With Love and Squalor

Oh hello there, I didn't see you come in.

Hope everyone is having a nice autumn. I presume it's better now that you have Goldblum burned into your retinas. My fall has been pretty chill, not too much new in the Life department. Been working on grad school apps. Moved in with three cool dudes at the top of Mt Olympus (I shit you not). Perpetually surrounded by clouds, we sit on our collective butt watch obscene amounts of Battlestar Gallactica. It's great. Also, I've been stocking up on authentic San Francisco experiences -- felt my first real earthquake the other day AND it was a two parter- 4.0 and 2.5. Then I saw Craig from Craigslist walking down the street because apparently we share a neighborhood. But that's all. So I guess it's about time to pump out another prepackaged bundle of associative memories to the Spotify cloud. This particular bundle was requested by Miss Natalia so I kept electro to a minimum. (Eh, I was in a broody grooves mood anyway.) Some newies, mostly oldies. Because my laptop is currently inpatient somewhere around Dell headquarters, this mix is only available streaming for now. Yeah, after two years of touching various metals to the side of my computer in lieu of a power button, I finally decided it was time to cash in on my warranty. Imagine! Anyhow, without further ado: For Nat--

With Love and Squalor

 Spotify / Grooveshark (boooo, incomplete)

1. Lifeboat (Instrumental) - Nathaniel Merriweather, Lovage, Dan the Automator
2. Power (feat. Danny Brown and Despot) - Das Racist
3. Parade - Justice
4. Rabbit In Your Headlights - UNKLE, Thom Yorke
5. Singin' In The Rain - Mint Royale
6. Oh Lord - Foxy Shazam
7. A Pretty Girl is Like - The Magnetic Fields
8. Tuff Ghost - The Unicorns
9. Foxes Mate For Life - Born Ruffians [Guest track contributed by Chris Johnson, "for your gaylist"]
10. Strangers on a Train - Nathaniel Merriweather, Kid Koala, Lovage et. al.
11. Daydreamin' (feat. Jill Scott) - Lupe Fiasco
12. Undiscovered First - Feist
13. This Momentary - Delphic
14. Weatherpeople (Instrumental) - RJD2
15. Phosphene Dream - The Black Angels
16. I'm A Goner - Souljaboy, Andrew W.K., Matt & Kim
17. Soundtracks & Come Backs - Goldfish
18. Experiment Number Six - Lemon Jelly
19. A Fifth of Beethoven - DJ Daddy Ray Z

Tangential Note: If you haven't read Salinger's Nine Stories (Title Reference), please do. You can't let negative associations Catcher in the Rye infect his other work. (Am I inside your head or what?)

Completely unrelated note: If you ever find yourself needing Photoshop on a computer where it's not installed- Pixlr is a ridiculously legit alternative. Spread the word!

Lucid Dreams

It's official, I'm addicted to making playlists.
That, or my tendency to obsess over a limited number of songs easily lends itself to documentation. Whatever. Either way, this one's an attempt to capture the experience of  wandering around SF in the summertime. Overall, pretty upbeat and chill, ranging from delightfully quirky to full-on strange. Definitely recommending you whip out a solid pair of headphones-- tracks like Cornelius' Mic Check and Franz Ferdinand's Lucid Dreams are infinitely improved with legit acoustics. Also, if there's any way you can absorb these tunes while laying in the grass bonding with rapidly shifting cloud formations, it's preferrable. Trust me.

Stream on Spotify or Grooveshark / DL on le Dbox

1. 7th Street - Chinese Man Records
2. Nights Off - Siriusmo
3. (My 1st) Big Break - Cut Chemist
4. Tetra - SebastiAn
5. Ladyflash - The Go! Team
6. Life Coach - Fang Island
7. Summer of All Dead Souls - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
8. Winter That's All - Fol Chen
9. Royksopp Forever - Royksopp
10. Forever Lost - Pretty Lights
11. Bad Idea - Siriusmo
12. Rolling Nectarine - Hooray for Earth
13. Vision One - Royksopp
14. Run Run Run - Phoenix
15. Lucid Dreams - Franz Ferdinand
16. Youthless - Beck
17. Mic Check - Cornelius
18. Of The Mountains - Dan Deacon
19. High School Art Class - Pretty Lights

Album art: cropped Gustavo Peña painting
[Check out the rest of his work, this man's a boss.]

