-lazy haze-

its been a pretty good week: hung out by the water with laura and ashley one afternoon and went swimming in the lake (as polluted as it is), the power went out and ashley and i had a great candle lit dinner and a healthy amount of wine which led to ashley kindly listening to me rant, most days i get up at 9 and read on the deck drinking coffee and then by noon make some food and play a few games of online scrabble, drank late into the evening one night with some lovely new friends, went to sandbanks with ruhi and her sun lukas for a picnic and play which was a brilliant time, went on a farmers market-produce town run and then made a mean spicy gazpacho, lots of laying around in the sun followed by the public pool which i realized is two blocks from my house, played mariokart one night with a bunch of school friends, a softball game, many coffee chats with more lovely friends, received lovely poems on postcards from nassim and dave from thier locations in corsica and korea, etc etc... its been good, perhaps the calm before the writing storm which is soon to occur, but really this has been one of the the best summer weeks ive ever had and im going to ride that high for a while..



s0 i figured i would make a post which somehow encapsulates my days of late, the soundtrack for my midsummer daydream haze... i've been listening a lot to lo-fi/tape hiss/sundrenched haze/post-surf (whatever 'catchy' label you want to give it) stuff that has been coming out lately on notnotfun and captured tracks... minus my dislike for this hipster cassette trend of late (i think ive been bitching about this for a year, but now is not the time), i'm really digging this unapologetic nostalgic beach leitmotif... so, here is the 2 hour mix that has been playing most hours of the day in my house...

1. animal collective - in the flowers*
2. beach fossils - vacation
   
3. beach fossils - daydream*
   
4. best coast - up all night
   
5. best coast - sun was high (and so was i)*
6. ducktails - backyard
   
7. ducktails - beach point pleasant*
8. el guincho - el tiburon
   
9. el guincho - 100 vera fuego
10. ganglians - cryin' smole
11. ganglians - voodoo*
12. highlife - f kenya rip*
13. kurt vile - beach on the moon (recycled lyrics)*
    
14. kurt vile - can't come
15. kurt vile - my best friends (don't even pass this)*
16. nite jewel - bottom rung
    
17. norse horse - gangplank galleon
    
18. norse horse - swamp trotter*
    
19. panda bear - guys eyes (live on la fama)
    
20. pearl harbour - lost at sea
    
21. pearl harbour - sunburn*
    
22. rainbow bridge - big wave rider
    
23. real estate - beach comber
    
24. real estate - saturday morning*
    
25. real estate - fake blues*
    
26. real estate - old folks
    
27. real estate - suburban beverage*
28. real estate - suburban dogs*
29. wavves - sun open my eyes
30. wonder wheel - beach lunch
31. woods - the hold*
32. woods - the dark*

* = highly rec'd

download part 1: https://www.yousendit.com/download/cmcyTG16RndubVhIRGc9PQ

download part 2: http://www.yousendit.com/download/cmcyTG16RndBNkhIRGc9PQ

all photos from a wonderful stream from:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yyellowbird/

stillness is still the move, let me be your mystic llama shepard...

remember that time i kept posting about dirty projectors (who i have loved since i first heard their song '[throw on] hazard lights' in 2003, yes indie cred there, har har harrr...), anyway they now have an amazing video for stillness is the move which is easily one of my top three tracks this year... i love the video, although more of the gorgeous angel deradoorian could have been used so i could muse and sigh throughout...anyway, i even have a super hipster friend who rushed home after work to watch this video, so you should probably too...

I think the stars are just the neon lights, Shining through the dance floor, Of heaven on a Saturday night, And I saw the light, I saw the light...

trying to make a post under 100MB with the music of jason molina in its many manifestations (solo, song:ohia, magnolia electric co.) is like trying keep dry while swimming in the sea... or perhaps a more fitting allution would be trying to catch the horizon of the prairie sky... in both cases, the journey is impossible but a rewarding drift- old roads are mapped from memory, new paths are traversed... magnolia electric co. just released a new album (josephine) which i am really enjoying, so i guess that is a catalyst for the post, not that one was needed... anyway, i narrowed it down to 19 songs that i love both musically and lyrically (i figured i'd include some lyrics as well)...

