a great one has said
that poets are midwives
to reality

yet these words
catch me
when i would have them
let me go

from
, Said the Shotgun to the Head

Winter Songs

(from fakeneverland)

Two red birds
high on a wire
One said love
One said fire

Two black birds
deep in a tree
one said you
one said me

But wind came up
and tossed them away
no one hears
what they say

("Ill Wind" - Michael Ryan)


Some bleak and beautiful songs for you kids.
The best of the holidays to you (and yours),
Hallz



Winter Songs.zip
"Put the Lights on the Tree" Sufjan Stevens
"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" Chris Martin
"Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" Feist
"Silent Night" Lisa Hannigan
"O Come, O Come Emmanuel" Sufjan Stevens
"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" Pedro the Lion
"White Christmas" Maria Taylor
"What Child is This Anyway?" Sufjan Stevens
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" Bright Eyes
"The Christmas Song" The Raveonettes
"That Was the Worst Christmas Ever" Sufjan Stevens
"Sister Winter" Sufjan Stevens
"Happy Christmas (War is Over)" John and Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band

Dr. Cutright

Tripping over mountains of molecules and metronomes, Dr. Cutright climbs the winding staircase up and away forever toward the morning glory falling through the open window. The doorway reveals: a blinding field of oranges and lemons, an Arizonian kitchen in a daisy grove. a flip of the electric switch and Cutright is retreating into himself, stepping back into his hole, like the brain-warped automata of some ancient sci-fi flick. restless the machine pours whispers upon voices of Vapors that tussle and rise up toward the golden ceiling caressing human skin swirling in the nostrils like the winds that flow through seas of leaves and light. (damnit)

Ramma

-Bruno Dayan

I've been eatin' with a good friend, who said
"A genie made me out of the earth's skin."
But in spite of her, she is my birth kin.
She spits me out of her surly blood rivers.

- Animal Collective

Mixtape:
Ramma (Part 1)
Ramma (Part 2)

"Comfy in Nautica"
-Panda Bear

"something"
-The Microphones

"Egowar"/"Untitled (Piano)"
-Gang Gang Dance

"Cobwebs"
-Animal Collective

"Kid Klimax"
-Atlas Sound

"The Floodlight Collective"
-Lotus Plaza

"Fireworks"
-Animal Collective

"Italian Shoes Continuum"
-Stereolab

"There is a Number of Small Things"
-Múm

"window #14"
-The Microphones

"Trance Doll"
-Pictureplane

"Boatfriend"
-Black Moth Super Rainbow

"Seagull's Flight"
-Ducktails

"Backyards"
-Broken Social Scene

"Search for Delicious"
-Panda Bear

Samples from Kristin Oppenheim's sound poem, "Tickle"

- thanks for the pic, Zoé. I'm glad you're free.

This isn't any new album. It's a multiplayer video game, seemingly unrelated to the 'music blog' we have going on here. But on the contrary, Bit Trip is a series of games for the Nintendo Wii, drawing the player into audiovisual ecstasy--ok, maybe a little overspoken--by a continuous flow of lights and intuition. Bit Trip Beat looks and feels like some evolved descendant of pong, which may be why Descent, the title of the second of three levels, may be fitting. Or maybe, the name's justified by the self-generated, musical extravaganza that calms the clambering surface of the spontaneous mind. Actually, its not all that soothing. I don't know what it is. I guess you just have to check it out or something . .



Oh, this video feels kinda slow if you aren't really playing, so you might want to like fast forward, to see how it changes.

I want to taste the futility.

01 Flume - Bon Iver
02 Ethics is the Esthetics of the Few-Ture - Laurie Anderson
03 I Play It Off Legit - Ween
04 Mensforth Hill - The Clash
05 New Orthophony - Stereolab
06 Atlas - Battles
07 Bad Crumbs - Animal Collective
08 Satan is Boring - Sonic Youth
09 Dawn of the Age of Tomorrow - The Black Lips

Local Flavor

A little lo-fi from some developing artists, living and creating in central Arkansas.

Your Daughter is Filing Photographs of Planets - Ryan Gaston
Heavens - Payton Clark
Ever Again - Crazy Diamonds
Four Keys - Payton Clark
Theremine I - Ryan Gaston
When The Sun Shines - Crazy Diamonds

Ryan, without words: "Fuck the genre."


Payton, silently in accord.

