one day, you'll be a beautiful crab

alright, alright.  i will forgive you.  i have no idea why i always take you back.

just stop apologizing.  its pathetic.  and aggrivating.


summer is here.  let's get good

1983, the bronx.  ESG is a strange group of individuals making something on the funkier side of no-wave, ala--konk, + more pop.  pulling from italo disco, to maceo, james chance to james brown.  this album found ESG with two faces, one with which to pop, and another for sleek instrumentals, that give way the production of popping, and locking, to the urge of wanting to watch the La Dusseldorf, Rheinita video.

ESG - Come Away with ESG 1983

lighten up

motherfucking chop killer

dont feel much like talking

the title says it all. and i mean it.

but i am to be leaving this haunt soon, and on to a new one, so i want to make sure to leave you with something before i disappear for a few weeks. i don't have a whole lot to say, but of course i have plenty of art to suggest. most of which, this time, will be things i have had, and maybe a thing or two i have recently contracted.

though sick, i am still healthy enough to love...



wilderness-s/t 2005

wilderness is from baltimore (i think), and makes post-punk/rock. i would probably say more post-rock i guess if i had to bed down with one of those terms, but i see why some place the "punk" label on them i guess, due to james johnson's talk-y/shout-y, odd, vocal style. which, in my opinion, makes this record. i fucking love it. i have had this for a while and dug it up on some exploring of my hard drive, have been really into to it as of late. if you like, explosions in the sky, rodan, june of 44, fugazi, lungfish, mewithoutyou, indian summer, anything chapel hill, or dc sound, or any of godspeed!'s familial leanings...... than give it a try.
p.s. favs.....arkless, the end of freedom, and your hands, but i really enjoy this from beginning to end, though i always want to hear those three tracks again after the album ends.




syv - stoneland 2010

i must apologize, because i don't remember where i got syv from. and i know i got it in the last few months, i just don't know where. but all that piss and moan aside, if you're a kraut-rock nerd like myself, then i am sure you will like this. it has all of the key elements, and a bit more obnoxiousness. they're norwegian i believe, and connected to the magnificent, "swamp babies", so what else do you need? get it.



fancy mike - madison square gardner 2010

i have been talking about fancy mike for a while now, i have just been lazy about posting him. and i don't really know why, i mean i don't listen to most of this "beat-y" stuff much, but when i do i require a much higher level than most. (see montgomery clunk post) but fancy mike, besides having the coolest handle out there, is of that ilk without a doubt. these beats will allow you to forget for a few that "this type of stuff, is not really your thing", and just enjoy the simplicity, and warmth and rhythm. clever, clever, clever. this is cool. i promise. for some reason mediafire does not want me to upload my 320 version, but you can get a slightly lower, but equally awesome 192 on his bandcamp. and hell if you have five bucks, give it to him! he deserves, and probably could use it, and then you can get all the luscious bit-rate fancy mike has to offer. really? fancy mike? try to tell me that is not an awesome moniker.

fancy mike bandcamp

the drought's end. (maybe)

hello lovers,

i won't waste time apologizing, i only hope the distance..... has done that things it's said to do sometimes. i will tell you, that i have probably listened to 40 mediocre records in the last month, and i am madder than a wet hen about it! but alas, this week finds me with a feverish infatuation with a couple of records. two old, that i had for a while, just had not given enough (or maybe any?) ear. and a new one.

Harry Nilsson - Son of Schmilsson 1972

i must admit, i dabbled with nilsson before, after hearing many recommendations/ravings, and was not really into him. but clearly i never listened to this album. because this was love at first listen. son of schmilsson is supposed to be his most eccentric album, and his eighth. both of these facts directly correlate with my "misses" on him before. one, i am inexplicably neurotic, and two when first sampling an artist i tend to grab the earlier stuff first.
i really have trouble describing it though, its weird pop i guess. really theatrical at times. strange perspective, great lyrics. cool voice, really cool production. you may pick up a little bowie, but can't you in just about everything pop from that era? anyhow, i am sorry i don't have the right things to say to make this record sound exciting but it is. just go to youtube, and listen to a track or two, you will understand. it's a great listen all the way through. and though not so much capable of doing this right now, i would be remiss if i did not share this, just as you will be if you do not partake in this.
sorry i suck at words today. just download it.