1. Songs: Ohia - Two Blue Lights (One's got the diesel fuel on her breath, One's got the damp taste of the earth on it, Two blue lights...)
2. Songs: Ohia - The Long Dark Blue [Farewell Transmission Demo] (After tonight if you don't want us to be, A secret out of the past, I will resurrect it, I'll have a good go at it, I'll streak his blood across my beak and dust my feathers with his ashes, I can feel his ghost breathing down my back...)
3. Songs: Ohia - John Henry Split My Heart (John Henry split this heart split this full moon heart, Swing the heaviest hammer you got, Hit this one out of the park...)
4. Songs: Ohia - I've Been Riding With A Ghost (See I ain't getting better I am only getting behind, I am standing on a crossroad trying to make up my mind, I'm trying to remember how it got so late, Why every night pain comes from a different place, Now something's got to change...)
5. Songs: Ohia - Farewell Transmission (The real truth about it is my kind of life's no better off, If I've got the maps or if I'm lost, The real truth about it is there ain't no end to the desert I'll cross, I've really known that all along, Mama here comes midnight, with the dead moon in its jaws, Must be the big star about to fall...)
6. Songs: Ohia - Coxcomb Red (And I wanted that heat so bad, I could taste the fire on your breath, and I wanted in your storm so bad, I could taste the lightning on your breath, I watched you hold the, son in your arms while he bled to death, he grew so pale next to you, the world is so pale next to you...)
7. Songs: Ohia - Lioness (Whether you save you me, Whether you savage me, Want my last look to be the moon in your eyes, Want my heart to, Break if it must break in your jaws, Want you to lick my blood off your paw...)
8. Songs: Ohia - Tigress (It's difficult not to worry about what happens next, Certain looks sort out confused looks, And certain looks sport confused looks, And I watched us talking in the mirror, And you put on that look, That says this little star wishes she weren't single...)
9. Songs: Ohia - Steve Albini's Blues (See the light of the afterworld shining on the ruins, It's the light of nowhere else burning to the west, See its sulphery shine...)
10. Songs: Ohia - Didn't It Rain (If they think you got it they're going to beat it out of you, With work and debt whatever all else there is, You got to watch your own back, Try to see the light of goodness burning down the track, Through the blinding rain through the swaying wires, If i see you struggle i will not turn my back...)
11. Songs: Ohia - Captain Badass (Brown eyes, your pulse is getting hotter, Brown eyes, your pulse is getting quicker, Quote Captain Badass: "I am setting your heart on fire, So when you leave me, I will burn on in your soul," You won't have to think twice, If it's love you will know...)

12. Magnolia Electric Co. - It's Made Me Cry (You can live a long time, In such a little while, Once you've gone as far away as you can go, Until you come home...)

13. Magnolia Electric Co. - Lonesome Valley (Out here the ghost wears the feathered crown, Of blues and the sickle moons, To watch over the lost horizon...)
14. Magnolia Electric Co. - Hammer Down (When its been my ghost and the empty road, I think the stars are just the neon lights, Shining through the dance floor, Shining through the dance floor, Of heaven on a Saturday night, And I saw the light , I saw the light....)
15. Magnolia Electric Co. - The Dark Don't Hide It (You said you only wanted friends for long enough to get rid of them, You found the kind you knew would only kill you, So you surrounded yourself with them...)
16. Magnolia Electric Co. - Hope Dies Last (I made it hard by forgetting the night when the fire didnt answer to the flame, the fire didnt answer to the flame...)
17. Magnolia Electric Co. - Whip-Poor-Will (So all you folks in heaven are to busy ringing bells, Some of us down here ain't doing very well, Some us with our windows open in the southern cross hotel...)
18. Magnolia Electric Co. - Josephine (Some folks see the horizon, And never need to know how it all ends, Leave the Shadows behind, Don't go chasing after them...)
19. Jason Molina - Division St. Girl (Painted up Division St Girl, She's a pretty denim queen, Bird of paradise eyes, Bird of paradise dieing eyes, But I could sight read those slangy lips, I could sight read those hips...)

