Teenage Knife Crime

sister site

2010-04-07T22:43:00.000-07:00

http://fulltimecowboy.blogspot.com/

one poem a day for a year. there might be lag in posting but never in writing.

who loves the sun?

2010-03-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

Dead Slut

2010-02-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

I was wondering when Shawn Foree was going to comment on Jay Reatard dying. Today on his blog he a link to a song called Stupid Friend. It sounds like beautiful funeral music. Get the song here.

Current Ghosts

2010-01-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

This is who I hung out with today.

1st self portrait 0f 10

downtown

mexican candy

home

light snow

aquarium drunkard show at Oragami Vinyl

grey river

2009 in a nutshell.

walls

Best Coast @ the Echoplex

walls.

Nathan Williams @ the Echoplex

In the new year

2010-01-01T11:48:00.001-08:00

Projects for 10:

-Go to at least one show a month and write about it; interview jerks attending, stuff like that. I went to a lot of really great show in 09: Wavves at the Echoplex thanks to Aquarium Drunkard (who put on a pretty good party at Origami Vinyl in Dec). ...And you will know us by the trail of dead at the Music Box AND Cold Cave at the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, thanks to losanjealous plus Ponytail at the Echo, a couple of Vice parties and assorted revelry. The point is I want to do more of that.

-Write something everyday for a year. This is going to be hard but really look forward to 365 consecutive days of writing.

-wear only imitation designer clothes. By February I want to go around rocking Guci loafers, Dulce & Cabana jeans, a Le Cost shirt and Luis Vitoon jacket. Marvelous!

I have my doubts about you, 2010; prove me wrong.

Currently listening to: Pearl Harbor

Looks like the first show of 2010 is going to be Abe Vigoda and Silk Flowers at the Smell on 28 Jan. See you there?

Music Go Music

2009-12-13T17:27:00.000-08:00

Music Go Music - Live on Face Time - Light of Love from music go music on Vimeo.

YES! Finally the video for my favourite Music Go Music song! I first heard this song from Stereogum, like, a loooooong time ago. They had a video for quite a few of their songs, all of which consist of the band performing on the show Face Time, which we are all too young to remember. Despite what MGM would have us think, they are are a side project of David and Meredith Metcalf of Bodies of Water and assorted blonde girls and a bass player that looks like Aaron Behrens (it's not him though). These video's are all awesome, like the later BoW videos but less plot driven. The aesthetic is amazing as are all the gross 70's clothes. The lead guitar player can fucking shred! According to MGM's MySpace the band's 3 members are Gala Bell (Meredith), Kamer Maza (David) and TORG, who I'm guessing is the guitar player. In any case, this video and the rest are available on the band's long awaited (by me anyway) website. Now if they will only start playing shows...

Music Go Music's debut album is out via Secretly Canadian (Bodies of Water's label as well)

Oh yeah, remember when Meredith was on that Domino's commercial? I guess that's how they paid for all those bell bottoms.

2001 state of Mind

2009-11-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

I Can't Help It from The Breeders on Vimeo.

I've been thinking about 2001 a lot lately so it's kind of appropriate that while i was wandering around the Breeders site I found this video of the Deal's covering Hank Williams (the deals would be a good band name, no?). I first heard this song when I was making a playlist of covers for the Dr. Awesome and Sarah Show in SDSU college DJ days (this is Dr Awesome and your listening to KCR). I typed in covers to songspy, or whatever mp3 site i used to use back in the antediluvian days of free music downloading and i found so many great covers; among my favourite still are Foo Fighters covering Carry on My Wayward Son and Sonic Youth doing Moist Vagina (Kim Gordon sounds SO much like Kurt Cobain!) and Nirvana doing. I love covers, as most people know. During the brief but intense life of the Mix Tape club i was unfairly disqualified from the covers round for submitting a tape with over 50 songs on it.
Anyway, imagine 18 year old me, fresh from the tide pool of Los Angeles and treading water in the slutty shark infested deep of San Diego. I had never been in the kind of love the song talks about and probably liked it for the same reason everyone likes breeders songs: the crazy harmonies that can be achieved when two people who sound exactly alike sing together. OF course when i rediscovered this song a few years later (think 2003ish) it hit a disturbingly close resonance for me. I had all but forgotten about it until today and it's as great as ever. I remember playing it a lot on the show (i always got in trouble for playing songs over and over) and one time i coupled it with this great Tom Waits song, also about a love i couldn't understand at the time, when my biggest romantic concerns were French exchange students (hi Suzel) and being a substitute boyfriend (sex only) for lonely girls. I think they go pretty well together. For not understanding these songs at the time, they both featured a pretty big in my musical history.