the other two will come soon, when i can gather a few words.

sincerly,

shitbag.

may your first sandwich be a masculine sandwich..

well, its a new year. ya. i'm fucking pumped, how about you? can't wait to see what new holes i am slated to dig, and climb out of this time. wah! i know, i just don't fucking care anymore. the mere fact that there is a calendar pisses me off anymore. why bother? anniversaries, holidays, its all schlupp. i have no use for it. and think you would be better too if you didn't either. what's it all for? where's the point? i think, when i am happy, that the day is what i make of it. that's all. what "prefix" is attatched to the word "day", does not make it anymore or less than a day. ehhhhh..... i'm awful i know. trust me. i know, more than anyone.

but then, there's art....

and here is some new art for you, from all over, all sorts of different flavors, complementary angles and textures. acidity to cut rich, delectable fats. intriguing spice, juxtaposed against sweet, to banish the cloying and saccharine.

here is your first sandwich. unctuous, yet clean. rich and yet somehow light. i suggest that you ingest these as they're given (together i mean, not necessarily in any order), like a sandwich. the chemistry is carefully calculated and in some cases, respectively, the co-existence is the best existence.

bon apetit

Montgomery Clunk, Superbus ep 2010
Bucharest, Romania

Monty is laying down some of the most tasteful beats i've heard in this flooded space. beat driven, glitch hop-y, two step-y, lo-fi-y stuff is in every dorm room, and on every laptop of every kid who can count, has a program, and can read at a sixth grade level. but true taste and talent is the cream that rises to the top of this crowded room, and mc is that foamy apex. we will call this the first of one of your sauces. a garlic dill aioli.

Pill Wonder, Jungle/Surf 2010
Seattle, WA

pill wonder is what i would be doing on a monday morning at 3:45 am, if i lived alone and could record music at that time. these are the type of silly sounds i need in my life, and so do you. and it's not just silliness, there is some really good songwriting in here too. and you don't have to take it from me, its on alot of "best of" lists for the year. this is one of your crunchy elements....alfalfa sprouts.


Shannon and the Clams, I Wanna Go Home 2010
Oakland, CA

our camera finds del shannon grudge fucking ronnie spector on the crumpled hood of a red 99 ford focus with a glad bag over the passenger window, while the tape player hisses, cracks, and blasts the the mummies. the grinding shakes the bottle of cheap whiskey off the roof of the sub-compact and the sound of broken glass ushers in the first, and only, chords of "shake." listen to this! over and over and over. salty, sexy, crispy, devilish bacon.


Tennis, Cape Dory 2010
Denver, CO???????

great. 60's dream pop. the girl that is singing should move into my brain, and narrarate my entire life. it pays well i promise, girl, if you are listening. just name your price. really good record all the way through, not so seasonal for northeners like myself at the moment, but who fucking cares? aren't we in this thing to escape anyhow? and how seamless this record is will only accomadate such excursions even more. these guys will make this sound bigger than it already is. i am sure of it. tart and creamy. this is both your cool baby swiss slice, and your playful bruschetta schmear. equal parts, sauce #2, and unifying, glorious cheese.



Dunebuggy, S/T 2009
Hoboken, NJ

dunebuggy is sugary greatness i stumbled upon a while ago on another blog of greater stature (www.blowyrgourd.blogspot.com) . this is a cassette for sure, and it listens as such, but in all the best ways, just give it a try and you'll see. fuzzy thick garage tones, applied to organ-driven sock-hop blankets. winter will recoil at your new bolstered defenses. snow has yet to see such an adversary. these songs(/covers?) will warm and cool at the same time. its like you've found the ripest haas in this mitten in january. everyone at your next gathering will appreciate such summer in your winter guacamole. test it. dunebuggy is proudly your avacodo.




Yuck, S/T 2011
_______, NJ

yuck is fucking awesome. so much better than i think they even know. solid songs, this doesn't sound like the pixies, but if you are in that mood i think they would satisfy. this album is so good, thought i must admit that i love the slacker jams, and miss something when some of the ballads play, they are good but the energy just doesn't do as much for me, but then i've always been that type. someone once called me emotionless. maybe she was right. or maybe she was just a giant piece of shit, and yuck has yet to figure themselves out as a sensitive entity, not that i care, because as a fuzzy defected, just-enough, pop, i think they are delicious. and full of replay value, that is why i have dubbed them your turkey. maybe something peppered, or mesquite.