Download Link: http://www.yousendit.com/download/cmcyQmtYQzMzS3BMWEE9PQ

All artwork by the amazing william schaff, who has created album covers for songs:ohia, okkervil river, kid dakota, among others... please go take a look at his work its amazing, ignore the merch, and take the time to go through the pages of his work at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsa1973/

so we swallow faucets and spit hot water between our lips like what would we say instead....

we want a wild and ephemeral music.
we propose a fundamental regeneration:
concert strikes,
sound gatherings with collective investigation.
abolish copyrights: sound structures belong to everyone.*

the walls have ears. your ears have walls*












music you should be listening to, its out there, your just have to listen, silence is freedom from aural oppression, lets sound emancipation. here are some canadian bands i think are painfully over looked....



to begin with jordaan mason & the horse museum put out an album i finally got a hold of the other day. probably the most authentic music i've heard in ages, nasal jeff magnum-esk howlings, dizzying lyrics, the horns of jericho, a wonderful album...my ears have been pollinated this summer...

• jordaan mason & the horse museum - avalanches
  
• jordaan mason & the horse museum - race horse: get married!
  
• jordaan mason & the horse museum - the wrong parts (vivian sisters singing)
  
• jordaan mason & the horse museum - organs for oceans
  
• jordaan mason & the horse museum - 1990 was a long year and we are all out of hot water now

comrades, people are making love in the poli sci classrooms,
not only in the fields*











richard laviolette conjures up the spirits of early hayden, early man, early beast... a friend sent me this album a couple years ago and it became a staple on the radio show... there is something visceral about listening to laviolette, his voice hits you like your rival spitting in your face...

• richard laviolette - your dead!
• richard laviolette - silhouettes
  
• richard laviolette - oncoming trains
  
• richard laviolette - finding comfort in eulogies
  

no replastering, the structure is rotten*










i've posted about olenka & the autumn lovers before (sorry iheartmusic while you were busy getting blow jobs from blackhat brigade i beat you to the bunch [this comment has less to do with 'beating you to the punch' but you questionable choice for your vote of the polaris prize]). i met olenka in kingston, i think myself and the people i brought along were the only ones there to see her and her mates. her music resonates with an honesty and a vanity, like she knows the songs will resurect past memories, steal your heart, and leave you looking out windows with pensive sighs... the hours i have spent listening to flash in the pan on repeate speaks to this point...

• olenka & the autumn lovers - flash in the pan
  
• olenka & the autumn lovers - 45
  
• olenka & the autumn lovers - watching neighbours
• olenka & the autumn lovers - iron pump

coming soon to this location: charming ruins*









timbre timbre is one of those albums that has taken months to grow on me... even after a live show i wasnt really that 'sold', i mean i enjoyed the music, would make my way to his stage if he was in woods, but not sure murmurs of brilliance... i'm still unsure when i listen, but i know something is happening, something subtle to my psyche, and i like it...

• timbre timbre - magic arrow
• timbre timbre - demon host
• timbre timbre - i get low

when people notice they are bored, they stop being bored*

download link for the above tracks: http://www.yousendit.com/download/cmcxeVdoSU9YSHhMWEE9PQ


moving beyond canada, there are some other bands i was thinking of that people should really spend the time listening too... maybe they won't be lovers, but waking up beside these sounds won't be awkward...

you can no long sleep quietly once you've
suddenly opened your eyes.*













adrian orange & her band i can only suspect would put on an astounding show... i've posted songs by (him) before, but i love horns, i love howling, i love fela kuti, i love this fire...

• adrian orange & her band - fire dream
• adrian orange & her band - window (mirror) shadow
• adrian orange & her band - give to love what's love's

obedience begins with consciousness;
consciousness begins with disobedience.*













i am oak is another artist i've posted about before, go through the archives and find out what i said; it's still true... classical guitars, faint dutch accents, this the music that stretches the night into the morning...