Tom Waits I hope that i don´t fall in love with yo… - MyVideo

PS: While neither Tom or the Breeders made in on my I Heart 2001 mix (though the Amps did) I was way into both at the time. I remember Mitsi and Christine Lam talking about Swordfishtrombones in Mr Acosta's creative writing class. Then I saw Fight Club, bought Bone Machine and was, like, "Oooooh".

2009-09-26T12:07:00.001-07:00

The first time I heard stuff from the new Cursive record was when they were on Daytrotter last year. I hate to say but I miss the epic Cursive of Ugly Organ. Not that this is bad, Let me Up is one of the better songs on Mama, I'm Swollen, but there's something missing from this album. The two albums since Ugly Organ have been ambitious (Tilly the Wall on percussion?) but the urgency from Ugly Organ is gone. Tim Kasher had his existential crisis and came out a different man, but he still seems to be writing like he did when his life was in shambles. Writing about how terrible your life is only works when your life is actually terrible. Regardless of what your feelings are about Cursive (the feelings are love, right?) This video is pretty awesome. There's dead girls, fire, angels that look like Suicide Girls. It's Epic.

Mama I'm Swollen has been out for a minute via Saddle Creek

[bonus: click here to hear Cursive do a fantastic cover of Modern Love and an OK cover of Love Cats and a reworked The Casualty]

2009-09-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

I was 18 years old when I discovered William S Burroughs. I bought Naked Lunch at the SDSU bookstore for like $5 on sale and it freaked my whole shit OUT. It had trancipts from the indicendy trial and a handy little drug guide in the back that would come in handy when I found myself having to revive girls at the Del Mar.

The scariest part of this video is not how badly I'd still like to have Burroughs' life (except for the boyfriends) it's that horrifying plastic surgery monster Genesis from Throbbing Gristle. I forget if Genesis was a man first or a woman first but it's safe to say he/she is neither now. Anyway if you don't feel like watchng the whole 5 minute teaser (why don't you feel like watching the whole 5minute teaser?) the best parts are when one of Burroughs' "ex-boyfriends" talks about sleeping with Burroughs and there being a loaded gun in the bed. This guy was like maybe thirty. Burroughs died at 83 in 1997. This dude was around 18 in 1997. Bill still fancied himself a bit of twink I see. I couldn't seem to find any release date for this movie, but there was a celebration for the 50th anniversary of Naked Lunch a few weeks ago in Chicago. Since i don't get to go to Italy or New York or San Francisco or Arizona on my two and a half week vacation from school, I'll probably rent Beat and dream about shooting Courtney Love.

Rihanna!

2009-08-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

No, the reason that I put this video up is not because Rihanna looks good in a garter belt (Rihanna LOOKS GOOD IN A GARTER BELT!!!). I'm trying to put the fact that I think Jay Z is boring has been aside; I'm trying to put all the criticism I have about his coming out of retirement to save hip-hop (yawn!) aside and keep this focused on one thing: Yeezy.
My belief is pretty easily suspended and that means that I like a lot of things, things that maybe I shouldn't like. Something has to offend the rules of taste I've arbitrarily set up for myself in order to get me to critically think about it so that I might rip it to shreds and belittle all those who like it (hip hop is little more than a commodity and Jay Z is merely trying to cash in on the fact that people still think of it as a culture because Beyonce don't wanna have no broke-ass kids with no broke-ass man). I don't think there's anything wrong with this mode of criticism (sorry Northrop Frye), and it allows me to sound smart when I tell you what you like is silly (just kidding I don't so that I'm a Socialist).
That being said: there's something about this video which I love...I mean LOVVE!!! It plays to the innate fascination people have with mob mentality and militarism. It also evokes the themes of Apocalypse and post-Apocalyptic society. I don't know what it is but I got chills. My only problem is the fact that even in a song about taking over a society that they're not satisfied with, KANYE USES HIS SIXTEEN FUCKING BARS TO BRAG ABOUT HOW MUCH HE FUCKING LOVES CHAMPAGNE!!! Hella faggoty, blood.