Strictly Electronic

It recently came to my attention that my significant other isn't familiar with a fuckton of the music I hold dear, namely key players in the world of electronica. This is unacceptable and must be remedied. Solution: PLAYLIST TIME! While I can't claim this is even remotely close to a History Of  or even Comprehensive Introduction to Techno,  I can put together a fun mixtape of songs and artists that were essential in developing my own personal appreciation of genre.

Because it turned out so long, I've divided into two movements. The songs are pretty much grouped by artist and somewhat organized by subgenre (...as defined by me). PART ONE starts off with Ed Banger bros and moves through artists based on what I consider to be incestuous remix relationships. It stays mostly within the confines of  minimalist, experimental house, if that's even a thing. PART TWO explores the more lyrical, danceable, psychadelic and poppy sides of electronica. So basically, everything else. It even has some dips into trance, drumNbass and triphop. God this was fun to make. A most productive trip down memory lane. Enjoy!

Listen on Grooveshark, Spotify or Download from Dropbox

PART 1

PART 2

Illustration by So Me.

HEADS UP: For the life of me, I can't find any of The Chemical Brothers on Grooveshark, so sadface. Also, in the zipfile version, the Lemon Jelly tracks aren't obeying my requested changes in their ID3 tags. They are supposed to be songs 63 and 64-- down with the triphop, out of electrohouse territory.

Lastly, no post about electronica is complete without a flowchart. Eventually I have plans to map out the artists featured in this mix based on their country of origin, remix connections and general subgenre tendencies. But that's a good amount of effort and research I'll reserve for another day. Til then, you get this classic:

(toothpastefordinner.com)

Yell at me for leaving your favorites out, I dare you. Some crucial dudes only had tiny roles because I believe their contribution to be universally acknowledged (yeah, I'm looking at YOU DPunk) and this lesson in techno was getting pretty lengthy as it was. But there are people I may have legitmately forgotten and I'm never opposed to expanding my music library -TEACH ME. This way I can have them all in the same thread. Actually I'll go ahead and start: "UHH...KRAFTWERK???"

And in case you need moaaarrrr, have some RELATED POSTS:

nom nom electronica

Sounds of Soulwax

It's not you, it's the E talking

Music for people who should know better

Houston, you're perfect please don't change a thing.

It's nothing personal. I still love you and I always will. (how? let me count the ways! without rhyming!) Your skyline. Your cumulus clouds. Your summer that lasts from early March until November. Your ridiculous spaghetti webs of highways. The fact you can drive 45 minutes away (at 60mph) from downtown and still be within city limits. You know what? I don't even care your traffic runs from 7am to 7pm - driving around at 3am is where it's at. Down Allen Parkway. Or through Montrose. Or in The Heights. Also your Rice University rocks for bajillions of reasons but ultimately: 2 pubs and a 24 hour library? BAM. Your exhaustive list of restaurants that are open awesomely late. Your young yet impressive music festival and your burgeoning concert scene.Your obscenely cheap housing market and remarkable standard of living. Your resistance to the plague of unemployment. Did I mention the weather? Because yea, the weather fucking rocks. Also you pretty much house all of my extended family and friends, so that's a plus.
Despite all of this, it's time for me to move on and go be my own person in different city for awhile. But seriously, no hard feelings. I will defend your clogged highways, dense humidity, and blood-boiling summers til the very end. 'Cause it's worth it.

Lastly, anyone who's ever driven down Allen Parkway at night knows it's imbued with mystical powers. Today's playlist is brought to you by songs that I like to skip ahead to whenever I find myself on it: they are guaranteed to make you feel invincible if played in tune to the road's epic curves (trust me, this is based on extensive mixed cd testing. Results may vary on other streets).

