couchdute:

Flying Lotus Interview

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:24:11 GMT

geek supreme! he looks like a man i could be a best friend with.

Gawd damn.

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:08:12 GMT

I'm getting sick of ignorant fucks arguing with me about Led Zeppelin.

That's all for now. Happy New Year, friends.

New Years!

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:30:37 GMT

So yeah. I guess it's time for a year-end be-all list. The Joshies. (I fuckin' hate being called that, by the way, though i don't let it bother me any more.)

I haven't really given this much thought other than in passing every day, you get the point. I haven't written it out yet. This year will stand out in my opinion as a year of debuts, as far as new music is concerned. Of the ten I mangaged to discern on my list, half are debut albums by new bands. This hopefully means that they continue to stake a vital path. In the coming years they'll either fulfill or deny their promise. But enough of that chicanery. Let's get to the ALL-IMPORTANT list.

10: Sebastien Graninger and the Mountains - S/T (Oct. 21 2008)
Dont' be fooled by the the "..and the..." moniker, this is the solo debut album of Sebastien Grainger, former drummer and singer for Death From Above, 1979. But that doesn't mean you should get the impression that this is as loud/fast/hard as DFA'79s full-length. It's on it's own merit a very forward power-pop album. While he occasionally lilts off in a segue or the odd long bridge, this is mostly all about the hooks. That and his voice, which sounds better here than it ever has.

09: Flight of the Conchords - S/T (Apr 22 2008)
If you've any taste for television humor at all, chances are you've stumbled upon Flight of the Conchords and their endearingly dumb yet stubbornly hip songs. The album, a recollection and rerecording of their (mostly) best tracks (with few exceptions), comes off as the hippest novelty record ever; while the lyrics reference being boring and broke blokes, the music cribs from countless indie rock milestones and hipster guilty pleasures. Once the jokes wear off, the music gets that much more listenable. Must be heard on repeat to be believed.

08: Deerhunter - Microcastle (Aug 13 2008)
While not being very familiar with Deerhunter's earlier catalog whatsoever, it has in no way interfered with this album welcoming me futher still inside of its sedate textures, its watery guitars, its deliberate pace. And yet as stylized as it is, the main draw is simply the quality of songwriting. Not really that gimmicky an album, and something I'm still gleaning from. Hell, if I'd heard it sooner it may have been higher on the list. "Nothing Ever Happened" is one of my favorite single songs this year.

07: MGMT - Oracular Spectacular (Jan 22 2008)
Ryan gave me my first burnt copy, my cd player was on it's dying last legs, and in that first week of owning Oracular Spectacular, I put the final nails in the CD Players coffin. I also listened to the album enough times to insure that I'd never want to sit through it again. It was the only album I listened to this year that I compulsively wore the fuck out. For a brief moment for that first week, modern psychedelic music felt like a youth movement, and this band felt like our poster children. I'm still rockin "Future Reflections."

06: Portishead - Third (Apr 29 2008)
Portishead were always a stylish band. Their first two albums are the blueprint for all of trip hop, in my opinion, from it's dark ambiance to it's flirtation with DJ culture. I've always considered their first two albums ahead of the curve. For the longest time, that's all from which we had to gauge them. And then out of nowhere this year, ten years after their last album, they released Third. It was an off-putting idea, at first, that this band was maybe cashing in. After all, what was once quite obscure had become fodder for Victoria's Secret commercials and yuppie cocktail parties. "Lesbian rest-home music," a former co-worker of mine once put it, aptly. With Third, they opted to drop the turntables, make their ambiance darker still, and incorporate more abrasive textures, like that of industrial music. The result was quite a tasteful, maniacal, subdued, violent record. It's the sound of a band reclaiming themselves. Just as far ahead of the curve, it's absolute proof that they didn't spend the last decade wasting their time. Nor ours.

05: Poni Hoax - Images of Sigrid (June 24 2008)
It's easy to hate the French. They're smarmy. I can't think of a single example of stereotypical Eurotrash without a French accent. And now we can hate them in the last decade for putting out the coolest modern pop albums. Daft Punk, of course, are like the OutKast of house music. Justice are on the verge of being its AC/DC. Or at least they'd love to be. And Poni Hoax are proof that disco is way back and way cooler than it was. This is disco for junkies and nihilists, drenched in sex, sleaze, and nasty guitars. With its pristine beats, immaculate pacing, stylish hooks, and hyper-glossy textures, it's so hip it's walking in circles. On top of this heap of style is a slew of great songs. Actually well-written songs. It meets halfway at style and substance, which is so up my alley.