Somesaj Thing

2009-08-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

Nosaj Thing Visual Show Compilation from Adam Guzman on Vimeo.

This is what you can expect, visually, when Nosaj Thing Drifts through your town this fall. Punned! I prefer the view from backstage.

Lurker Benvenuto!

2009-08-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

(or handy Italian phrases for the young American traveler.)

So I guess there's no word in Italian for lurker?

I asked a neighbor of mine (Guisepe) to translate some common phrases from English to Italian. Just in case you need them. He said that most of these were not very common and would probably end up getting you in trouble. At least I think that's what he said: his accent is very thick and he has a mustache. Anyway here are some phrases that might come in handy. Thanks Guisepe!

Where is the beach?

Dove è la spiaggia?

I have a knife!

Ho un coltello!

What time is it?

A che ora è?

Can I use your bathroom?

potere uso la sua bagno?

Do you have any beer?

Lei ha birra?

Do you have any wine?

Lei ha il vino?

Do you have any cocaine?

Lei ha la cocaina?

How much?

Quanto?

Can I have a cigarette?

Potrei avere una sigaretta?

Is there another way out of here?

C'è un'altra maniera fuori di qui?

I'm an American diplomat.

Sono un diplomatico americano.

Where is the airport?

Dove è l'aeroporto?

Do you like Bat for Lashes?

Lei ama Bat for Lashes?

Bonus: (for my personal edification)

What is the age of consent in Vatican City?

Che è l'età di consenso in Città del Vaticano?

remember: italian is phonetic. Be safe!

Are you a cop?

2009-08-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

New Wavves!!!
from nathan's blog Ghost Ramp, which usually is a platform for him talking about old Hip-hop. He put up a demo of a song called Mickey Mouse way back in July. But this new song Cool Jumper is just 6 minutes of heaven with a broken fussy wrist.

(Via Stereogum who also gave Nosaj some love today)

Good n' Plenti (a tale of 2 Julian's)

2009-08-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have been talking jive about the new Paul Banks solo record, Is...Skyscraper. Personally I like it and so does Emily Haines, and that's enough for me. It's not really Interpol sounding except for the fact that the solo record of the lead singer of the band. The music is different, and the lyrical content is pretty radically different as well (read: no laying grease inside my hand or putting shards under the belly). He is calling himself Julian Plenti and apparently from 1998-2003 Julian made more than a few appearances in the NYC area with just an acoustic guitar. The music on his album is way more lush and filled in. Luxurious almost. Here's a video for one of the more up-tempo songs on the album.

In other Julian news, Julian Casablancas is also putting out a new album. This is weird because the Strokes are already working on a new album, which is also the reason that Little Joy was Fab-less when they opened for Jarvis Cocker at the Wiltern a few weeks back. I think Julian (Casablancas) was tired of all the side projects his band mates have going on and decided to wrangle the fillies back to the stable and make a new record. But not before letting them know who the stud in the coral is. (More equine metaphors please!). Whatev, here's a "trailer" for his album Phrazes for the Young. I think I'm going to skip this despite the fact that Jules had my fave track on the Dark Night of the Soul album that Dangermouse and Sparklehorse did. Especially when heard right next to the god awful Frank Black track. So bad. Anyway, trailer:

Don't forget that Julian quit drinking and started smoking lots of weed and the result was First Impressions of Earth. From the looks of the trailer he hasn't come to his senses.

Is...Skyscraper is out now on Matador.
Phrazes for the Young is coming soon.

absence

2009-08-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

I have tried to stay away from the personal type posts on this blog, but some things are inevitable. My phone died a few weeks ago and i have just recently gotten a replacement...or should I say "replacement". Right before my birthday, like 2 days before, the screen on my Shine (Isla) went black. I had been having problems with the screen for months but it would go black and a quick reset would fix the problem. Not so this time, when my screen went from this

to this:

Screen images not simulated. As far as I can tell the phone is fine and the problem is with the screen. I couldn't tell what text messages I was getting or who was calling me, so i just decided to stop answering (sorry). Thanks to anyone who called/ texted me on my birthday. This is why i didn't answer. Sorry Mom. So, my cousin got me a replacement phone (don't ask don't tell) and it looks like this:

only instead of a mountain it has a shot of two sticks rubbing together. There's no charger for it so i have to use my aunts universal car charger with the different adapters you can change to fit your phone. Trying indeed. but at least I can be in contact with the world again. Also if you try and call me please leave a message so i can get your number. Oh yeah I lost all my numbers except for the ones i was able to figure out from the text messages i got. :(

My baby is so vain she is almost a mirror...