• i am oak - furrow
• i am oak - firm hands
• i am oak - islands more islands

every view of things that is not strange is false. (valéry)*












mimicking birds are amazing, they have begun to capture the sound of chain saws, camera shutters, film rewinding, logging trucks, along with the local birds, to lure mates... the band is also excellant...

• mimicking birds - rivers, veins, roots
• mimicking birds - plastic seeds
  
• mimicking birds -burning stars

the tears of philistines are the nector of gods*













meursault's pissing on bonfires/kissing in tongues (the song not the album) found me, defined me, was the soundtrack to my failed love, my historocity... it was only later that i started to really listen to the rest of the album which has noisy static highs, and resonating acoustic lows... wonderful band, camus would be proud...

• meursault - pissing on bonfires/kissing in tongues
  
• meursault - a small stretch of land
  
• meursault - the dirt & roots

under the paving stones, the beach.*













i went through a big grouper stage, which my friend math dance recently made me remember... tiny vipers is very different, but the same foggy haze seems to cover both artists vocal chords... actually at points tiny vipers voice reminds me of melanie from the 60's (of candles in the rain, woodstock fame)... these comparisons are good things, so is tiny vipers...

• tiny vipers - on this side
  
• tiny vipers - forest fires
  
• tiny vipers - dreamer
  
• tiny vipers - time tanks
  

rape your alma mater.*

download link for non-canadian stuff: https://www.yousendit.com/download/cmcxeVd0NEhQb0pMWEE9PQ













*images of painted aluminum plates: i forget.... rapatronic pictures of atom bombs: i forget.... bubbles drying which remind me of rapatronic photography: http://www.hybridfloaters.com/index.php?/halecounty/bubble-drawings/ - one out of three

*all quotes from the SI'ers may 68' documents collection, graffiti.

some thoughts on the polaris long list

firstly, this should not be a canadian but a montreal-toronto-and ad hoc vancouver competition, don't get me started... its a circle jerk for the scenesters in these cities, but anyway, some thoughts:



Arkells - Jackson Square
Jill Barber - Chances
Beast - Beast
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows - no... no... no... do you like the arcade fire, yah, well check out a side project... ok lets nominate it
Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth - eat your heart out stoner rock, amazing album by ex deadly snakes guys... went under the radar for the most part this year, sadly
Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is A Mouth - strong album but makes me ask what about entire cities if this is nominated
Cœur De Pirate - Cœur De Pirate
Leonard Cohen - Live In London - leonard cohen wins every award ever by default, he should not even be on this list...
D-Sisive - Let The Children Die
Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas
Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows
Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life - if thier was a award for great live acts maybe, but not a great album
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels - great lake swimmers (along with snailhouse) should win the prize for the artist who constantly add to my sad middle class white boy soundtrack... great album
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country - im just happy hecker was nominated
Hey Rosetta - Into Your Lungs
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
K'NAAN - Troubadour
K-OS - YES
La patère rose - La patère rose
Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes - a decent follow up to thier first amazings, and deeply underated album
Lhasa - Lhasa - not 'mainstream' scenster enough to win, which is a shame
Malajube - Labyrinthes
Metric - Fantasies - crap crap crap over hyped crap
One Hundred Dollars - Forest Of Tears
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love - as always pink mountaintops don't dissapoint but not their strongest release
Joel Plaskett - Three
Snailhouse - Lies On The Prize - i will always have a soft spot for snailhouse
Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project - riding the coat tail of his bands and the books, nothing impressive, unlike ohed's band years which put out a great s/t release
Rae Spoon - superioryouareinferior
The Stills - Oceans Will Rise - crap
Think About Life - Family - crap times a million which is sad as thier first album is amazing
Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre - unique and surprisingly great album, takes a few listens but each time it grows, this is my darkhorse pick
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane - really not much not to like about chad vg
Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer - as much as i enjoy wolf parade, and this album, it's by far not the best album of the year
Women - Women - this should win, best album of the year hands down!!!
Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada C/W Houndstooth Europa

i could write a lot more but these are the things that first off stand out... 20 days until the short list which i will bitch about when it comes... maybe ill make my national omissions short list to go along with it...