Grooveshark or Dbox

Supermoves - Overseer
Mausam and Escape - A.R. Rahman
Phantom Pt II (Boys Noize Remix) - Justice
Power - Kanye West
Rock is Dead - Marilyn Manson
E Pro - Beck

Born Free - MIA

Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
Come Down on Me - Lemon Jelly
Fuckin' in the bushes - Oasis
Halfway Home - TV on the Radio
Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz
Ledmonton - Clues
Party Hard - Andrew W.K
Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine
The Parachute Ending - Birdy Nam Nam

and with that, Grooveshark wins the funnest-way-to-make playlists award. *pours one out for Seeqpod* yea, I used the word funnest.
image cred: me! being a creeper on the mandell bridge over 59.

Now, due to a construct in my mind

That makes these songs and their lyrics,

Symbolic of my entire existence.

It becomes important for me,

To make a playlist.*

Inspired by Nat, I've compiled a list of songs that were written for and/or about me. Basically, tunes that either perfectly capture what the voice in my head wishes it could say or somehow describe my life experiences with eerie accuracy. Not to be confused with my "Favorite Songs Ever Ever Ever" playlist, which is coming soon. And this, kids, is what I do after midnight.

HEY, YOU CAN LISTEN ON THE GROOVESHARK!

Also here's the designated coverart and tracklist with blurbs so I can look back at this post in 20 years and giggle. Oh, life.

**

Mr. Mastodon Farm- Cake Because everyone's attributed life-shattering significance to random external events at some point in their life, right? God, we're weird.

Breathe - Anna Nalick Honestly the best advice I've ever gotten from the radio.
Do You Realize??? - The Flaming Lips "The sun doesn't go down /It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round"

Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games- Of Montreal Oh hi there, blogname!

Winter Wonderland - Animal Collective Exposing ridiculousness of existential denial.
Why Do I Keep Counting? - The Killers Good question.

Trouble with Dreams- Eels "You never know when to hold on or when to let go. "

Dinosaur- Whitey A refreshing take on the circle of life.
Apartment Story - The National *Happy sigh* It just is.
Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger "Hear the voices in my head / I sweartogod it sounds like they're snoring"
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan Psh. No blurb necessary.

Rock N' Roll Lifestyle - Cake. Way to make me self conscious about loving concerts, CAKE.

Time to Pretend - MGMT I love every single thing about this song. 

Feel Good Hit of the Summer - Queens of the Stone Age Or Fall. Or Spring. JUSTKIDDINGGUYS

Never Be Alone - Simian deliciously depressing song about friendship #1
All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem deliciously depressing song about friendship #2
Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse "Your time is now." (Also +10 for chaos theory reference)

The Past is a Grotesque Animal - Of Montreal "At least I author my own disaster" (Even though Kevin Barnes authored the sentiment)
C'mere - Interpol Yup.

Tear You Apart- She Wants Revenge Yup.

Change your Mind - The Killers Also, yup.

Romeo and Juliet- Dire Straits "Yeah, I used to have a scene with him." 

Conquest- White Stripes bwahahaha. 

Red Flags and Long Nights - She Wants Revenge "You can rent a space inside my mind / at least until the price becomes too high"

Waters of Nazareth - Justice Shh. It doesn't need words, it speaks the language of my soul.

*to the tune of Mr. Mastodon Farm
**image from I LEGO NY

Hope Springs Eternal

in the cerebral cortex.

But that's harder to rhyme with.

Damn.

I am THISCLOSE to being done with school, graduating and becoming a real person. Definitely feeling overwhelmed and overworked, but it's nothing I can't drown in a few cups of caffeine juice. More serious is the lingering anxiety about closing off an entire life-phase...eek!

In the end, I've decided that the best way to get through this inordinately stressful time is to just stop focusing on it. We all know it sucks. So let's pretend it doesn't. There are so many positive opportunities awaiting our release from the hedges of Rice U. Obviously, thinking happy thoughts won't make schoolwork go away...but it's helpful to remind yourself there's (quite a bit) more to life than these awe-inspiring todo lists. Like flying. Happy thoughts make you fly, right?

Last of all, beware: the ides of May will be upon us sooner than we think. Except, if we're lucky we'll just graduate and not get stabbed to death. (The power of optimism!)

Today's Playlist: Optimism! featuring ELO, The Icicles, Ben Kweller, M83 etc.

