Thx 138

Without wood, there'd be no America. No ships to bring the pilgrims across the ocean. No log cabins, no schoolhouses, no churches, no covered wagons, no railroad ties, no cigar store Indians, no nothin'.
Tonight I'm driving down to San Diego to go kick it with the X-Ray Cat for the weekend. I'll try to swing some documents thisa way, but don't count on fate.

Gooble Gobble

In the spirit of the Holidaze, I will show thanks to my favorite albums of this year. Like any "best-of" I could do, this isn't super definitive and I am sure there are a couple of ones that I forgot that I will regret. I will probably do at least one more of these by the end of the year. Happy Thanksgiving!


Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan-Hawk

I have talked and talked about this album and listened to it waaaay too many times to write anything about it now.
Pitchfork did an alright job talkin it up so go ask them. Anyways yeah it's real real good.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan from DUKOFF on Vimeo.

Wild Nothing-Gemini

Man this band crept on my hard and rapidly became one of my favorites. They encompass the term "sleeper" in almost anyway you can come up with. I paid no attention to the band when they put up their Kate Bush cover, which is odd. And then when the album came out, I liked it but didn't give it too much thought. It wasn't until the three-song Evertide ep, that I really got a good hold on them. Three songs and each one of them could have been a smash-hit, Duran Duran-big radio phenomenon...In an alternate, much much cooler universe. Revisiting the album I realized each and every song on the motherfucker was just about as good, and it was variated enough to not be monotonous, which is not the easiest thing to pull off when you are playing soft somber shit. It's all over the news, NOSTALGIA is waay big with the current generation and im a fan myself. Anyways this shit will definitely make you feel like you're living in whatever idealized past/future you've created for yourself.

WILD NOTHING - LIVE IN DREAMS from John Paul on Vimeo.

Big Boi-Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty

-I knew this one was gonna be great by the steady stream of singles that came out damn near a year preceding the album release. But actually a lot of the end of the album tracks have become my favorite, the whole album reminds me of why I fell in love with songs like Skew It On the Bar-B, B.O.B, Trans DF Express(remember that one?), and pretty much all Outkast in general. I find myself putting this album on more than others, oh and the below song will forever remain my personal anthem, I smoke weed and flex in my room by myself to this shit.

Big Boi - Fo Yo Sorrows VIDEO ft.Too Short,George Clinton,SamChris from SNORTTHIS.COM on Vimeo.

Joanna Newsom-Have One On Me

In time this album could very well become my favorite album of all time. The problem is that it is sooo dense and packed to the brim with imagery and harmony and swirling strings and all that and more that even nearly 10 months later I have not been to fully grasp all three albums. I just take off a chunk or so and chew on that for a couple of months, but honestly I haven't really been able to get past "Good Intentions Paving Company" which is one of those songs that just plucks every heartstring I have, in a fashion probably not too different from the way she plays the harpstrings. But what in the hell is up with all those sex symbol press photos?! That is definitely not the spritely elf singing about clams my junior year. I mean can't say I'm objecting, I just never imagined she'd intentionally give dudes boners to sell her music, but like I said I'm not complaining.


No Age Everything In Between

I came into this album with little to no expectation beacause I wasn't that big of a fan of their earlier shit. That's what suprised me the most is because I wasn't really looking for anything in their vein, but they brought it so hard that I liked it anyway. It rocks way harder than their other albums, more concise I think. It sounds like a band really honin' in on their own sound, it's cool to listen to. They've always tried to that pulsing white-noise build up into structure thing, well I think they pulled it off the best they've ever done it on this album. They shift seamlessly from amorphic to anthemic throughout the album.

No Age - Glitter (not the video) from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.

Dum Dum Girls-I Will Be

I was an early fan of these guys especially of that song Ship of Love, but I tell you what the recording on those early releases was pretty bare-bones. This record continued the great songs from the demo and whatnot but with just enough polish. My only complaint would be that more of the older stuff wasn't re-recorded. I know bands usually get flack for that, but Im usually all for it.

Dum Dum Girls - Jail La La from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.

You're In The Jungle Baby

actually just found out about this just recently and am waaay surprised that someone has ripped this....what you have here is a bit of the Old Guard gettin' the fuck down, Toby owns Pnuematic, Spencer is the drummer for Huck(also Tate Labianca featured on the blog), Beau Shaver was mentioned in a previous post, and Jake Griffin tatoos at Ace's).













ps-they all have at one point lived on Sinclair st. yeehaw!