Charles Bradley, No Time For Dreaming 2011
Gainesville, FL

a sandwich can be made, or broke by its bread. this one requires something hearty, flavorful, and textural. something with some oats, and nuts, and maybe lightly toasted. charles bradley is it. this is a soul record that just came out, or maybe not even out yet, but no matter, you will have trouble believing that is anything less than 35 years old. sharon jones is ok, but CB is single handedly restoring credibility to soul in the current. this record is classic, and relevant. The man's fingers grace the pages of all the greats, and picks up all sorts of little fragments, swallows them and then belts out his unforgettable voice all over you, displaying glimmers of solomon burke, al green, david ruffin, sam cooke, otis redding, james brown, and just about every one else who has ever SANG the blues. i may listen to this record for the rest of my life. just like brownberry oat nut, i don't want it everyday, i just don't ever want to NOT have it. your bread.

add your own lettuce, i can't bear to compare art to lettuce.

happy mlk day

love,

daver

hey

yeah, yeah, yeah.

swimsuit, detroit? MI

this is a demo from swimsuit, featuring local pop royalty fred thomas. its really cool. i like the songs alot. so will you. surf-y, sleepy, good, sweet, songs. get it.


funk! really good funk, and i know its hard to believe, but this is fucking great. really great players on really great tracks.


lettuce, rage! 2007

get to this



new stag hare cassette! still kinda tribal, but more like drowning than before. like some right of passage that has gone completely wrong, or just right. either way this is great.

pearls....

Prince Rama - Shadow Temples 2010

i have to be honest, i don't know shit about Prince Rama, other than i stumbled upon this on a blog finer than this one a week ago and have listened to it almost everyday since, and that it is on paw tracks.

this record is every bit drum circle-y, freak-out-y, chant-y, and the rest of the expected made up adjectives. chants, tribal drumming, organs, hordes of reverb and delay. this almost makes me feel as good as when i first heard stag hare. similar application is fitting. sleeping, smoking, drugging, and other general laying about. if you took ambien, got your dirty little mitts on a cool pillow, and good blanket and found a nice corner of the room, you might just become a butterfly already. this is so epic, and stupid (in a good way) at the same time.

if the world worked as it should, we would all be sweating, and swaying amidst some violent orgy to this strange heap. actualize, now!




James Blake - Klavierwerke Ep

james blake, well...

imagine if all those dubstep artist weren't so disposable, repetetive, and reflective of one another. if they had not taken themselves so seriously that they ultimately made a joke of themselves. imagine if pitchfork didn't destroy any of their credibility by deifying them. (honestly, i don't read it, but i imagine pusherfork is blowing this up right now).
imagine if dubstep had replay value that lasted more than 48 hours, and a sense of musicality and melody. just imagine yourself downloading this, and thanking me later. your homework or social networking may never be the same.

bugs and kisses,

baby d

p.s. i apologize for the writing quality, or total lack there of--lately. i just have not had my head on straight. bear with me. i am trying to make up for it with more posts, until i can get out of the slump. i got a wicked case of the monday's in august and can't seem to shake it. taking vitamins and everything, what more do you want from me modern psychology?

random stuff

don't fret. halloween mixes coming soon.

in other notes,

a post to debut a new section, that i would like to consider, "summer is when you make it."

dance, fun, party, bright, funky things. tropical things. sweaty things. old things, new things. light hearts and heavy feet. winter is inhumane around here in so many ways, that a charge must be lead. italo disco, tropicalia, house, and stupid shit will be our occasional electric bedmates. gotta stay warm somehow, right. let us drink......