The Sound of Surrealism

Isn't it fascinating how our brains have trained themselves to interpret reality? All we're doing is inputting vibrations from the environment. Somehow this assault of stimuli is translated into electrochemical signals and sorted into networks, popping out the other end as sound, color, and meaning. (It's magic! ...fucking magnets...)

After awhile we get pretty used to how things are supposed to sound, look and feel. I mean, we've built up a lifetime of experience to tell us what is or is not physically possible. And that is why surrealism rocks so hard. I like to think of it as the art of stomping on your expectations. Ironic, absurd, subconsciously extracted- call it what you will. Sometimes it means transcending reality by drawing inspiration from internal reservoirs (ex: dreams). Sometimes it means messing with the fundamental laws of nature (ex: melting clocks). Sometimes it means disturbing you on a fundamental level, forcing you to question what exactly it is that you've been experiencing all along.

So, here to wake you up from this perceptual operating system we call reality, I present Zeitguised, a 3D motion-design group, self-described as "the strange, obscure twin of contemporary zeitgeist imagineering." I found their videos browsing through Vimeo staffer's favorites (a very redeeming way to waste time, for sure).

This audio-visual candy comes from a six-act (but only three-minute) exhibit they aired for the opening of the Zirkel Gallery. It presents a hyperrealistic fusion of plants, human bodies, textures, sounds and architecture. Watch it fullscreen. With headphones. Relax let yourself travel to a reality controlled by sound waves and fueled with lysergic acid diethylamide. Delicious.

First up, the original Peripetics. And because I so love the way they describe themselves, this is an "installation of an irreversible axis on a dynamic timeline."

Don't worry, there's more : Peripetics Ex Machina features scenes, outtakes, and iterations of the exhibition that didn't make it into the final cut.

(and that is why I want to learn 3D modeling)

Other gems among their work include Room Zoo, commercials for the Toyota Aygo & Yaris TVC and Untitled Geometries: Booleay. They remind me a lot of ATTIK's work on the new Scion ad campaign, but that's a whole different can of worms (/blog post).

Honestly, I'm curious how watching these videos makes other people feel. After all, that's the best part about perception, maaaaaaan. Even when presented with the same stimuli, we all walk away with our own personal gut-feelings. Brilliant or nonsensical, you decide!

: : : : : Want MORE Zeitguised? Visit their portfolio, blog, or videos

And I've decided to make playlists again.Partly because it's fun to think of songs that are conceptually linked to posts and partly because I like documenting what I'm listening to. Unfortunately, seeqpod is dead and buried and took all of my previous playlists with it. So it goes. Cristina-from-the-future, this is for you.

The Sound of Surrealism

Alan Parsons, Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve, Chemical Bros, Lemon Jelly, MM MMM GOOD.

Not another Music Post

I'm going to ease back into this blog-writing business by defaulting to music obsessions and the unoriginal thoughts that accompany them. Cool.

Dethklok
I like the show Metalacolyse as much as the next guy, but I love the band. I guess there is something beautiful about a pretend death metal band with a cult following that openly mocks their fans and genre. Wikipedia says that "the album [is] the highest charting death metal record ever with 33,740 copies sold in its first week." HOW ABSURD.


SeeqPod - Playable Search

Bitter:sweet
Something about the crisp, clean sound forced me to put my dislike for female vocalists aside and fall helplessly in love with this cute little band. How can you resist their upbeat, quirky harmonies? I'm really excited for them to come to Houston in August. I expect to acquire at least one article of clothing from each band member so that my closet shrine will finally be complete.

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Scars on Broadway
This is one of many bands that splintered off of System of a Down when they took a "break" from each other. If you ignore the obnoxiously repetitive lyrics, they aren't bad. It's very SOAD-like. In a good way. Notice the sharp contrast with Serj's independent project/band which takes itself and its lyrics way too seriously. System of a Down is the happy medium. GAH, why can't System just get back together already? MAKE ME SOME GOOD MUSIC, GODDAMNIT. And while you're in there, a sandwich would be nice. Thanks.


SeeqPod - Playable Search


Even if this isn't a new artist or a new album- IT'S A NEW MOVIE! Apparently Soulwax put together a documentary about what it's like to be master DJ gods. I can't wait.