Bryce, dude, Gang Gang Dance is sweet.

Sporting dancey, spacey, experimental music that has a tinge of tribal and eastern, Brooklyn quartet Gang Gang Dance's fourth full-length effort, St. Dymphna, is one of the most innovative things I've heard all year. It's albums like this that make me think that all those "Best of 2008" list makers should've done their research more.

-Bryce

Tell 'em how it is, man. For your subversive insight and their fucking spiritual jam, here's a tribute to the both of you . . .

01 EEEAAASSSEEE BAAACCCCKKKKKK - Black Octopus Lipstick Project
02 Neon Beanbag (Atlas Sound Southern Baptist Remix) - Stereolab
03 Fluffy (I Want You) - Polar Bear
04 Blue Nile - Gang Gang Dance
05 Vacuum - Gang Gang Dance
06 Cristobal - Devendra Banhart
07 #1 - Animal Collective
08 Lana Turner (Peel Session) - Magoo
09 Fight this Generation - Pavement
10 Joy! Joy! Joy! - Sufjan Stevens
11 Black Heroes - Ratatat
12 The F**ked Jam - Ween
13 Let's Go Away For a While - The Beach Boys
14 Circulation - Deerhunter
15 (The F**ked Retort) - Ween
16 Dust - Gang Gang Dance

Thanks for existing, guys!

I Love You and Buddha Too - Mason Jennings

Peace.

Medicine for your consumerist quandary . . .

First off, thanks to Eric for introducing me to the Black Lips. Basically, they're fucking sweet. Second off, if you haven't heard Pavement, it's time you did. The coolest American band of the last decade.

These Black Lips songs are from Let it Bloom (2005), their third studio album, but I can't wait to hear more. Apparently, they've been crankin' out the toons for a few years now. And Pavement is just one of those bands that is impossible to introduce with a hand full of songs, so enjoy this fairly early selection and then frolic to amazon or a cool album shop and listen to some more. Terror Twilight, their final album, is a gem, but, then, they all are. It's cool, though, to see where the band took their sound before starting from the beginning and experiencing it through to the conclusion. (If any former members of Pavement ever read this, I just want to say Thank You).

Perfect Depth - Pavement
Feeling Gay - Black Lips
Cataracts - Pavement
Dirty Hands - Black Lips
Fame Throwa - Pavement
Hippie, Hippie, Hoorah - Black Lips

Peace easy.

Another mixtape: Subtle Catharsis

"Black Eye" by Sally Mann

This mix is less forcibly engaging but more reflective than my last mix, Free. It's meant for gapless playback, so burn it or load it up in any decent media player, kick back, and enjoy.

Mother, skew my designs.
I need to escape.

Mixtape:
01 Moon Moon Moon - The Microphones
02 Grave Architecture - Pavement
03 Birthday Boy - Ween
04 Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 - Bach, Academy of St. Martin
05 Her Disappearing Theme - Broken Social Scene
06 Death is a Star - The Clash
07 To Bits (and Pieces) - Mr. Bear
08 [unknown, edited] - Mr. David
09 Plastic Jesus - The Flaming Lips
10 Red Ink - Deerhunter
11 1 2 3 of Me [noise sampled from Ginsu Wives album] - Black Moth Super Rainbow
12 In Limbo - Radiohead
13 Safer - Animal Collective
14 Fan #2 [cut] - Ronez
15 I Don't Wanna Die [cut] - The Unicorns
16 Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles
17 Spring Hall Convert - Deerhunter
18 Ocean - The Microphones
19 In the Singing Box - Animal Collective

Share the love.

Mysteryfunk EP

This is an uncut, completely improvised stream of musical genius. Garage à Trois is mind blowing. I can't describe it better than some girl named Gina:

All I have to say is, if my mom caught me listening to this, I think I'd be grounded. This is some of the sexiest music I have ever heard in my life.

Side A:
Mysteryfunk
Chupa Cadabra

Side B:
Bwami
FCR Theme

Mysteryfunk is the band's first release, and its a fantastic introduction to one fantastic jazz project. These tunes are infectious, so if you need the alalog experience, get the vinyl.

Super Rainbow Quest

Here's a little mix: A Tribe Called Quest (Midnight Marauders 1993) and Black Moth Super Rainbow (Falling Through a Field 2003, Start a People 2004). Keep it real.