04: Justice - Planisphere (June 29 2008)
It was first published online on blogs as a live track at the Dior Homme Spring/Summer '09 Fashion Show. Justice had been commissioned to write an 18 min. piece by a high fashion designer that I know absolutely nothing about. That might dissuade some of the more non-commercial sticklers (myself included). But this is Justice, and from the very beginning they've wanted to surprise folks. So what better place to unleash a four movement opus? It evokes as much Heavy Metal as it does Bach and early electronic classical music. And to top it off, it's just a hell of a great dance track. I look forward to what this piece promises for the future of electronic dance.

03: Apes & Androids - Blood Moon (Apr 2 2008)
A self-released debut on iTunes, Blood Moon arrived as a fully formed idea. From the sci-fi imagery to the radical & instantaneous shifts in mood and genre, it's over-all beginning-to-end a pretty exciting record. Even when there are lulls in tempo (which, to be honest, this guy isn't at all a fan of ballads), the pace still feels taut and ready for it's next surprise. Even at its most cartoonish it still feels vital. As psychedelics are concerned, it's pretty far out.

02. Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel (Aug 11 2008)
I believe that at this moment in pop history we are at an impasse between the past and the future. Much of the inventiveness is dormant while we spend most of our cool points trying to reinterpret different pieces of the past. Apes and Androids take this idea to its bipolar extremes. Fantasy Black Channel is a much more disciplined approach, taking the disparate pieces from our shared pop vocabulary and reigning them in to more expertly crafted pop songs. The guitars reek of The Strokes. The synthesizers are perfected summation of 30 years of progress. The rhythms jump from straight propulsion to playfully erratic. But of utmost importance is the sheer quality of the songs. The hooks are impeccable. The vocals are unreasonably matured. And the sum of its parts is breathtaking. All of this without taking into consideration that this a debut from a band who's average age is eighteen years old.

01: Flying Lotus - Los Angeles (June 10 2008)
I've always believed that trip-hop music is strictly for the Brits. Any American approximation to that sound has been just that. But now we have the blueprint for American trip-hop. I consider it thus in the very root-meaning of the genre. The album was crafted using a modern DJ setup, though the beats are programmed off-beat enough to come across as completely organic. Songs are non-existent, tracks bleed one into the next, and 98% of it's appeal is pure texture. White noise, laser synths, and strangely subdued yet orgiastic percussion plays just on the periphery. It constantly shifts in a noisy haze. A very elusive album to be sure. If we're lucky, this is the future of electronic music. Maybe not as propulsive as a good dance record, but way more provocative for putting the "trip" in trip-hop.

There it is. I hope it was coherent enough to read all the way through. I kinda wrote it as one draft, on the fly. But the albums themselves are pretty set in stone. This is what I've spent my last year obsessing over, so thanks for reading.

In Anticipation of New Years...

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 11:55:21 GMT

for those of you privileged enough to share a room with me the night of New Years in athens, i'm bringing the means for us to dance well into the morning.

i've already begun preparing a fine mix of dance songs to facilitate the ass-shaking. i've been working on this list of songs for pretty much the majority of the year. so bring your ass and prepare for the after-party to funk a little harder.

2008 Christmas

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:53:51 GMT

Since I'm a super broke-ass duter this year and i still wanted to do something nice for my buddies, i decided to take the christmas mix i'd been listening to this month and share it.

i was gonna do something extra nice and individually make artwork to accompany it, but i've run out of time, and due to my procrastinating, a shitty burned cd that you'll probably never listen to is the best i can do.

merry christmas, assholes.

01 come on santa - the raveonettes
02 white christmas - the flaming lips
03 christmas is coming - vince guaraldi trio
04 christmas all over again - tom petty and the heartbreakers
05 happy christmas (war is over)(john lennon cover) - the polyphonic spree
06 dance of the sugar plum fairy (from Tetris) - Tchaikovsky
07 space bible with volume lumps - the flaming lips
08 christmas time is here - vince guaraldi trio
09 is this christmas? - the wombats
10 the little drum machine boy - beck
11 good king winceslas - sufjan stevens
12 a christmas duel - the hives and cyndi lauper
13 the secret of immortality - the flaming lips
14 santa claus is smoking reefer - squirrel nut zippers
15 skating - vince guaraldi trio
16 a change at christmas (say it isn't so) - the flaming lips
17 christmas (baby please come home) - the raveonettes

two of the three flaming lips tracks came from the score to Christmas on Mars. The Raveonnetes also put on an EP this year named "Wishing You A Rave Christmas," which i took their tracks from.

sufjan stevens is a prolific songwriter for sure, and his output of christmas music is no less abundant. his version of "Good King Winceslas" is one of my favorite tracks on here.

all the Vince Guaraldi Trio stuff is taken from "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown." pretty zazzy stuff. reminds me, i still stand by my belief that Dethklok needs to do a christmas track.