all images by the late Gordon Matta-Clark

the writer hoisted by his own petard.

i think this explains how my thesis writing is going....

on the up side i was listening to the new mos def album (his best in a while in my opinion) and realized that either him or madlib decided to sample a track i used to play often on the radio, 'ince ince' by selda... i only have two of her tracks of the s/t album but this turkish lass knows how to howl and the guitar riff is epic... i guess her song is political and she was a part of the anatolian rock invasion in turkey but thats as far as my research ever got... enjoy:

1. selda - ince ince
2. mos def - supermagic
3. selda - yalalar

download link: https://www.yousendit.com/download/MnFqZm1ZNHYwVWxMWEE9PQ

images from luigi serafini's - codex seraphinianus

canned heat, or how i built a city under vesuvius...

"spaces conceal their contents by means of meanings, by means of an absence of meanings or by means of an overload of meanings... spaces sometime lie just as things lie, even though they are not themselves things." -henri lefebvre



before i left for paris i promised a friend -sean- i would post some tracks by the acorn; obviously, as with everything in my life, this meant a lengthy delay. anyway, this dove-tailed nicely into also posting some red red meat/califone who are perhaps one of my favourite bands of all time. yes, all time, i made one of those statements, but i cannot emphasize how much i enjoy every aspect of their music. it is for this reason that i really enjoyed the acorns glory hope mountain which borrows heavily from the 'califone sound' (i don't mean this as a slight, the acorn put their own twist on things and do it wonderfully well [further, more artist should take the task of building on the sound of bands like califone instead of producing generic electro-dance or flat washed out pedal fuzz, but i digress]). anyway, this got me thinking of other bands that i hear new spaces in their songs each time i put on my headphones, though there are a lot (the circulatory system, or caribou come to mind first and foremost) i think this is an incredibly difficult task to do simply. apostle of hustle is another artist, like califone and the acorn, who does this really well... i kind of feel that each of these artist move their melody across a complex and fluid topography of sound, seeking out spaces to be left vacant, and overlooked alley ways to be filled with a festival... music where each minute rings for sixty seconds...



the acorn:

1. burrows (acorn/ohbijou 12")
2. plates & saucers
3. bell (snailhouse cover)
4. flood pt. 1
5. crooked legs
6. oh napoleon
7. brokered hearts (heron act version)
   
8. dents (heron act version)
   
9. good enough (cyndi lauper cover)
10. darcy
11. feral chile

download link: http://www.yousendit.com/download/MnFpQk0zT2JWRC9IRGc9PQ


apostle of hustle:

1. folkloric feel
2. energy of death
3. kings and queens
4. animal fat
5. wedding song
6. my sword hand's anger
7. national anthem of nowhere
8. cheap like sebastien
9. justine, beckoning
   
10. perfect fit
11. xerses

download link: http://www.yousendit.com/download/MnFpQk0zT2JrYUFLSkE9PQ


red red meat:

1. gauze
2. carpet of horses
3. bunny gets paid
4. chain chain chain (4-track demo)

"medicated dull, your attention
dry winter miles, diamonds and glass
cheaters hands, you never take care you never take care, stars are out
spilling from afraid of flying
trembling planes, diamonds and glass

mink eyed, marble eyed
in the gauze, in the weeds
by the drain, red on pale
there's a nail by the vent
sweet for your heel, in the gauze marble eyed, waiting there
kiss your mouth to shut you up

crossed and lowered
cheaters fine, wings on fire
the stars are out
whisper stung in the wires
all you steal, you never take care

mink eyed, marble eyed
in the gauze, in the weeds
by the drain, red on pale
there's a nail by the vent
sweet for your heel, in the gauze marble eyed, waiting there
kiss your mouth to shut you up "
-red red meat, 'gauze'


califone:

