the notes

Telefon Tel Aviv /// “Your Mouth” /// Immolate...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:23:55 -0500

Telefon Tel Aviv /// “Your Mouth” /// Immolate Yourself

Could be the ghost in the machine that makes good IDM so sad and haunting, but Immolate Yourself, especially given the strange, untimely and tragic death of Telfon Tel Aviv’s Charles Cooper earlier this year, is in a league of its own in that regard. Its electronic sighs and moans are an aural complement to Gatsby’s untouchable green light, an aborted future itself borne back ceaselessly into the past once we lose all hope of attaining it.

The Prisoner (2009) The art of the miniseries, in a nutshell. A...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:15 -0500

The Prisoner (2009)

The art of the miniseries, in a nutshell. A payoff not often found in the ever unwieldy and equivocating mindfuck genre. Ian McKellen playing an unmistakable Shakespearean fool for an entire episode, and a placidly manipulative fiend for the rest. Lost fans may be interested to see a sci-fi puzzler that doesn’t collapse under the weight of its Byzantine twists but still plays to your highest intelligence. The praise I’ll give it is the greatest such geometric enigmas can be paid, and the only other thing I can say without fear of spoilage: the instant it ended, I wanted to start all over again.

wellrespected: catbird: rickwebb: Spiritualized - Ladies And...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:53:10 -0500

wellrespected:

catbird:

rickwebb:

Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Pre-order here from 3PM GMT Monday November 23rd, 2009

What are the possible side effects of Spiritualized?

You may become a little forgetful or experience memory loss.

Some of the effects of Spiritualized may last into the following day.These include sleepiness, unsteadiness and you may stagger when walking. Elderly people may become confused. If this happens tell your doctor and he/she may decide to change your dose.

In rare cases, sudden anxiety, delusions, excitations, sleep disturbances and amnesia may occur. If these symptoms occur, you must inform your doctor. He/she may want you to stop taking this medicine.

As with other medicines, some unwanted effects can occur. These may include: delirium, a sense of intoxication, visual or auditory hallucinations, euphoria, fever, cold sweats, slurred speech, numbness of the extremities, lack of co-ordination, stupor, memory loss, bloodshot eyes, mental detachment, paranoid psychosis, temporary paralysis, jerky eye movement, imbalance, sense of well being, purposeless movement, lethargy, dizziness, visual disturbances, palpitations, disorientation, confusion, personality change, arrhythmia and changes in the level of sexual desire.

Large doses can lead to loss of consciousness, convulsions or coma.

In cases where Spiritualized is used over a long period of time dependence may occur.

If you are concerned about these or any other effects, talk to your doctor.

The packaging behind this album has always been brilliant.

Another connection emerges.

(via ilovereadingandwriting) Sorry: the state of reading is...

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:20:00 -0500

(via ilovereadingandwriting)

Sorry: the state of reading is quite simply never as bad as people make it out to be. If it were, would there be the constant deafening roar of a million hysterical readers telling us we aren’t reading as much as we used to?

And just what sort of reading do we mean here, or wherever we’re stirring up a literary moral panic? Plenty of people who never pick up a newspaper or sprawling nonfiction book are reading acutely written political and cultural commentary online every day. If, as I suspect, fiction is what we talk about when we talk about the death of reading, then the worry is even more unfounded: don’t ever start giving a shit about how other people choose to entertain themselves. I’m not about to argue that Twilight isn’t intellectually bankrupt, but we may want to remember that back in Cervantes’ day, all contemporary fiction was considered escapist, hollow and ultimately dangerous trash by those who weren’t on the bandwagon. Don Quixote himself is an association of absurd fantasies and the feeble-mindedness that allows them to prosper.

Except, of course, the vividness of our errant knight’s hallucinations belie an intensely focused cognitive power that undercuts the notion of reader as unwitting prey. What self-righteous readers hate most about the latest Bad Popular Book, be it by Dan Brown or Danielle Steel, is the level of engagement its fans have with the material, their ability to fully enter a world. I think we long to experience the undeniable rapture and ecstasy of purpose evidenced by midnight book releases and awkward attempts at fan fiction. We talk about such things as though they are somehow beneath us, because we know we will never feel about Joyce and O’Connor and other Important Literature the way these devotees feel about their idols. We relish distance and resist real intimacy or fixation at all costs. And though critical detachment may allow us to mitigate some bias only important in matters of cold evaluation, it keeps us from truly losing ourselves in that rare place which is half the author’s making and half our own.

lauren-simpson: The Art boys (and girl) with whom I boozed on...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:26:00 -0500

lauren-simpson:

The Art boys (and girl) with whom I boozed on Monday morning. (Damn. I love being grammatically fancy.) Highly recommended except for, you know … the fact that I had to be at work and functional just 5 hours after the bar closed.

Goddamn do Art Brut put on a show. Their guitarist is also a cheeky bastard.

Animal Collective /// “On A Highway” /// Fall Be...

