straight from the bedroom

www.die-monster.com

2007-05-08T19:04:05Z

I don't know if this is going to be my last posting on here or what, but I finally got off my ass and made a proper music blog. About fucking time, eh?

for those with glasses and/or impaired click ability:

WWW.DIE-MONSTER.COM

At this point, my friend Jared and I are the primary contributors, but if you're interested in doing 2-3 entries a week on interesting topics related to music, fuckin', and assplay, by all means hit me up.

I don't know what this has to do with anything...

seriously WEIRD baseball shit

2007-04-26T18:53:59Z

I'm not trying to fuel a conspiracy theory here, but it's pretty odd timing that Torii Hunter got beaned in the fucking FACE after getting formally investigated for sending four bottles of champagne to the Royals.

Gotta love baseball drama!

Seattle EMP Simon Reynolds business

2007-04-18T21:06:47Z

Snagged from Simon Reynolds' blog:

"Tomorrow I head off to Seattle for the EMP Pop conference which takes place this (long) weekend. On Friday afternoon I'm doing a talk entitled Just 4 U London: Place and Race in UK Dance Culture from Rave to Grime (actually it extends all the way up to dubstep.... gonna play some fun London themed records from the length and breadth of the nuum). I went to the first EMP in 2001 was it and this year's looks to be just as fantastic as that one. So many fascinating-looking talks and panels (often clashing with each other causing much anguish--most frustratingly the panel I'm on is the same time slot as the one with Stelfox & friend discussing chopped-and-screwed music/culture AND another panel which includes Matos talking about students with their Bob Marley posters, two of the talks I'd most wanted to witness*). So if you live in Seattle and read this blog and are somehow unaware of EMP (inconceivable, surely) do come along, I think the conference is actually free this year."

fucking sweet! I'm definitely going :)

kneejerk reaction #9483094830294823

2007-04-17T21:53:56Z

After reading about yesterday's Virginia Tech Massacre, I'm struck by how tragedies of this nature end up turning into a springboard for the gun control debate.

It's seriously fucking retarded because the argument has no chance for resolution. If laws were more lax, perhaps students would've had guns to combat the aggressor. But if laws were more strict, perhaps the shooter might have thought twice about obtaining weapons. Blah blah blah, whatever. It's all ridiculous political fingercuffing.

Events like this fall into a much greater, far more troubling trend than anything the gun control debate can muster. Like... how did this troubled kid slip through the cracks for so long? How could roommates, teachers, and school officials have had supposedly no inkling of the brutality Cho Seung-Hui was capable of? Dude was an english major for crying out loud. Didn't anyone ever really read his writing???

el coco - brazil

2007-04-07T04:15:32Z

I'm starting a reoccurring series of posts now that my ol' buddy Ryan is living in Minneapolis. I dunno what the name will be... maybe "LeTTeRZ 2 RyAN" or some shit... but the point is to share the stuff I've been listening to. Hopefully, he'll do the same *cough*, because I always discover great things from him, like To Live and Shave in LA.

The first selection is El Coco's "Brazil", which is one of the scariest, most mind-numbing disco albums I've ever heard.

dude is actually stabbing that women...

Opening with the tom-roll slasher "Caravan", it doesn't take a genius to conclude that El Coco is making deeply perverse music. Sure, the corny synth melodies and mellotron strings sound like Martini music for aging hipsters, but it's all just a front. There's a latent malice here; it's the sort of music you hack many, many bodies up to.

By far the most disgusting track on the album is "Disco Carnival". You can almost feel your mind being reprogrammed to kill without mercy underneath all the joyous organ jamming. When the main melody kicks in, think "speed junkie mother from the 50's trying in earnest to apply lipstick". IF you can make it to the end, be warned: the first time I finished listening to this song, all the doors in my house simultaneously SHUT. Was my home cleansed of evil forces? If only my dream catcher could speak...

Anyway, I believe "Brazil" is an important album if only because it makes sense of the 70s Nazi-eske "Disco Sucks" campaign. As it turns out, the rock kids were right. Disco was too functional. It's function was to kill.

she wants Provenge

2007-03-30T17:12:11Z

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a36ElFWF2VYo&refer=news

holy shit

2007-03-29T20:54:10Z

FDA Advisory Board says...

APPROVED.

ghosts of my life

2007-03-28T21:49:10Z

Simon Reynolds, K-Punk, and (soon) the rest of those blogger dudes are flipping out over the new Rufige Kru album "Malice in Wonderland", and I feel incredibly conflicted over it.

this cover is kind of awesome

I spent a great portion of 2000-2002 utterly depressed from reading Simon Reynold's constant drum'n'bass disses. To him, everything was wrong about the music--the drums, the bass, the soundscapes, fuck... everything. So I turned to the past to avoid reality, morphing my love for '93-era breakbeat hardcore into an outright obsession. It was stupid, too. I bet I spent thousands of dollars on dusty old records that sounded like complete shit just to quell this collector urge. I remember seeing Ghost World around that time, and completely relating to Steve Buscemi's absurd blues record fetish.

