of Our Youth

Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both passed away on the same day yesterday, both icons of my youth and both sad at the end in different ways. Farrah was publicly sick for a long time, so that was sad but not sudden. But hearing about Michael Jackson, though i certainly wouldn't have described him as "healthy," was more shocking news than i would have anticipated, more affecting. With Farrah, i was a boy in the 70's, of course i had "The Poster," alongside a more democratic poster of all 3 Charlie's Angels (original lineup only for me). And with Michael i really thought of him as a cartoon for a long time since i would watch the Jackson 5 cartoon on saturday mornings. Post-J5 it's incredible to think about the impact he had on pop music then and into the future, basically with just 2 albums -- Off The Wall, the best, and Thriller, the best-selling. Quincy Jones' production on both is visionary in itself, and coupled with Michael's bizarre energy and delivery and voice..."Rock With You" was certainly a soundtrack to my 10- year-old summer, and though by the time Thriller came out i was really just into rock and metal, i was still riveted by the videos and the "Billie Jean" performance on the Motown TV special. But already, though this was pre-skin bleaching and all the craziness, he seemed like he was from space or something. The art he was making was compelling but i never felt a personal connection to the human being, which is why it's still hard to understand the global reach of Michael Jackson as a phenomenon that filled stadiums (years after he'd become a reverse-shadow of himself) and is now bringing crowds of people into the streets weeping. All that can't be about the dancing and the glove and the hits, so what is it about? I don't claim to get it. I do know that with Farrah and Michael both, though they occupied some sort of pop culture place for me as a kid, and i would never turn the dial on "I Want You Back" and a bunch of other songs, i lost track and didn't think much about either after the early 80's. But when i did i had a vague feeling that i wished that both would turn themselves around, stop embarrassing themselves, return to civilization, return to earth basically; i was rooting for them to be what i thought they were when i was 10.

Viny Vinyl Vinyl

at age 21 months our son is almost old enough to know to stay away from the turntable when there's a record playing...we did sacrifice one stylus along the way to this realization, but still, the records have been coming out more and more and that's a good thing. it also means i've been buying more vinyl than cds recently, which is also exciting...

The Field - Yesterday and Today (Kompakt) this is a double LP in a heavy gatefold sleeve, which also comes with the CD thrown in for good measure, but i find that listening to a side at a time rather than the full hour or whatever it is, is how i enjoy this record most. super pretty and light and completely electronic but still warm. like a New Order vibe without the pop songs. I'm especially enjoying "The More That I Do" which reminds me of the Cocteau Twins...in fact the vocal sample could be Liz Frazier for all i know. Funny interview here from 2007 with Mr. Willner, who reveals his surprising desire to sing like Glenn Danzig.

Open Strings 4-LP Box (Honest Jon's) subtitled "Early Virtuoso Recordings from the Middle East, And New Responses" this is a beautiful black and white package...the early recordings, from the 1920's Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey and transferred from 78's, are so amazing, i haven't even gotten around to the responses yet (by the likes of Richard Bishop and Bruce Licher). I wish there was more information about the original artists, but maybe the information doesn't exist?

Wee - You Can Fly On My Aeroplane (Numero Group Asterisk) someone involved in Ohio's Capsoul label (already lovingly documented by the Numero Group) had this project for one album, and it's a good one, smooth kinda spacey soul from 197osomething. Double album and the incredible cover art makes me wish had the money/space to double up on ALL the Numero stuff i already have on CD....

The Other Carolina UPDATE!

Governor of South Carolina taking the whole GOP "less government is better" thing further than usual.

UPDATE! Gov Sanford has been located! Jeez people, he was just hiking the Appalachian Trail as his staff was saying the whole time, why is everyone freaking out!? The trail is much longer than i realized!

UPDATED further: one painful press conference later, and the Argentinian cat is out of the bag completely. Josh Marshall has a recap of the recent sex scandal craze gripping the GOP....

It's Summer Alright

gonna be 100 degrees here this weekend...the summer is here.

Friday rocking:

Sonic Youth - the Eternal
V/A - Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies from the Canyon
Bill Evans Trio - Moon Beams
Wechsel Garland - s/t
Wye Oak - The Knot
Anthony Braxton Quartet - (Dortmund) 1976
X - Los Angeles

before you leave the office today call your Senators and tell them that any meaningful healthcare reform must include a public option! and have a great weekend.

The RIAA Continues to Woo the Music-Loving Public

Gonna be awhile before Jammie Thomas-Rasset can afford to actually pay for music she'd like to hear, as she now owes the RIAA nearly $2 Million for illegally downloading 24 songs on Kazaa.
Uh, I am a musician and have a record label, so yeah there are people out there stealing from me all the time, but i don't think this is the way to remedy that situation.

Wednesday Listening

The Aislers Set - How I Learned to Write Backwards
V/A - Yellow Pills (Numero Group)
Tied + Tickled Trio - Aelita
Von Sudenfed - Tromatic Reflexxions
The Love Language - s/t

Check In on Chris Knox

Update Chris Knox's situation: there is a blog run by family friend Roy Martyn where you can find out what he's been having in the hospital since the stroke (no beer yet apparently) and you can leave a message for Chris and his family.

check it out:

Chris Knox

also nice post by Jay Reatard on his blog regarding his love for Chris's music...looking forward to that planned collaboration he mentions...

Why Cave?

with the GOP at it's weakest point in decades, why on earth the Dems would cave on anything, but particularly a Public Option for healthcare in this country, i simply can't fathom.

Obama stood up for the idea yesterday to the AMA, but my fear is that a speech like that is that so later the White House can say "Hey, we tried!" as they sign a watered down healthcare restructuring that lacks any of the bold strokes we need on the issue.

Not Given Lightly

Everyone send all your best thoughts and love down to Chris Knox and his family -- sad news out of NZ this weekend that Chris has had a stroke and remains in the hospital. hard to say what "the latest" is, but reports like this one say that Chris still can't speak (not unusual after a stroke and can be remedied through therapy) but worse, may not walk again. hopefully this is a worse-case scenario and that as his recovery progresses (he had surgery Friday night) Chris will outstrip the predictions of the docs.

I didn't learn about Chris' early band The Enemy until later, but the Toy Love reissue came out when i was in college, and i simultaneously got the Tall Dwarfs' "Nothing's Going to Happen" and the "Slugbucket" EP and it was all so unhinged compared to the other Flying Nun stuff i loved, beautiful in a different way, Chris (and Alec in the Dwarfs) really created his own world. His solo albums were as good or even better. Superchunk had the good fortune to tour with Chris doing his solo set here in the US and it was amazing watching him gather a crowd of rock fans waiting for Superchunk into the palm of his hand with great songs and humor and flip flops and a headset mic. He's a true musical hero of mine and i look forward to Chris' post-recovery music!

Have A Great Weekend

Kurt Vile - Constant Hitmaker
Micachu + the Shapes - Jewellery
Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue (playing Chapel Hill this evening, in fact)
Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Air - Air Mail
Television - Marquee Moon
Kingsbury Manx - Ascenseur Ouvert!

Iran Votes

my knowledge of Iran is thin, limited to my memories of the hostage crisis as it played out on TV and in the papers, Marjane Satrapi's books, and some great Iranian films i've seen, but this election today seems like a really exciting time in Iranian politics (even though the President isn't the most powerful person in the country there)...but am i wrong in thinking that if this thing is at all close, Ahmadinejad is going to just go around reality and declare himself the winner? and of course the bigger question is, if he loses whether today or in a runoff, does anything really change there?
awesome photo courtesy Huffington Post coverage of the election.