El Guincho


el guincho is man-meets roland sp404 + beautiful melodies + some great sample material.
if you don't know of his work, then you don't know me personally, because i can't shut up about him. seriously, those in proximity have had to hear me expound at great length on
the first record's boundless virtue. and i just got the new one a month ago or so.

pablo diaz-rexia is el guincho, and is also a member of coconot. which if you are also unaware of then you need to find, or wait for my lazy-ass to post. ah fuck it, i will give you an album of theirs as well.



alegranza! 2008




pop negro 2010


coconot - cosa astral 2008


enjoy lovers. until we meet again....

davey boy

...went to the store for a pack of smokes.

i know, i know. i am sure that none of you need another absent parent in your life, but fuck you--we're stuck with one another. shut up and enjoy daddy's wealth...

zach hill - face tat 2010

zach hill, though probably most known for his drumming in hella, and his solo records, has played with nervous cop (which is fucking awesome), team sleep, marnie stern, one of omar rodriguez-lopez's many groupos, holy smokes, and those are just a few i know/like with tons more i'm sure. this album is much like his last, noisy, weird, pop with crazy drums and programming? green bricks is worth the download itself. not to say that the rest is disposable, look, just get it.



Salem - King Knight 2010

traverse city, michigan. i know right. anyhow, there isn't much to say. some of you have this, and anyone who doesn't is the reason it is here. j, it still hasn't lost me. thanks.
so, get a bottle of cheap booze, and play this really loud in your room alone once you hit the halfway point of that bottle. you know i detest the terminology, but in the witch house/witch step pools there is probably no finer pedigree.


Catholic Spray/Zyklon Beach - Fruits of the Moon (split cassette) 2010

noisy french garage rock, or so i've read. fucking awesome. this thing sounds so good.

don't even question it.

i know, i suck. let's try and make up for lost time

the residents, the tunes of two cities 1982

well, well, well.... i am trying to keep this short, and with the residents that is proving to be difficult.

artsy, strange, and the second part of a trilogy. what else do you need to know, their background is cloudy, their identities were mostly hidden. visual artists. weirdos. look them up or something.

look, i like it, you might too.



Avey Tare, down there 2010 (not officially yet, i think)

we all know animal collective right? this is avey's new album, and if you were thinking it was going to sound like his last with kria brekken, you are way off. i have only listened to this once, but i thought i heard alot of "feels" on this, which if you think like i do, is no problem at all. either way, i think you should get it.


Eno Moebius Roedelius, after the heat 1978

german. krautrock-y, textural, early electro-y, at times ambient, dreamy, and at times anthemic. the names are on the cover, if you're in you knew by then. better yourself.


Coalesce, Ox 2009

i think they're originally from Kansas City. Post-hardcore-ish, smart, awesome. this is so good. thanks zack. finger their myspace and if you like what you hear then come back for it.



Odd Future presents, Radical 2009

OFTWGKTA! this is rap, and hip hop. everything i want from entertainment. this crew has such a great cast of characters, earl sweatshirt (possibly my favorite mc ever i think), tyler the creator, domo genesis, hodgy beats, mike g, and more. this mixtape listens so well. great flow, fun and funny, sounds good, great rhymes, good beat selection. total disregard for anyone's feelings. so style-heavy it's ridiculous. these guys have it all right. you would be a fool not to get this record.

love,

merlin haggard

Bruce Peninsula is here to save your black little souls you scumbags!

"no god here today, priest."


bruce peninsula, ontario, canada

it seems fitting to start this with a confession. i am a no good, rotten little heathen. now this is not something i am proud of or even happy with, i just don't delude myself about it either. i posses a deep and complex, green for all of you spiritual types. no denomination in exclusion.
with that said, i think any heathen, rat, cockroach, or fratboy, can feel the vibrations of real soul and spirit. the affect still translates. this is where Bruce Peninsula comes in.
the record baits, and then bursts open and flows fantastically from there. this album really takes you somewhere. that is not something that can be said about much these days.
sweaty chants, delicate harmonies, dramatic climaxes and flowering guitar play spray august heat from a kentucky church's double doors. the sound the strength and the soul, of the american south's spiritual trailblazers are all portrayed here so vividly. if you can listen to this and not feel anything then you really are going to some sort of hell. or maybe you just don't have a soul, i don't know, quit being a prude.

"where are you sleeping tonight?"