2009-07-16T13:40:00.001-07:00

I never really understood what that line meant. Anyway, a few weeks ago Patrik over at Cobain in a Coma put up a bunch of videos (mostly dark, post-punky glamy stuff, but also Fever Ray and Gwar) and among them was this gem from the Boys Next Door. For those of you who might not be familiar with the Boys (or able to deduce from the video) they were basically the Birthday Party without Tracy Pew (aka the best part of the Party). I love the Boys almost as much as I love the Birthday Party, but a lot of people talk shit about them. Yeah, if you take away the screeching guitars and soul-rattling bass of the BP and add some sax and keyboards the product comes off a little maudlin and mopey, but those critics forget that Nick and the rest of the boys were like 7 yrs old at the time. Plus their album Door, Door has a song about Roman Polanski on it!

One time me and Mitsu were talking about the BP and I got in trouble for saying that [bassist] Tracy Pew was the balls of the BP. Mitsu argued that [guitarist] Rowland Howard was the balls.
For the record:

This is Tracy Pew-

This is Rowland S Howard-

This is just a phenotypic comparison, but it goes deeper. One of the biggest draws of the BP is their menacingly loud sound. No, I'm not trying to sell Rowland short, he's a big part of the BP sound, his wailing, distorted and manaical guitars are almost wholly responsible for the assulting racket that makes the BP so appealing (along with Nicks screaming, duh). Tracy is solely resposnible for the presence of the band. Listening to the BP in preperation for this post I tried to find a song representative of Tracy's awesomeness but for the most part couldn't get past the screaming and the guitar feedback, until I realized that in every song the gutteral bass is the ground that the rest of the band plays on. That bad vibration is the lurking monster. Rowland stabs you in the face, Tracy swallows you whole.
I remember breaking down the physiology of the Birthday Party like this: Nick Cave is the raw, throat, the bloody mouth. Rowland is the sharpned fingernails or the teeth. Phil Calvet/ Mick Harvey [drummers] are the boots on the feet and Tracy is the balls/ guts of the beast.

This is from a Birthday Party DVD called Pleasure Heads Must Burn, it's my 3rd favourite BP song.

Malajube

2009-07-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

New video for Canadian band, and Nic Harcourt faves Malajube. I think Malajube is a kind of disease, but I'm not sure. The song is pretty neat and also pretty pretty, and the video has a girl almost drowning.

Labyrinthes is out via Dare To Care as are their other records.

Too Soon?

2009-07-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

So I was in Silverlake, at Sunset Junction this past Friday/ Saturday and happned across these amazing tags on the street. This one is from Saturday right outside the Intelligensia Cafe. The best thing is that when I was on Sunset and Vermont the day before I found this gem on the side of one of those LA Express dispensers.

What is the deal? I love the absurdity of this person deciding to wait eight years after 9/11 to bust this out. More reason's why LA is the best city in the world: terrorists know not to fuck with us.

Currently listening to: Youth Tunes by Little Girls (Not to be confused with The Little Girls, the gross 80's sluts from Santa Monica. These Little Girls are from Toronto and are good.)

This just in...

2009-06-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

New Corocodiles Video! They're also from San Diego. They're not so much with the public meltdowns scene but they still kill it.

"I would smoke the surfboard, I wouldn't take it in the water. It's made of weed."

2009-06-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

Wavves "No Hope Kids" from Pete Ohs on Vimeo.