"A Christmas Duel" by The Hives and Cyndi Lauper is one of the funniest tracks I've heard in a while, and also the best Hives track since Tyrannosaurus Hives, which is a relief after their last "effort," we'll call it.

"Little Drum Machine Boy" is an pre Odelay-era beck track. very funky, which beck's usual lyrics to the tune of the original. notice i left off the dreadful David Bowie/Bing Crosby version of that song.

so yes, friends. be expecting decent christmas music! Who Knew?!

merry christmas. considering how i'm usually pretty indifferent to the whole holiday, i've been excessively cheery this go round. i just hope it rubs off.

Invaders Must Die

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:02:07 GMT

new single out now; if you go to their official site you can download the radio edit (the one featured in the video) for free. the album comes out in march.

their last album was a full foray into old-school hip hop style breakbeat music. while it was a pretty good album it was definitely a departure for them, stylistically. this is back to the classic sound: huge over the top buzz-saw synthesizers and the heaviest beats of any electronic dance group. can't wait to hear more from the album.

An Eluardian Instance....

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:59:53 GMT

Alrighty, Ryan. Ok, Tony. you guys were right. it's pretty damn good stuff, indeed. while i'll stand by my original complaint (for now) that it isn't consistent enough, Skeletal Lamping has grown on me, and what songs i can pick out of the hazy mess when i'm only half paying attention are among the best Mr. Barnes has written. as tony pointed out, especially "An Eluardian Instance." in the spirit of our forthcoming new years' celebration, i got to poking around and found a really well shot, great sounding live clip.

definitely looks like the Hissing Fauna tour, the song is performed beautifully. the dual lead at the end is spot on.

Radiohead Interactive Live Video

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:14:51 GMT

http://www.wowow.co.jp/music/radiohead/special/

click here to tinker with video from a live performance of "15 Step" from a recent show in Japan.
down at the bottom you get a bank of all 12 angles the performance was filmed from, giving you the option to edit the live video yourself.

hella fun.

"Man, sis blew it."

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:43:37 GMT

The era of a social Josh will elude us further. My sister, who had agreed to sell me a car for $500 decided that due her current financial strains (the ones we're all feeling) that she'd be better off preparing for her trip to chile if she sold it to a coworker for more money.

thanks to my own financial strains, i can't really blame her. but it does suck.

why this has to do with my usual journal posts? because i'd planned on driving to athens. had my heart set.

Midnite Vultures

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 04:12:02 GMT

I've been discussing Beck with Jenna a lot. To be fair, I discuss music a lot. I discuss Beck a whole fucking lot. And I eventually discuss everything with Jenna. But recently we were talking about seeing him live, and how I feel like I've already missed the opportunity to see Beck in a situation befitting my love for him.

Mainly, what this means, is no matter how much I still love Beck, I don't think he's as cool as now as he used to be. Mainly from the period spanning Odelay through Sea Change. it hurts a lot to say, because ever since Odelay I've hoped to see him gather the respect and admiration of an American David Bowie. But I think he lost his muse. He had his best ideas while he was with her, and after she was gone he left a swan song in her honor, and then he was finished being original. From then on everything he did would mirror his previous ideas, or derive thereof. He then filtered this through the general malaise he's never seemed to awaken from ever since Sea Change. while i should have seen it coming--his whole "rocky" era of albums plagued by personal demons--i never imagined it and certainly never hoped for it.

The Most Fun i had with his records were with Odelay and Midnite Vultures. I'd have killed to see him tour Midnite Vultures. That album was his graduation. He proved he had the pop prowess to inherit the decade from the flannel dudes and the stage performance and persona to carry him into the highest echelon of funky white boys. it was a delightful time to be watching him.

i've never seen him live, but that period of time would probably be most optimal. followed by when he was backed by The Flaming Lips. I've truly blown my opportunity. It'd be like seeing Bob Dylan now when you were buying his earliest records as a teenager. or seeing the Rolling Stones as any point in my lifetime.