First, my apologies for my recent absence. things are crazy. now more ramblings and of course, music....

everything you encounter cannot be "the love of your life." some things will most certainly only posses a "good time" sort of quality. but that's fine. trysts have their rightful place in everyone's lives as well. i am not telling you to quit looking for the perfect record, or taco, but i am imploring all of you to not ignore the little things that come by. the joy bangs. the quick fucks. the not-so-"right" but "right nows". one month relationships. guilty pleasures. all that. its good for, trust your doctor. i only want you to be happier.

that being said, here are few quick pops, i hope you decide to share your aural bed with this evening.


future islands are a group from baltimore, that play dance pop songs. but they certainly cannot be resigned to such an awful and limiting title. musically, any one piece of the songs, won't floor anyone (except for maybe the vocals, but more on that in a minute). but this is not that type of band. this is about the sum of its parts, this is about drinking box wine with friends, this is about getting thrown out of art spaces, this is about dancing in the silliest of manners. its about fist pumping (more iron maiden, less jersey shore), its about singing with an over-the-top, thespian inflection, and clutching the air as you do so. that's right, that is the vocalist approach. and it is awesome, to limits i cannot possibly express. for those of you who know and have the first album, here is the brand new one. and if you don't, i threw the first one up too. the first is definitely better, but the second will prove to be a spirited roll in the hay as well. do yourself a favor, you and your friends are just about guaranteed to enjoy drinking to these at least five to ten times.
Future Islands - Wave Like Home 2008
Future Islands - In Evening Air 2010

indian wars is a band from vancouver, bc. they make charming druggy rock, that is recorded in a really noisy manner(as it should be). this is just a two song, 7 inch i believe, but i cannot remember where i got it from and i cannot find much info about them. either way i really like both of these songs, and would say it is probably a good introduction to them.
Indian Wars - 7"(untitled/self-titled?) 2009

matrix metals is something i know nothing about, and don't care to. not that it is not good, i actually think its fucking great, i just don't even remember how it ended up in my itunes. and i sort of feel like this is the kind of album you don't really need to know anything about, if that could possibly make any sense to any of you. but really this is good. i do know that it is a re-release of an out-of-print cassette, and comes out of the almost-never-miss NOT NOT FUN camp, and its great for cleaning that dirty ass apartment of yours, driving somewhere, doing homework, whatever. it works. imagine really soft and muffled sounds, highly stylized, catchy melodies, warm-elevator-dance. like if john maus, and ariel pink, made a lo-fi psyched-out dance record. its called flamingo breeze, and it is just two tracks in the 14:00 minute range. really fun listen, very giving between the sheets.
Matrix Metals - Flamingo Breeze 2009

fresh meat is thrashy, noisy, loud, and awesome. shades of shit-rock, noise, punk, and i think there is a synth in there somewhere. funny lyrics, cool songs. two 7"s. just listen, there is only so much i can say about this without taking the piss out of it and ruining it for you guys.
Fresh Meat - Leather Daddy 7"
Fresh Meat - Sweather b/w Man or Woman 7"

Have You Seen This Girl?

. . . if so, tell her to come home. and that she owes forty-three dollars. i miss you baby.

d. a.

How to Dress Well & Cokc Dokc - 4 EP's

Will U Sleep

the Eternal Love Ep

Like in the Night How the Heart Becomes the Truth

Friday Morning Hymnal

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO

Brooklyn/Koln

i actually stumbled on these ep's, while looking for a way to embed the right type of player for the unsigned stuff. of course i got distracted and began looking at music. good thing i did, because i have been enjoying this for a few days now. these guys must not have a label's interest yet, because if they did and they had some recordings of this caliber i cannot imagine a label allowing them to just give them away.

if you enjoyed the toro y moi post, if you like sigur ros, or many mansions, ambience, dreamy-ness, or if you have a pulse, you will probably be into this. the project refers to itself as "lo-fi shai" i'm not sure what that means but i don't disagree either. really abstract, and melodic, sometimes noisy, great samples. good feelings all over this stuff. r&b, i know right, but i hear it too, though i cannot fully explain why without sounding completely moronic. there are four ep's here, i think i posted them backwards though. i believe friday morning hymnal to be the earliest, and will u sleep to be the latest, in case that matters. and if your experiencing moral issue, intestinal discomfort, or body shame, don't fret--these are also given away by the artists on their blog, which is quite cool, and soundcloud. (howtodresswell.blogspot.com) its way too soon to choose a favorite yet, but they are all really good, and just what i needed this week. hope you think the same. i have also included the artwork for each ep just because i think that is all very well selected, an interesting. enjoy