In the end, I gave up on all of it. It was too heartbreaking to realize this particular year in history had produced music that I thought was absolutely perfect. And it would never be repeated again.

Now, when I sit here reading about how Goldie and his new producer, Heist, are making shit that isn't straight up revivalism, but rather a "drawing of old powers", I can't help but be weary. This music is incredibly personal to me, and I'm sure, many others. To stick an album like this is the hype machine is irresponsible. That old 'sleeping with an ex' metaphor is especially apt in this case.

I mean, shit... did anyone ever really get over drum'n'bass?

Dendreon's Date with Destiny?

2007-03-08T18:17:26Z

I found a great piece about the company I work for, Dendreon, which might provide another reason why I've been such a fucking NUT on this journal lately. Check it out maaaaaan.

For the click-lazy, the article spells out the scary truth behind Dendreon's "one-trick pony" approach. Since all our chips have been put into the drug Provenge, if the FDA board says 'no' on March 29th, we're pretty much fucked. But if they say yes, our stock will skyrocket and things will get very, very insane.

All we can do is wait.

coachella '07

2007-02-07T22:58:37Z

how to make friends the old fashioned way: lying

2007-02-07T20:47:19Z

I've learned a little trick in Seattle, and I wonder if it holds true for other cities...

The trick is: do not ever, ever, ever tell ANYONE that you "just moved" to town. It's like talking about ringworm patches on a first date.

...not that i've ever done that.

Woebot + tings

2007-02-04T19:19:46Z

Another great posting from Woebot TV is online, this time featuring my new favorite music person, Juana Molina.

listening to this stuff makes me feel like my music taste is finally stepping out of 3rd grade.

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future

2007-02-01T18:02:49Z

In 2007, a series of ‘ardcore appropriators became the poster children for a nu-rave scene they didn’t create. They were promptly trained by the KLF’s infamous “Manual”, reared on cursory readings of Crowley and ancient Greek rhetoric, and re-dressed in the latest day-glo hoodies and tight-ass pants.

Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future

Prior to the release of their debut album “Myths of the Future”, the Klaxons were armed with nothing more than awkward theory dropping and an all-too-brief EP, surviving only by playing countless gigs with a five-song roster. But now, after escaping the stockades of the London underground, they’ve surfaced with an album (featuring eight new songs, a few of which are brilliant), laser-guided videos, and more press backing than Electroclash. They survive as soldiers of fortune. If you’re in need of hype, Oasis are too old and lame anyway, and the Artic Monkeys are just kinda boring, maybe you need… the Klaxons.

Panda Bear - Person Pitch

2007-01-31T18:26:42Z

Panda Bear – Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)

Taking in a wealth of influences, from Ariel Pink to Ghostbox to maybe even Burial, Animal Collective’s Panda Bear runs his third album through ghostly ooze, resurrecting dead eras of pop without ever settling on a concrete point of reference. Lazy people will claim “Person Pitch” sounds like a warped version of the Beach Boys, but the bittersweet / euphoric dynamic on “I’m Not” is more of a Beach Boys obituary than imitation. Any other comparisons go completely to shit on “Good Girl/Carrots”, as the song floats through disparate styles as one long, gooey dream sequence. “Bros” follows a similar trick, erasing any sense of temporality, continually twisting time and rhythm and melody on itself. Whether or not any of this fits into the Hauntology canon is beside the point—an album this undeniably imaginative, consistent, and immersive comes as a wonderful surprise and proof that maybe music isn’t as lost as it seems.

5 stars (out of...five stars)

NAMM ballyHOOOOO

2007-01-22T08:29:11Z

If Guitar Center is like the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, then the NAMM Show is like stepping into the second circle of hell. This is not hyperbole. It's an actual fact that logic and reason have been completely abandoned here--the wild-eyed frenzy of black leather-clad gear sluts is proof alone that capitalism is eroding away our very way of life.

How would you like your cheese? Shredded?

I just can't figure out how so many people can be so deluded. How many times can we re-replicate old guitars before we chock them up as products of their time? How does it take this much technology to make stomp pedals that sound... like they were made 40 years ago?

anyway. blah, I'm fucking crabby from this weekend. I should be thrilled though--after the NAMM show, I went to a shooting range with two of the members of the band KORN. They even gave me a copy of Guitar Hero 2. Of course, now I feel mildly indebted.

(p.s. KORN)

beyond next level

2007-01-11T21:40:19Z

If yall like music crit and ridiculous creativity, Woebot TV is seriously blowing everyone out of the water. I'm completely amazed at how great and ridiculous these video segments are. Watch with haste.

oh FUCK--it's the best of 2006!

2006-12-13T23:08:17Z

Ah yes, time once again for music critics and nerds alike to begin the fruitless task of assessing their taste over the last year. of course I'm preparing my lists like a proper dork right now, but I figured a little brainstorming was in order before I submitted them to the gods of street cred.