Live Four Die Four

The newest Thrasher magazine has a little piece on Shake Junt and the memorial/skate jam that went down earlier this year in remembrance of Beau Shaver, local skate-legend/all-around BMF. It's a pretty good article and most definitely surreal to see local dudes get national recognition in the biggest skate magazine there is. Unfortunately Out of Bounds recently had to close their doors, which kind of makes this article bittersweet, since a large part of the skate scene here revolved around that store. But Reno iz resilient if nothing else, hopefully we can make the Shred 4 Shaver event an annual get down.


there's no sound on this video, but so just put on this Lil Gin track while you watch it...

Oration On Tha Dignity of 23

A new form of human being announces itself: dynamic, creative, multidimensional, protean, unfinished, self-defining and self-creating, infinitely aspiring, set apart from the whole, overseeing the rest of the world with unique sovereignty, centrally poised in the last moments of the old cosmology to bring forth and enter into the new.
-from Tarnas' Cosmos and Psyche on twenty-three year old Pico della Mirandola's 1486 Oration on the Dignity of Man

"Neither a fixed abode nor a form that is thine alone nor any function peculiar to thyself have we given thee, Adam, to the end that according to thy longing and according to thy judgment thou mayest have and possess what abode, what form, and what functions thou thyself shalt desire. The nature of all other beings is limited and constrained within the bounds of laws prescribed by Us. Thou, constrained by no limits, in accordance with thine own free will, in whose hand We have placed thee, shalt ordain for thyself the limits of thy nature. We have set thee at the world's center that thou mayest from thence more easily observe whatever is in the world. We have made thee neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with freedom of choice and with honor, as though the maker and molder of thyself, thou mayest fashion thyself in whatever shape thou shalt prefer."
Here's Korine's preferred shape at the same age:
yesterday was jodie foster and larry king's birthday too, here they are:

Ham Ratchet JCAT

Cupla posts back Austinian mentioned Die Antwoord Harmony Korine and Lil Boosie in the same sentence. Im gonna chalk that down as one of my November highlights. Anyways got me to thinkin about the Boos, I honestly wastn't sure if he was ever going to get any real attention thrown at him, because those in the know can clearly see that the dude has bona fide skills. Any youtube comment list you read will have some talk about him being the next Pac. Hmmmm that whole conversation is kinda, "eh" but it got me thinking, first I had to construct a "2Pac" in my head and distill his importance cross-referenced and translated into a form(a sort of mental rubrick if you will) that I could compare Lil Boosie too. Once I did that, I found that indeed Lil Boosie fulfilled my arbitrary and completely baseless expectations of 2Pac. But unfortunately the type of people who are good at identifying Lil Boosie's greatness are not usually given much clout in any form, maybe least of all in the music-journalists world. But we shall see we shall see.



But then there is the other impending and faaaar more bleak reality that he is currently facing 6 muder 1 charges and could very well be the first Rapper to be executed. When keeping it real goes wrong? Or should we entertain the idea that the powers to be might not like a Boosie type popular in the world. Well, of course the powers to be don't like the idea of Lil Boosie, but to the extent that they would orchestrate some way of blacklisting him like this....that's hard to imagine.



Now I fully realize that there is some (probably large) percentage of the Boosie character that is completely made-up. But it certainly was not made in a vacuum. Just as Captain America didn't ever decapitate a red skulled Nazi-type, but it is definitely coming from somewhere, so too does some element of Lil Boosie really exist in our world. But are people really listening to what he has to say? and thinking about what it all means? probably not, but just do a comparison between the homespun wisdom of rappers like Rakim and Big Daddy Kane, and then think about the life-philosphy of the new-school, it's not that the new school is dumber or meaner per se. It's just that the situation they are reflecting is probably far grimmer.



But honestly put yourselves in the position of an old-timey white sheriff or D.A. in some shit parrish in the south, over your life-time you too have seen the degradation of your way of life and your base of power, and out of the woodwork comes these twacked out, bug-eyed, homocidal maniacs flashing guns and money and throwing a middle finger to your whole world. Speaking for myself it would be coonin' time for sure.



But what do you do? Sit on the side and try and wipe yourself clean from the mess and throw admonishments and call it macaroni? or do you say fuck it and get knee deep in the muck and bask in the evil surrounding you? I'm not too sure, on the whole I don't think the kind of shit these guys are saying is really constructive or beneficial long-term. But I can't deny that I like it, and indeed love all the robbin' mobbin' shootin' and lootin'. I feel like I can separate good fantasy from the reality we live in and extract what should be extracted and leave the rest, but I don't really trust the next man to be able to do the same....hmmm problems without answers

Sun Valley Above The Rest

as with most towns the real gold usually lies in the outskirts, the fringe. where people don't get shit so easily. anyone who grew up in Sun Valley/Lemon Valley/Stead/Fernley/Cold Springs/Spanish Springs/Carson/Dayton or whatever corrolary applies to your world...I see you. fuck yeah keep doin you and flash on the rest.

