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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Jj's LiveJournal:
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| Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | | 8:13 pm |
| | Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | | 10:11 pm |
| | Saturday, October 24th, 2009 | | 7:46 pm |
O man. Vinyl binge. Big bad way. Cool though. Highlights: London is the Place for Me, v.2. This is the first Honest Jons release I've purchased. It is subtitled, "Calypso & Kwela, Highlife & Jazz From Young Black London" (presumably in the 1950s-60s). I've long admired this disc, as both items from the series have had a lot of play on my local college stations. Its a various artists comp (4 record sides worth) of African and Carribean music via London. The lady has also admired it, so I got it as a present for her. Elektronische Musik -Interkontinental 2, a v/a release on Traum Schallplatten featuring... Nobody I've ever heard before consciously, Red Loafen, Mikkel Metal, Oxtongue, others... I've generally been impressed with most of the music I've heard off of Traum, who are based in DE. Enough that this sampler with 4 sides seemed like a pretty good deal, even at new prices. Ambient synth and rhythms. A nice evening disc. I think several of these tracks will show up in our XDU sets. Ennio Morricone Remixes, v.1-2. Okay. I am a cheesy bastard, and this is the epitome of cheesy bastardidiom. Thing is I've really enjoyed it every time someone spins it. At least half of it is guaranteed to be garbage, but half of it is genius. This will take some active spin-listening time; I have 8 12 sides to go through. I have it in process right now with side F of v.1. There's a lot to love here. Ooh. There was a clinker there. Side E is an electro jam that's treating me a little better, though I'm having a hard time figuring what in the track has to do with Morricone. A lot of what I have heard has been more abstract than funkified, which fits with the theme. A mustache on Picasso? Fershure. An intricate one sculpted in multiple materials to be sure though. Genuine Houserockin' Music II. This is a v/a comp featuring Albert Collins, Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows, Koko Taylor, Johnny Winter, more... Should be fun. | | 6:24 pm |
I went to Sears and found 29/30 jeans. I'd forgotten the feeling of putting on pants that actually fit. | | Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 | | 5:11 pm |
I think this picture of Jay Cartwright is one of my favorite I've ever taken.  I tentatively entitle it, "It takes a strong man to bear the bleak uncertainty of the accordion." ( ETA: I also like how it looks like he's exhaling Billy Sugarfix [blurry in background].) | | Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 | | 11:00 pm |
| | Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | | 1:56 pm |
Haha. Rocking the 8-minute remix of Pure Energy (What's On Your Mind?) This record inventorying thing is hysterical. I just checked out Life In Sodom's Phantasmagoria 12". the title track was a pretty decent darkwave track. The B-sides were horrible. ETA: 45 RPM of Tom Hall's " May the Force Be With You Always". I've always needed a country song that referenced George Lucas. I think I need to hunt up a better copy of this. "May the Force be with you always, sweetheart." OMG Awesome. ETA 2: Crap -- not sure what to do with cassette tapes. I have a cassette deck, but listen to'em? Not sure I trust my cassette deck not to eat them. I should ditch the whole lot, but there's some stuff that's kind of important to me. (like demos I made in 198-whatever.) Digitize what I can, I guess, ditch the rest. Ugh. Project for another day. They'll end up in the closet until then, which will be... never? Hmm. At least the cables are started sorting into useful categories (data - useful, data useless, power, audio - subpiles XLR, short 1/4", RCA, etc.) ETA 3: Review: "Scratch" by the Crusaders (featuring Wayne Henderson - trombone, Wilton Felder - Tenor, Joe Sample - keys, Stix Hooper - drums, with Larry Carlton - guitar and Max Bennet - bass). This is some laid-back groove jazz. It should be more appealing than it is. I'm not sure which is more appalling, the cover of Eleanor Rigby, or the image in my mind of playing it at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) spacebug and the tortured look on her face as she screams, "AGGGH! Embouchure! EMBOUCHURE!" ETA 4: Review Musiq, "Soulstar": Korg Triton R&B/hiphop. Modern sounding production, but the influences are more classic -- I hear some Stevie, Prince and Sly in there. I'm not sure about 4 sides worth, but I think I'd spin this in a set. ETA 5: Yay. Found my guitar tuner. Wondered where that'd gotten off to. Also my SansAmp BassDriver active DI -- life is good again. | | 1:11 pm |
I really need to get rid of the SCSI drives. There're CF to SCSI adaptors now, which i should probably eventually invest in. (Go ahead, laugh.) | | 11:55 am |
Reviews: - This bacon egg and cheese sammich
- Mani Planzer Big Band: Internationale Muskfestwochen Luzern
- Oren Ambarchi: A Final Kiss on Poisoned Cheeck