Tommy Kelly, Storyville 2008

(not actual artwork)

UNKNOWN/UNSIGNED

Michigan

earnest and honest. this album feels really good. i love the voice, i love the lyrics, guitar tone, and more. but i am not going to sit here and ball-wash this album all day, further discrediting myself than i already have. the last one i kept short and sweet, but here, i am gushing. let myself get all wet over some bedroom discs. no. that's not the case. both of these UNKNOWN/UNSIGNED posts are really good. i listen to a lot of this diy music, and i am not going to bring to you "ok" stuff. written and recorded fall 07 to spring 08, in disneyland, hamtramack. try this.

d

Brandon P. Mylenek, Brandon's Go Away Dinner 2009

(not actual artwork)

UNKNOWN/UNSIGNED

Michigan

recorded in 2009, in ferndale, MI in about a week. Brandon, on this recording, makes refreshing, catchy songs, with all sorts of style and mood. great drums, interesting vocal processing. catchy. bouncy. fun. weird. i promise, when this ends you will be wishing that there was more of it. sort of electronic, sort of pop-y. very good. enjoy. (note: i am having quite a time finding a way to put up single mp3 players to offer you a sample of the music, as was my intention with the unsigned/unknown posts. sorry. hopefully coming soon.)

a lover's plight

this is going to hurt me a whole lot more than it is going to hurt you.

dilemma is sort of a catalyst in the common american life. or maybe better stated, dilemma is a fuel for the american boy. and he seeks it out sub-consciously, and fills his life with it, and situations that possess a higher likelihood to be purveyors of said "static", in the near future. blah blah blah. this blog is no different. the lack of an agenda, if thats even of any truth, is an agenda in and of itself.

i was speaking with a lovely young women who is a friend of mine, and she mentioned a fimiliar quote to me, that pretty much put me into tailspin of urgency to find a meaning for this and to define that. shit, this sounds so stupid. sorry, i am almost done. anyhow, the quote was this, "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." its quite famous, and somewhat controversial, parttly because no one seems to be sure who said it, but most likely because of its succinct, and profound nature. this reminded me, as many of my conversations with this friend do, that i lie to myself constantly. she is a "no-bullshit," type of person, and i love her for that immensely.

i am wasting my time. i am debasing, and cheapening the art that i depend on so dearly, and love so deeply. and really, i am not sure why.

but i remembered one of the reasons that i wanted to do this, just this afternoon. let's say that i do have an agenda. and maybe that agenda is to bring to you and friends, and others, a different perspective. being a music and art fanatic, is to be open and closed all at once. so maybe i want to establish a rapport, or a relationship if you will, with you so you will trust me when i bring you things that you are unsure of, or maybe just would be closed off to normally. and i know that we have not been speaking long now, but i need to begin that aspect of this immediately for my own selfish reasons. and i don't care if it was elvis costello, or frank zappa, or john cage, or charles mingus, or miles davis, or monk, or burroughs, or martin mull, or who ever the fuck you choose to believe said that. its true. but if everyone in the world gave up on doing anything that seemed, on the surface, to be fruitless and illogical, we would soon have no new albums to discuss and enjoy. no new paintings to absorb, no new books to run to, no films to let wash over us.

being a musician, i have come to realize that recording music, is just as moronic as writing about it. making and playing music, that is the key. to record it is to commit it to a permanance that removes from it the ability to grow and age and change. a permanance that sterilizes and controls, and confines it to one space, one emotion, or tempo, structure or key. a permanance similiar to a hunter having a taxidermist perform his awful deeds to "preserve an animal's beauty." if you must end something's life in effort to record it's virtue, than what have you really done? art should live, and life is not permanent. anyways, enough of that. i am sorry for what i have just put you through, but it was necessary.

without further ado, i bring you the unsigned/unknown division of our posts. also at this time i would like to mention that i would love to get submissions from artists of their own work, for me to listen to, and post. get a mediafire account, and send me a link, mymymanitoba@yahoo.com. with these posts i will keep the writing fairly brief. i just want folks out there to know that there is so much great art out there that is just not being promoted enough for you to come in contact with it. so, here we go.

Great Men are Few.