AMERICAN ART otherwise known as AMERICA LIVES!!!!

I dont know how the rest of everybody else feels but I still love America and think it's pretty fuckin tight! im glad prop 19 didnt pass lets keep the weed to the punks and faggots haha. ive been thinking alot lately on how tight sex is. All us boys used to dream of it and we all know when we finally crossed the flesh-hold we came immediately. and lsd !!! come on what happened to everybody just eating THAT shit every weekend. I think we need to call the snow storm off its killing the colorful eyes of americans. here is some good american cinema from americas primal years of america.THE JERKY PARTY.




I HIGHLY SUGGEST TAKING ALL HALLUCINOGENS ESPECIALLY D.M.T. THE SPIRIT MOLECULE: AN ULTIMATE TEST.

I Need The Darkness

Ok, so for better or for worse, I haven't ever gotten into Arcade Fire. Haven't really even thought twice about them, until I saw this song on SNL the other night.

I cannot stop listening to it. It's like..
mixed with

catching the 'emotional landscapes' of 'the suburbs'

and the sound of the heaviest century getting brushed off yr shoulders. Whatever it is, it makes getting out of bed easier..
here is a cover they did of jay reatard's "oh its such a shame", which is really pretty sad and puts this year into a little more focus.

Graci Widow

ain't it apparent? this band has aesthetic down like a goose-feather jacket

Grass Widow - Give Me Shapes from Kill Rock Stars on Vimeo.

Dan Fransisco Sike

Grass Widow "Shadow" from Kill Rock Stars on Vimeo.

psst you didn't hear it from me but these lovely ladies maybe making a stop in reno mid-december

Our angels are hard of hearing

I want rough voices and shouting women
to cry out against the blinding of Samson.
I will always cry, take away those knives.
Isn't it enough that
the evening star sets at night
and lovemaking ends at dawn?
Please god help the human beings,
for men are coming to blind Samson.
(on the gulf war)

If we dont lift our voices,
we allow others, who are ourselves,
to rob the house.
(on war in iraq)

Noosphere integration v2.0

Started a YouTube channel for the blog. A more wholesome experience. Here are two videos that are better online somehow than in a file somewhere on the desktop. From The Holland Project's "Under 3 minute Film Showcase" 2010 and 2009

Demons of the Static Age

Word has it that with super high bit-rates this video appears to be more than it is...I haven't actually been able to watch it yet, and certainly not download and watch it proper, high and defined, but yeah check this shit out. No lie I've listened to this song more than any other in the last couple of months(beating out Joanna Newsom, Big Boi, Isobel Campbell...that is one large feat). While static is an interesting medium, they really need to get someone with a Carpenter/Kubrick aesthetic up on their videos and start churnin' out the new DARK...you can pick up a super Fidelic version of the video somewhere on this website but not entirely sure how...how helpful

Balam Acab - "See Birds (Sun)" from stereogum on Vimeo.

balam acab - see birds (moon) from allblurry on Vimeo.

watch this dude cuz he's definitely on the up and up

fuggit go krayzay

That's Noose To Me

Runaway

This is probably everywhere, but in 1080p it's totally gorgeous, and I'm reposting.

We Out Chea Evil Boi

Affinity is a weird thing. It's somewhere between intuition on one side and rational thought on the other. Something like taste in the middle. Reminds me of a dream I'm going to have. Suffice to say, Harmony Korine and Die Antwoord are doing a short film this week in Nashville propelled by Lil Boosie? ! ! !


spin:

What American hip-hop have you've been getting into lately?
Well, we're making a short form movie with [Kids writer] Harmony Korine and he started playing me Lil Boosie's video "We Out Chea." It's pretty fuckin'….I've never seen something like that. They all look cooked in the video. It looks like there's something wrong with all their eyes and Harmony told me they all drank cough medicine.

inmusic:

"We're making a short film with Harmony Korine in a few weeks time. He sent me this gangsta rap music of these videos of these gangsta rappers in the Deep South. And I kind of understood Die Antwoord a little bit more after watching them. They all drink that cough mixture or something [drank] and they're all like f**kin wired and stuff. And I was watching these gangsta rappers and I didn't know what the f**k they were saying and I kind of got it. It reminded me of Die Antwoord. They're in this f**kin zone. It's the only thing I've seen in a long time that reminded me of Die Antwoord."

pitchfork:

We're doing a short film in a few weeks time with Harmony Korine that will screen at the Rotterdam Film Festival this January. [Korine] wrote the script and we made it a little more Zef. It's come out fuckin' wild. It's a short film called Wat Kyk Jy-- which means "watcha lookin' at?"-- which I tattooed onto my penis as well.

and this is what ninja says about his raps:

I'm rapping about finding boobs and stuff. And black magic and like stealing money.