So, what was I listening to on a broad scale this year?

A lot of chicago house redux, for one. Earlier this year, I was obsessed with Tadd Mullinix's James T. Cotton and 2 AM/FM aliases. Unfortunately, dude isn't operating on the 'new track every month' release schedule, so it wasn't much to build a world view on.

best single of the year?

Dubstep finally went somewhere, and the contributions from Burial, Plastician, and Loefah kept me passively interested for most the year. That all went to shit after I made a mix for my Urb piece. I realized I actually do like the stuff quite a bit--a scary proposition since I don't know if I can go through another break-up like I had with drum'n'bass.

favorite album of the year, oh yes.

After falling in love with King Diamond all over again, I have to concede that this whole hipster black metal thing has really spiraled out of control. If you think your town has it bad, you haven't been to Seattle. It's like the whole city went out and bought AD&D Monstrous Compendiums one weekend. Girls with 20-sided die as necklaces? Come on. Where were you when I was reading Deckmaster magazine, dreaming of Mithril Chainmail, and writing up character sheets for my sentient swords? Fuck you.

Has: swampwalk, protection from white.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I'm curious if anyone has some other good "best of 06" suggestions??

my dubstep article is out

2006-11-30T22:52:45Z

Check out the December issue of Urb. I have a feature article in there on Dubstep called "Calling for Reinforcements". It has interviews and unusual tales from the likes of Burial, Jamie Vex'd, DJ Clever, Kode 9, and even Noodles from Groove Chronicles (for the old 2-steppers out there). BOH!

bad name, neu rave!

2006-11-22T18:26:08Z

If you ever read lifestyle magazines like i-D or WAD, you may be aware of the impending 'neu rave' explosion that is taking Europe by storm.

The whole thing is first and foremost a fashion movement, but the bands associated with it (such as Klaxons and Crystal Castles) seem to be on equal hype footing with most trendy music mags as well.

I haven't totally decided what I think about the whole thing quite yet, but I found a few videos that I believe will serve as the template for whatever happens next with this scene. i know these videos are incredibly obvious picks, but what i'm struck by is how RAVEY they sound in retrospect. Pianos, breakbeats, synth bass.... might as well be Sonz of a Loop da Loop era!

Marky Mark - Good Vibrations

Naughty by Nature - OPP

move over yung joc

2006-11-16T19:50:46Z

best rap album of 2006? by a substantial margin...

clipse - hell hath no fury

we make neet raps!

casual fascism

2006-11-01T23:31:40Z

wise words from GQ Style Guy / NYC "Punk" Icon, Glenn O'Brien:

Q: Were nice clothes substantially cheaper way back when? It seems like in every picture of the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, even derelicts are wearing ties and hats. Why not now? I must know.

A: I don’t think it had much to do with the price of clothes. It had to do with a sense of standards relating to being a gentleman. In many parts of Europe, you see hobos in jackets and ties, and believe me, they look considerably happier than our casually desperate. In my opinion, the casual movement has gone hand in hand with the restructuring of our society. The past ten years have seen the creation of a class of superrich, who own everything, while the middle class has eroded. But it’s all very invisible, because the superrich have traded in their frock coats and wing collars for jeans and sneakers. Bill Gates wears denim shirts; Steve Jobs wears jeans. It’s brilliant when you think about it: The next fascism won’t be Blackshirts in shiny jackboots; it’ll be “barbecue casual.”

buckin

2006-10-26T21:59:39Z

god damn. October is historically a cruel month, and this year is no different. No free time whatsoever, problemes de amor, bludclot artattacks, yada yada

sometimes I just wanna go out buckin...

Hopped up on Goofballs

2006-10-04T23:05:59Z

It's funny, cause I was just thinking how sweet it would be to have a 700 mile long fence between us and Mexico.

kill dem

2006-09-07T05:53:15Z

my neighbor downstairs just got stabbed in front of my new apartment. the place is absolutely swarming with cops.

note to self: don't tell mom about this

update: the newspaper reports the stabbage. Ryan missed witnessing the incident by about 15 mins, apparently.

lonely cowboy seeking SF for sfdmfk

2006-08-25T17:20:59Z

And all too quickly, Old Man Will began his journey to the east, Brooklyn-bound.

happy trails, friend

After mumbled words and a hard slap embrace, I finally saw in my friend's eyes a readiness to crack the ancient mysteries of New York life, saddled with nothing more than a few odd possessions and a Big Idea.

With him, I slipped a small sheet of weathered paper which simply read "Avoid the Montana deer at dusk", figuring it was the only bit of advice I had to offer a man who had it all figured out.

Riding into Belltown, my thoughts were conflicted over the significance of the whole thing. Has my friend finally grown up? Is he the first of many to trade their days of drinking and foolery for something 'greater'? God knows I've tried... but it's not a life suited for the likes of me.