So I got to poking around online, and found a live performance of a song from which I'd never seen live clips. it wasn't a single so it wasn't done on any talk shows or whatever, which is a shame. Helluva show.

"Milk and Honey"

The Lando of the Free

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:35:13 GMT

this was my first attempt at making a collage digitally. i did it with the free program GIMP. seems pretty handy, but i'm just starting to teach myself to use the program.

of course, there's really no political poignancy to the picture, just for gags. hope you folkses like it.

Great Job!

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:45:43 GMT

Worst Fireman Ever (Directed by Bob Odenkirk)

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:53:37 GMT

Starring Paul F. Thompkins with a very special cameo. I shant spoil it.

Charter HD by Tim and Eric

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:43:15 GMT

a Tim and Eric video with a bunch of their regulars where they are curiously absent! once you wrap your head around that mind-bender(!) it's a hilarious commercial sketch.

Something unearthed.

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:10:47 GMT

look for Dr. Steve Brule at Wintzell's until he and his date Marilyn Monroe head downtown for Metropolis at the AMB.

Happy Halloween.

also found pictures on my sister's facebook of her first concert: Everclear. she blew it.

Mahavishnu Orchestra

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:23:31 GMT

amazing.

10/11/08 Athens, GA

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:10:27 GMT

Of all the expectations I had of seeing Mastodon live, none of them lived up to what actually happened.

Brian Posehn opened, like i said, for double bonus.

Here's what we stared at for a good while waiting to get in.

Occasionally we'd see a member of Mastodon poke his head out, hang out at the front door or leave the club to go trottin' through downtown Athens. By the way, Athens is a really cool town.

Brian Posehn:

Brian was hilarious (a far sight better than the opening comedian). He was taping for a record that night, which I'm sure raised everyone's level of amusement. At one point he got tired of one guy talking too much shit and threatened to kick him in the face or beat him with a chair.
Proper level of violence for a metal crowd.

Mastodon:

there were points i was transfixed by metal mayhem, to wax hyperbolic.
they played to the crowd quite well, and you could tell they enjoyed themselves, which is all i asked for. we saw some camera crews filming the band from various vantage points off-stage, so here's hoping we get a comedy album and live DVD out of our trip to Athens. That would just be icing on an already delicious cake.

the pictures are varying in levels of quality, but considering the crowd was throwing each other around the entire time multiplied by the fact that i couldn't very well ask the band to sit still for photo ops, i'm not really gonna beat myself up over it. enjoy!

"The Glory of Love"

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:15:43 GMT

this is a new collage i just finished this afternoon. the pink star border is an old album cover. the album was originally named "The Glory of Love." hence, the name. i myself totally intend to use this as an album cover as some point.

i've learned my lesson; i'm not giving this one away.

i'm thinking about adding more to it later, but i like the simplicity and humor of it right now. i'm taking suggestions, though.

i had a moment of surreality while intoxicated late in the night at a friend's house last night. the movie we were watching was The Circus with Charlie Chaplin. the trombone is my new creative outlet, something i've no doubt begun to romanticize.

Superbad quote

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:25:09 GMT

"fuck my life."

TV on the Radio - "Dancing Choose"

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:04:17 GMT

performed live on the fire escape of the Ed Sullivan Theatre.

one of the better live performance i've seen on the show.

Let's Paint, Exercise, and Blend Drinks!

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:12:46 GMT

great public access program. a charismatic and talented host.

this guy makes Mr. Mad Money look completely sane.

Christmas on Mars

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:36:01 GMT

Coming this October to DVD (apparently) and seven years in the making, the science fiction Christmas saga Christmas On Mars. They even updated the trailer.

FAK! by Truckasauras

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:48:12 GMT

more "chiptune" music as it were.
these guys use C64s to make music.
video: hilarious.

8bit

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:29:59 GMT

So after about four or five days with the LSDJ program for the Gameboy emulator, i've finally come up with something that's i'd actually consider a song. it's about 2 1/2 min. i'm so proud of myself that i could shit six bricks and a coon dick.

Images of Sigrid

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:07:07 GMT

there, in that dark cloud:
cheerleaders in the abyss
dancing on the dark.

====================================================

only reason i decided to whip this one up was as a preface to talk about this record.
if i could choose any record to force someone to listen to (this concept appeals to certain friends but not others) this year, this one would be it. that's all i'll say about it right now, other than the haiku.