I love Wavves. I think Nathan and Ryan are on to something, lo-fi revival aside. Everyone loves to talk shit about Wavves because Nathan is young and likes to smoke weed and writes songs on Garage Band using only 3 chords. The reason Wavves is so popular is because despite the horrible sounding description it's the fact that he's young and stoned and write songs on a computer that makes Wavves so good. Then, there's the whole Spain situation. Yeah, Nathan talked shit about Spain and discussed California's superiority (very true things), but it was also a Festival show! Wavves' set time was 2:20 AM! Pitchfork and all the other music jerks acted like Animal Collective had just said they were bigger than Jesus. Sure Nathan's a mess, but he's also a kid. If he can write songs this good as young and as stoned all the time as he is, imagine what he'll do when he puts the pipe and the pills down. I also love how hipsters will interview Nathan and then get angry at Wavves popularity. Anyway, this is the video for No Hope Kids off of Wavvves. This was kind of ranty.

Wavvves is out now on Fat Possum

Currently Listening to: Teenage Super Party by Wavves

Weekenders

2009-06-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

It's only Tuesday but since it's finals it feels like it's barely Sunday.
This Saturday Telepethe is playing at the Smell with Abe Vigoda and some other bands. Someone named Heather Gram is DJing. That's actually really clever. We were going to to go see Abe Vigoda last Saturday at one of those Vice parties where they give you free Colt 45 for 2 hours, but ended up skipping it. Telepathe seems like they're too big for the smell, no?
This weekend though, we're definately going to hit up the Viceland Summer Bender. The Soft Pack are playing- they used to be The Muslims, they're O.K. No Age is doing a DJ set. I wonder if they're going to play any Child Pornography. Or Laco$te. Ha ha ha ha ha. Are those jerks still alive?

Currently Listening to: Summer of Hate by Crocodiles.

Gaze into...THE ABYSS!

2009-06-04T14:23:00.000-07:00

This is a crazy ass video! Yeah, it's 8 months late and this was totally the banger last summer but it's still a good video. Kids and monsters and Joanna Newsom (thankfully keeping her mouth shut). I feel bad for the kid, he's gonna be wetting his bed 'til college. Worth it, though.

Bill, killed.

2009-06-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Sure by know you've all heard about David Carradine being found dead in Bangkok. Apparently it was auto-erotic asphyxiation (masturbating while choking yourself or having someone else choke you) so as soon as they find the prostitute that the 72 year old Carradine was with, he/she (i mean he or she not he-she. although...) can clear everything up.
For the record, that's:

1. Coco Taylor

2. David Carradine

3. ???

Better light a candle for Farrah Fawcett, y'all.

currently listening to: Captured Tracks by Dum Dum Girls

Feel good blog of the summer

2009-06-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

What is Isabella up to?

Even my niece has a blog and she's not even done teething! Her first post is glamour shots of herself which is kind of vain but i can appreciate it.

currently listening to: Century of the Self by ...And you will Know us by the Trail of Dead

Good to be old

2009-05-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

Of course everyone knows about Lyricwiki; it's great for finding out song lyrics to put on your MySpace. Or if you want to do a little studying before karaoke nights (oh! it's 'a light hits the GLOOM on the grey'...) or in case you want to work on your dance moves. But they also do a thing called Album of the Week and sometimes it dumb stuff like Linkin Park or Animal Collective but this weeks AoW is Madvillainy by Madvillain. I haven't thought about this album in forev. Weren't they supposed to come out with a second one? I know Madlib did Madvillainy 2 and Stones Throw did a box set. Anyway, it's a cool feature and a great album.

currently listening to: Wavves (2009) by Wavves.

put flaccid in yr butt

2009-05-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

new BRIDEZ vid.

Bridez - Frenemies from ben chappell on Vimeo.

For a Rookie

2009-05-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, me and David (the King) had a book reading contest- to see who could read the most books in a year. I don't want to say that i destroyed, but I DESTROYED! Well not really, 12 books in 12 months...still pretty good. We got the idea for this from George W Bush and Carl Rove who had the same competition and apparently W won like 5 years in a row. Here's 2007's list:

1 Post Mortems/ Of Mere Mortals by Dr. C. MacLaurin
2 Candide by François-Marie Voltaire
3 The Drowned World by JG Ballard
4 Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra
5 The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things by JT LeRoy
6 Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
7 Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr
8 RANT by Chuck Plahniuk
9 The Postmodern Condition by Jean-Francois Lyotard
10 Tough, Tough, Toys for Tough, Tough Boys by Will Self
11 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
12 The Safety of Objects by A.M. Homes

This year without even trying to (i.e. for school) I've read:

1 The Iliad by Homer

2 The Odyssey by Homer

3 The Aeneid by Virgil

4 The Inferno by Dante

5 The Metamorphoses by Ovid

6 Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney

7 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

8 Explosion in a Cathedral by Alejo Carpentier

9 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

10 House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

11 The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa

12 A Room of One's Own by Virginia Wolf

13 Confessions by St Augustine

This is just counting books. I've read like tons (like literally there was very heavy amounts of reading) of short stories and poetry for various classes. I took 3 literature classes last quarter- big mistake. I'm taking 3 in the summer so this list is gonna keep growing.