I've been sick the past couple of days and sleeping a lot. I finally got around to setting up the stereo in our new house yesterday, and consequently have been listening to a bunch of vinyl I have acquired, but not checked out. Yesterday was all about ilexcassine's delicious leftover root vegetable curry, which kept me in sustenance long enough to get the stereo set up and putter with the studio before going back to bed. This morning I needed a serious meal -- I'm on the mend, but no sense in jinxing it right? I decided a sammich was the thing. I thought well, maybe a fried egg sandwich, but we have no butter, and cooking an egg in grape oil doesn't seem right to me. So I got some bacon out and started cooking that, miraculously not setting off the smoke alarm located rather inconveniently in the kitchen. After achieving a certain crispiness, I removed the bacon to a paper plate+paper towel for draining, and then dropped two eggs into the bacon grease, which did in fact set off the smoke alarm. Opened the door and continued cooking, hitting the "hush" button on the smoke alarm. Made some toast, as the eggs were finishing. There's some ementhal in the house, but swiss variants never seeem like the right thing with cooked foods. So instead I used some cream cheese on the toast, and hit the other side with a layer of prepared pesto. Topped it off with some fresh sliced tomato and sprouts. I dub this bacon, egg and cheese sandwich: Egregious. This is the most serious bacon egg and cheese sandwich known to mankind. The crunchy plate spillings made a great finger salad, too! While I was actualizing said sammich, I was listening to Mani Planzer Big Band's release, "Internationale Musik-Festwochen Luzern" on vinyl. This is a bunch of German guys playing bop jazz very competently. There's some full stops with horn and wind cameos that are quite sweet. The recording is crisp, yet warm. Its kind of a funny thing to hear a bunch of Deutchers playing bop at a festival in 1981. The audience seems very receptive, clapping the correct duration for solos. The solos are melodic, while the backing is somewhat atonal in spots. Interesting too -- these are all original compositions by Mani Planzer, rather than standards, which one might expect with such a package. The cover art is an airmail motif, and the rear panel features positive Kodak strips, depicting the members in concert. This is a release on the Pan label out of Zurich. Not super-skwonky, but with enough skwonk to put it out of the elevator category altogether. I'm really digging on this. Also last night, dug on Oren Ambarchi's vinyl release, "A Final Kiss on Poisoned Cheek", which the lady special ordered after hearing it on the radio. (We'll make a vinyl hound out of her yet!) First note: this is on clear vinyl with a beautiful filigree dragon etched on one side. (At first I thought it was an abstract paisley pattern.) So what does it sound like? Droney, abstract, a touch glitchy at points, but not any of those adjectives so strongly as to be alienating. It draws the listener in, while having retaining a charming abrasive opacity. I expect this will see repeated play in our XDU sets. I will definitely be more fully investigating Mr. Ambarchi's catalog more fully. Good score, sweetie! Thanks for taking the initiative to get that. | | Sunday, October 4th, 2009 | | 8:48 pm |
| | Monday, September 28th, 2009 | | 8:17 pm |
Despite that Credo is a Sprint reseller, I can't activate my Sprint phone on Credo's network?! What a load of crap. | | Sunday, September 27th, 2009 | | 6:30 pm |
Some bookshelves are now installed. Miller time. | | 11:59 am |
ilexcassine and I went out to see the Liminal Festival at the Carrboro Arts Center last night. Been awhile since I can remember enjoying a show so much. Bee vs. Moth (from Autstin Texas) were our favorite for the evening. They mixed an Ennio Morricone melodicism with an Ornette Coleman aesthetic, and boy can they play their instruments. Always love Wendy Spitzer's ensemble, Felix Obelix. Can't wait for the album! They play pop music that switches between staccato and legato at a moment's notice. The songs are clearly infused with a vibe that can only be the result of Wendy's years of playing oboe in the UNC Symphony Orchestra. No moss on these jams. Billy Sugarfix always puts on an entertaining show with his delightfully warped looping and theremin. He sang songs about his high school marching band experience. He also makes use of a looper pedal in one of the punchiest fashions I can recall on the device. He did a Residents cover with same in addition to pitched beer bottles. Visually stunning and provocatively engaging, Make a Rising from Philadelphia, PA were dressed up as messianic animal spirits and played hymnal prog pop, switching time signatures in a near stochastic fashion while keeping the groove going. Another really interesting portion of the evening were the in-between large ensemble sets in the lobby of the Arts Center put on by a member of INVISIBLE: Rhythm 1001, using his analog drum machine. When I say analog in this context, what I mean is that he is settled amidst an array of many varieties of drums, found objects and re-purposed portions of other instruments, each of which has a solenoid or some variety mechanized plectrum/relay, which is then triggered by a really large music box revolving disc on which he arranges rhythms using pegs to trigger each instrument. Abstract? You bet. Groovy? Surprisingly so. Took the camera out and got some pretty nice shots. Thanks so much, basilwomack! Your curation is amazing and appreciated! | | Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | | 8:20 pm |
This mission was a success! | | Friday, September 11th, 2009 | | 4:02 pm |
| | Thursday, September 10th, 2009 | | 11:41 pm |
| | 7:53 pm |
Regarding font sizes and my cats: Engels is probably like an 11- or 14-pt Arial. Marx is definitely 36-pt and serifed. Times-Roman and Garamond are too officious. Maybe he's some kind of a Cyrillic? Yeah, probably. | | 2:41 pm |
| | Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | | 9:58 pm |
| | Monday, September 7th, 2009 | | 11:14 pm |
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