1. don't let me die nervous
2. sawtooth sang a cheater's song
3. mittens
4. vampiring again
5. michigan girls
6. bottles and bones (shades and sympathy)
7. fisherman's wife
8. porno starlet vs. rodeo clown
9. tayzee nub
10. slow right hand
11. pink & sour
12. spider's house
13. the eye you lost in the crusades
14. the orchids (psychic tv cover)
15. silvermine picture
16. st. martha let if fold

download link: http://www.yousendit.com/download/MnFpQk0rK3htNEpMWEE9PQ

"nervous john rescues all the whores
bleeding nose and all
taste of metal, when you're hit straight on
frozen dimes and throwing flashes
clouds of angels
liquored pink and underage

steal your sweet decline, this is the longest goodbye

loose breaks on a one eyed continental
engine willing
interior stained
china rattles wish
cold pacific shallows
spells and fits resurrected
calls you in, calls you in

steal your sweet decline, this is the longest goodbye
aching to get your pocket picked
bottles and bones, shade and sympathy
kick the glass out of your path
calls you in, calls you in, calls you in

traps for your fingers, fire for your mouth
stones for your passage, brass for your jaded
underneath the baking clouds and hardening starless skies

lick your collarbone clean
cold pacific shallows
spells and fits resurrected
calls you in, calls you in

steal your sweet decline, this is the longest goodbye
aching to get your pocket picked
bottles and bones, shade and sympathy
kick the glass out of your path
calls you in, calls you in, calls you in "
-califone, 'bottles and bones (shades and sympathy)'




in the listless coffee shop
with the conversations
wounded with ennui
the sound bloomed
and i was a hedgefox
populated in solitude
listening to the static
stacked upon itself
it adorned me
a badge, a ticket, a loading dock,
and a protest
here i loitered
perhaps for 73 days
in a world of secret affinities
without invitation
watching every illusions and illumination
moored to the profane


"this is the magic and metaphysics of shit" -henri lefebvre

all images from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianton/

moored to insomnia

i think i have a sleeping disorder, perhaps everyone has been right for years and the fact that there is a phrase called 'pulling a mike butler' in my department (denoting being generally strung out, haggard, and lacking sleep for days) should have been an earlier clue for me. either way, i figured as a result of my insomnia i would post some new music or music which is new to me...

three releases i've really been anticipating were think about life, the lovely feathers, and sunset rubdown... firstly, the think about life album is absolute crap (overproduced shitty disco synths and listless lyrics = it'll be big in the hipster dance clubs) i'll post some older but 'unreleased tracks'.. the sunset rubdown album is good, but nothing to write home about (i posted my favourite track off it a while back), but the new lovely feathers album is an unexpected surprise... keeping to what they do well, but also not creating my brother daniel or hind hind legs over again, i hope this album gets the attention that hind hind legs should have got (it got overshadowed on the label by islands release, and we all know how i feel about islands in general).... also, hayden had a new album come out which is strange as he usually takes years between records, its good, not amazing, but cuff the duke as a backing band add a unique dimension... quest for fire is the remains of the deadly snakes, they throw down some good drudge rock in the same style as dead meadow or black mountain, which means they are probably infinity better live than on album (which is a good album with that being said)... i really just like everything the woods and kurt vile do, so i figured id include a track of the woods 7'' and a kurt vile ep... i also got my hands on a julie doiron and calm down its monday split 7'', so there are a couple nice little ditties from that... last but not least, a new radio dept. track finally leaked, those who know me know i loved this band since thier first album came out (sorry sophia, but i was on this shit back in the day, you loose your hipster cred points), anyway, i enjoy the track but nothing will top lesser matters era radio dept....there are some other songs from other bands but you can judge those yourself, so in no particular order:

1. quest for fire - bison eyes
2. wildlife - sea drummer
3. kurt vile and the violators - hunchback
4. julie doiron - its nice to come home
5. sunset rubdown - apollo and the buffalo and anna anna anna oh!
6. calm down its monday - sweetest may
7. the woods - the dark
8. the lovely feathers - fantasy of the lot
   
9. the lovely feathers - ossified homes
10. hayden - dilapidated hearts
11. tiny vipers - dreamers
    
12. real estate - suburban dogs
13. the radio dept. - david
14. think about life - friendship cove
15. think about life - ancient missiles

download link: https://www.yousendit.com/download/MnFoR0lUQ0NnYVBIRGc9PQ