"lukewarm acceptance is more bewildering than out-right rejection." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

that will be all now.

love,

dad

Factorymen, (s/t) EP 2008

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

cleveland, OH

homostupids!

i am not going to say to much about this. its really good, and probably not very known, though it should be. it's some, or maybe all of the guys from the homostupids, which if you do not know who they are, look them up on their myspace, and then go to their blog and buy everything they have ever done. really.

short songs. lo-fi sounds. great vocals. fun. pay them now. also, when you go to their myspace, start linking to their friends, and you will find a wealth of great stuff from this cleveland scene as well as some other mid-west locales. really. i have found a ton of great bands through them. i love when i get the impression that musicians are really making what they want, and not allowing the industry to limit or confine them. i think that the factorymen, and the homostupids are at front of this, standing on line with their piers, and making some of the only truly good stuff out right now really. i know that may sound a bit dramatic. but i don't care. this is an EP i have had for a bit, but it seems as though a new full length is available from both of their bands. get your debit card, and free yourself from boredom.

c man

Toro y Moi, Causers of This 2010

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO...

columbia, south carolina

"this feels good all over"

i don't know what to call this really. actually as you will find i am not very hip on buzzwords, nor am i keen throwing too many of them around carelessly to vulgarize, and debase art in the sake of giving you some quick and easy way for your lazy asses to decide if you should spend your time making your own conclusions. that's why there is a link stupid.

that being said, i think i really like this record. great loops, simple and gentle beats, great sounds.
the whole thing has this dream-like quality. great pop sensibilities, vocals, and synths. everything seems to be done in a careful and restrained manner. and restraint is something that has become a rarity in new bands as well as "pyschadelic-y" records these days. this is very well done. with the addition of a bit of "mind expansion," or a long drive, or just even the right mood, you will be thinking that this album feels as cozy, memorable, mushy, and as soft as private parts. also, remember, to buy this please.

unky chops.

Piero Ciampi - (s/t) 1971

MUST HAVE/MUST HEAR

italy

"your whole life could be better, 'es-starting right now."

alright, so you went out way too hard last night. it's sunday now, about let's say 8:45am. tragically you're awake, and can't seem to fall back to sleep, despite the fact you have only slept a small handful of hours. you're probably just about to make for the couch with a blanket, and a glass of water, to let that damn television jail-sex your mind up for the next few hours, and hoping to either stumble back to sleep, or upon some hitchcock, or maybe big trouble in little china. even though this could end up being good, DON'T! REALLY KIDS. I HAVE A SUGGESTION THAT I WOULD LIKE YOU ALL TO TRY JUST ONCE THE NEXT TIME YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THIS PREDICAMENT. "come with uncle, hear angel trumpets and devil trombones. you are invited!"

put on a pot of coffee, chicory, tea. smoke a bowl, have a taste of whatever evil elixir has put in this position, whatever. whatever you do to relax. and just simply play this record. in a dark room preferrably. and just let this take you, completely, over.

piero ciampi is an itailan singer/songwriter, akin to the likes of a scott walker or maybe more jacques brel. if you do not know who those two men are, then look them up, and stay tuned to this site as well. i know i have much work do.

ciampi's voice is brooding and dark. velveteen, delicate at times, but not devoid of strength and intensity, and passion, and the occaisional gravel to round out the textural experience. and the composition's that he hangs his voice on are just immaculate. fairly simple, unlike the larger symphonic pieces used by brel, but there is just so much depth. his voice seems to be in three or four places at once, on every single note. even in between lyrics, his voice tends to languish in the ear and alter the notes you hear from the strings or guitar. and that has not even scratched the surface, for the way this man emotes, there is just no match i have found, other than maybe brel. i would probably put this in a top 100 records of all time.

it is just so dark and heartbreaking at times. even when he is probably singing a song in which he is probably proclaiming his love, it sounds much more like a requiem, sung by the saddest man in the world for his very best friend or true love.

that's it. i am done. if you need more convincing than this, then ciampi is probably not for you. if not, and maybe you don't find yourself hungover, and just about resigned to commit soul suicide on the couch with the idiot box, who cares. don't wait. get a bottle of wine, and a lover if you have one, put this record on, and show one another your softer sides if you know what i mean.

love,

uncle chops.