Currently listening to: Actor by St Vincent (it's very good)

Mustache Ride

2009-05-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Ponytail show on Friday was amazing! Cex opened for them and I guess it was cool that Ponytail is about the hometown love, but Cex cux...sorry. Rjyan left his laptop on-stage for like an hour before he came up for an actual set. He was off eating Ponytail's pizza and stealing their Tecate while his computer droned on with minorly changing beats. Once he came on stage he rocked the Echo with one good song and like 45 MORE minutes of same sounding boring house beats. The best part of his epic (in length only) set was the light show projected on the floor. I wish I would've had some acid or at least triple C's. Rjyan kept mugging at these underaged girls who were in the front for his set, they would kind of sway awkwardly to the monotonous boringness. I think Rjyan forgot that making music like a 16 year old doesn't make you any more 16 .
Between the gross Club Underground DJ's that started spinning once Ponytail finished their criminaly short set and Rjyans set, it felt like Ponytail's show got comendeered by techno. They still rocked it- near the end of their set Molly Siegel let the crowd know that they had only two songs left but assured us "the next one is really long." They played one new song that sounded like they already know what direction they're moving in (MORE VOCALS!) and Molly ran around the crowd twice, collecting sweaty hugs from the happy fans. This is Dustin, one of the guitar players: that's about as sweaty as we all were after the show.

You want me to make you a mixtape, Lollipop?

2009-05-13T23:19:00.001-07:00

dude...that season finale, right? too bad we gotta wait a damn year to get some answers...

Plog

2009-05-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

So it's official. We're bringing pogs back. Tell all your friends, get your pog tubes out from under your bed and get your slammers. NO POISON! It's a pog party.

Spoilers Alert Machine

2009-05-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not the kind of person who cares whether or not a spoiler is alerted to me, mostly because I don't care about spoilers. I don't need to go into a movie "fresh." Usually I end up forgetting what it is that got spoiled for me.

That being said; did anyone see Star Trek this weekend? It was pretty amazing. I read about three reviews and the authors all said to some degree the same thing that Scott Foundas said in his negative review in the LA Weekly and I quote him here: that they were 'long time (albeit casual) Trek fans.' I love that Star Trek fans (among which i am counted) have to so distance themselves lest they be called Trekkies. At least we're not dressed up like Chewbaccas right, guys? Anyway, the first thing that was wrong with Foundas' review is how short it is. It reads like he reviewed the trailer. But this is not a review of a review; it's a review on JJ Abrams' megalomania.
This movie had Abrams' stamp all over it: 3D lettering floating in space (pun?), the needless inclusion of time travel, and lots of daddy issues. I've never seen Alias because it was the worst, but I feel pretty sure it had all those things. Was anyone else waiting for Kirk to call someone freckles?
Speaking of time travel: It's amazing how totally obvious JJ Abrams was about making sure that the audience all knew that this new Star Trek was his Star Trek. He straight up destroyed 2 Federation planets that were a pretty big part of the old Trek mythos. JJ Abrams is basically Captain Nero- taking it upon himself to rearrange the past for his own selfish purposes. I'm not complaining- I love the new Star Trek movie and am not the kind of nerd who thinks remakes have to be faithful to source material (I am a different kind of nerd). I like the fact JJ Abrams used his first Trek film to establish himself as it's universe's new God. Looks like Simon Pegg was wrong about all odd-numbered Star Trek film being shit.

Star Trek is out now, and it is gooooooood.