Steve Biko (Stir It Up) - TCQ
Season for Blooming - BMSR
Sucka Nigga - TCQ
Boatfriend - BMSR
Electric Relaxation - TCQ
Smile Heavy - BMSR

Be safe while driving.

This mix is a bit of a journey. It's called Free. Enjoy.

Sample: (EB Prologue + After Class)
Mixtape:
Freee (Part 1)
Freee (Part 2)

State this ache as the final break.
Tender situation--create a good illusion.
Feel the grip of your salvation.
This is, indeed, a tender situation.

Make a move, man. State your case.
Taste the waste, man. Taste the waste.
What is your place in my glorification.
Yeah, this is really a tender situation.

Get off the pot, man. Shake and Bake.
Taste the waste, man. Taste the waste.
Pump it up or stray from that old station.
Yeah, dude, this is really a tender situation.

- Ween

Go to the shore and pray for the sea.
Go towards the mirror and pray that you'll see
someone else.
Downtown. Go downtown.

Go to the waves of grain in the center of the state.
Go away.
Go to a parking lot, sit on the ground and cry.
You'll never know why.

Start over. Start over.
Go to the ocean on a ship.
Wave goodbye to the waves and the frozen shit that was in your heart.
So long.

Time slows when it goes away.
Go away.
Time Slows.
So long.

-Deerhunter

Track list:
01 Tender Situation - Ween
02 Throwin the Round Ball - AC
03 Tropicana- Ratatat
04 Prologue (Earthbound) - Keiichi Suzuki
05 After Class - Atlas Sound
06 Final Battle - Keiichi Suzuki
07 Mourning Glory - Ween
08 Map - The Microphones
09 Doko Doko Desert - Keiichi Suzuki
10 Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel - Atlas Sound
11 Sadhanipa - Ravi Shankar & Philip Glass
12 I'm Not - Panda Bear
13 Sand (Eric's Trip) - The Microphones
14 Small Horror - Atlas Sound
15 Ready Set Glow - Atlas Sound
16 We Have a Map of the Piano - Múm
17 Twilight at Carbon Lake - Deerhunter

Take it easy.

Bite Marks.

I felt the firework crackle of your bitemarks in the deadbeat summer, but I'd rather be sleeping.

There's Diamonds and Pearls in Your Hair...

When you're alone in your bed, I strut my stuff to the banshee beat.

Shows This Week

What a great week for music! This Thursday, Girl Talk is playing at the Rev Room in Little Rock, and on Sunday The Felice Brothers are playing with Old Crow Medicine Show at Minglewood Hall in Memphis. If you don't already have your Girl Talk ticket, the Rev Room will be releasing 100 extra tickets for sale when the doors open at 7:00 PM. As far as I know, the Felice Brothers/Old Crow show isn't sold out yet and tickets are available at the door. I've never seen Old Crow Medicine Show live before, so I can't vouch for them, but I can tell you that The Felice Brothers put on the most hardcore live folk show in existence. So round up some cash, drive your ass to Memphis, buy a 40, and watch The Felice Brothers tear some shit up.

Girl Talk -- Friday Night
The Felice Brothers -- Helen Fry
The Felice Brothers -- Whiskey in My Whiskey
The Felice Brothers -- Ballad of Lou the Welterweight

I Got Stripes

I've been on a White Stripes kick today. Here are some sweet B-sides and rarities.

The White Stripes -- Let's Shake Hands
The White Stripes -- Hand Springs
The White Stripes -- Party of Special Things to Do (Captain Beefheart cover)
The White Stripes -- Conquista

Flaming Lips Covers

I got the Fight Test EP for Christmas and I thought these covers were pretty nifty.

The Flaming Lips -- Can't Get You Out of My Head (Kylie Minogue cover)
The Flaming Lips -- The Golden Age (Beck cover)
The Flaming Lips -- Knives Out (Radiohead cover)

More Live Animal Collective, New Song

Animal Collective played a few dates after their recent release of MPP, two of which were at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC. Nyctaper recorded both nights, which are available here and here. Also, on a recent BBC session, AC put down a great version of what's being referred to in the blogosphere as "What Would I Want Sky," which is either a new song or an MPP outtake. AC has indicated that they have no intentions of releasing an MPP B-Sides EP, so this may be the closest we get to a recorded version of this great song.

Animal Collective -- What Would I Want Sky (Live on BBC)

Animal Collective -- Lion in a Coma (Live on BBC)