It came from Baltimore

2009-05-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is a Ponytail post.
First off i have to say how excited i was to hear Ponytail is coming to to Los Angeles (to the Echo) on May 15th (duh, I'll be there). I wasn't to sure the review of their new video over at Stereogum was a positive one. I personally think that Ponytail is for everyone. They're complex but not complicated. kind of math-y and spontaneous at the same time. I think i have a crush on Molly Siegel. She's very unfairly compared to Yoko Ono because of her vocal style, but where Yoko 'sang' the way she did out of a sort of proto-hipster pretension, there's no sign of insincerity coming from Molly or any of the Ponytail members. There's a reason they're always smiling: they're happy little fuckers. It comes across in their music. I'm very excited about the show.
If however you feel like you'd like your Ponytail a little mellower they stopped at Daytrotter last November and you'd hardly recognize them. I mean, you can see that it's the same minds making the music, but it sounds so different coming from acoustic guitars. Anyway, here's their new video for Celebrate the Body Electric (it came from an angel) off of last year's brilliant Ice Cream Spiritual.

Ice Cream Spiritual is out now (buy it!) on We Are Free.

Currently listening to: (ironically NOT Ponytail) Rainer Maria- CT Catholic

Drinko de Mayo

2009-05-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

We went out last night and after hitting up the El Torito in Redondo Beach (I know right?) and this place called Old Tony's (where we sang so loud that more than a few people got up and left) we ended up at a bar called Naja's Place and it was actually kind of cool. It was right by the peir and it was really hot but the beer was cheap and there was a lots to choose from. I got a Franzikaner for $5! I honestly didn't think beach people went in for stuff like this. No offense, beach people. The place was empty for being 5 de Mayo as was everywhere that wasn't El Torito. I'm not sure whether we would have liked it had it not been so empty. The girl who suggested it was kind of an asshole and the bartendress kept talking to her boyfriend about how they were gonna have sex after she closed up. It was a pretty fun alcoholiday.

Currently listening to: Black Angels- Directions to See a Ghost

Monday Nights.

2009-05-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

With Heroes being done for the season it looks like the highlight of Monday nights (actually Tuesday morning because it's on at 12am- semantics) is going to be The Western Tradition, which KOCE (channel 50 in L.A). The Western Tradition is, of course, the amazing and R.I.P Eugene Weber, a former professor from UCLA, lecturing on the history of the Western world. It's half-hour lectures, usually on a specific topic (episode 43. Revolution and Romantics). It's literally one of the most informative shows ever. Like, did you know that Feudalism helped create the Artisan class? Feudal Lords came into wealth and they wanted things to spend that money on; this meant that peasants who knew how to make pottery or weave could sell things to the Lord thus- Artisans! It's what history classes should be like. One of my life long dreams was to watch Dr Weber give a lecture, but unfortunately he died in 07. Thankfully the OC PBS station still gives us his wisdom in 2 back to back episodes every Monday night/ Tuesday morning. Which is great because after watching episode 31. The Age of Absolutism who could wait a whole week to watch episode 32. Absolutism and the Social Contract ?

for all fellow night owls:
The Western Tradition- channel 50 (KOCE)
Tuesday 12AM & 1230 AM
repeated Thursday 4AM & 430AM

Currently listening to: New Boyz- your [sic] a jerk

Up Top, Sir.

2009-05-02T17:31:00.000-07:00

These are some bands I've been listening to because a couple of weeks ago someone asked.

"lo-fi"/ new scuzz:
Ganglians (Sacramento Scuzz)
Wavves (From SD- very good young man, has a cassette tape tattoo)
Dum Dum Girls (actually one girl)
Crocodiles (they want to kill)
Hospitality (like to record on cell phones)
Wetdog (one word- they're from UK kinda like Sleater-Kinney)
Thomas Tantrum (also from UK. more polished. Lily Allen likes them a lot- don't hold it against them)

I've also been listening to some electro stuff. Very noisey, boys like that I hear.
The Whip (been around since 2006- from manchester where they invented techno)
You Love Her Coz She's Dead (sounds like your NES is possesed)
Teengirl Fantasy (less noisy, more glitter)
Cold Cave (one of the guys from Abe Vigoda likes them- don't hold it against them)
Digital Leather (because Shawn is the champ! Jay Reatard used to be in this band and you can totally hear how it informs his current sound. they are playing together in long beach in June- we should go)

these are all myspaces but, whatev. Also have you heard the new Heartless Bastards? It's fucking magic. Next post will be more substansial. i gotta go cau'se they're gonna close the library.