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:15:00 -0500

Animal Collective /// “On A Highway” /// Fall Be Kind EP

If you were bummed to realize the repeatedly epiphanic Bradford Cox vs. Panda Bear vs. Unsung Sample-Based Ambient Acts From The Late 90s dialogue was winding down, be bummed no longer: tracks three and four of Animal Collective’s newest offering ought to spark another round of counterexample-naming and cross-pollination-chartmaking. Clattering percussion aside, “On A Highway” is also reminiscent of a more analog-y Electric President, a staple descendant (for me) of that whole prescription-drugged scene about which Cox was good enough to remind us in the first place. See? All music is the same; art aligns itself along an arc. Now let’s hurry up and get prolix about it.

phono-op: Sleigh Bells: thoughts? I’ve been reserving...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:28:00 -0500

phono-op:

Sleigh Bells: thoughts?

I’ve been reserving judgment till we hear more than the demo. While part of me finds the obnoxious production/equipment abuse to be poker-faced schtick, the other half is shocked by an honesty in the brutal humpage of a grindfest like “Crown On The Ground.” You’ve got to ask yourself: has there ever been a dance club where the music wasn’t brain-splittingly loud? Does any DJ or rock band (besides your occasional freaks, like Low) have much respect for the power of low volume these days? Whether or not Sleigh Bells’ overdriven clipping is part of the loudness war’s arms race, we have to consider the fact that it’s meant to soundtrack a fucking legendary party, right? Like, one where the neighbors call the police without bothering to knock on your door first, because lord knows there’s no way you’ll hear that? The one you always imagined throwing as a kid, but grew up to find was sorta just a fantasy byproduct of teen sex romp movies? And so maybe the brattish, juvenile-but-not-immature redlining is a noble attempt to move music off your enormous headphones and onto your stereo, where its incinerating power can do even more damage. I say noble because, of course, Brooklyn has a phobia of rhythmic movement in conjunction with music, and so any rude push toward physical abandon is something to be grateful for.

Sambassadeur /// “Days” /// European Arch,...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:31:05 -0500

Sambassadeur /// “Days” /// European

Arch, orchestral and above all Swedishly hook-laden pop issues from Gothenburg’s Sambassadeur the way milk and honey are supposed to flow from the promised land: in sweet boundless abundance. The gloss of rich string parts in flighty dialogue with each other mixes the prim and exuberant in a fiendish ratio, while Anna Persson’s casually elegant alto stands in wonderful contrast to an ever-expanding universe of indie histrionics. Upcoming LP European has so far promised nothing but more snazzy, well-dressed fantasias. Really, why even try to resist?

"As an engineer, the only people I’m concerned about are the other people in the room, the band..."

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:33:46 -0500

“As an engineer, the only people I’m concerned about are the other people in the room, the band members. I mean literally everyone else in the world can go fuck themselves.”

- Steve Albini

(via chainofknives) (via rendit)

Beach House /// “Norway” /// Teen Dream The new...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:20:21 -0500

Beach House /// “Norway” /// Teen Dream

The new single, as promised yesterday. Originally recorded at a Norwegian train station in response to a challenge of some sort, Beach House have re-tuned and fleshed out what they’ve taken to calling their “spiciest” song, and indeed it’s got a fun, cascading energy driven by more moving parts and overdubbed vocals than we’re used to hearing from this ordinarily stripped-down duo.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart /// “Say No To...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:14:15 -0500

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart /// “Say No To Love” /// Live At The Bell House

The ~~Field Mice reincarnated~~ Pains Of Being Pure At Heart debuted a new song at a 20th anniversary shindig for Slumberland Records, and their live game is sounding a lot more assured than it once did. Pretty soon I won’t even have to make excuses about liking them!

livfm: WOOHOO Music to look forward to.

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:32:47 -0500

livfm:

WOOHOO

Music to look forward to.

Maps /// “Valium In The Sunshine” /// Turning The...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:04:00 -0500

Maps /// “Valium In The Sunshine” /// Turning The Mind

In a heartwarming/distressing/hilarious interview—where from I can’t recall—David Foster Wallace sheepishly admitted to a Baywatch addiction. He explained that the show was enjoyed with some guilt on his part, just not enough guilt to outweigh the narcotic comfort of an always-resolved-within-thirty-minutes drama. Likewise there is a dubious pleasure in those most obvious chord suspensions and cheeseball electronic effects, which goes a long way toward explaining why I can listen to schmaltzfest albums by the likes of Ulrich Schnauss and Maps. ”Valium In The Sunshine” lives up to its silly title in this drug-washed respect, being no more than a quick fix that fails to address your musical needs yet still hits a pleasure receptor or two.

On Word Counts

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:23:00 -0500

benjaminapple:

theoddsareagainstme:

A few times times this week I’ve run into friends who’ve commented, “Shouldn’t you be writing?” I can’t tell whether it’s sarcastic because all of my friends are comedians.

This goal seems more feasible now than when I chose it, and I’m trying to make it my first success. Thursday is over and I’ve only written 1,930 words, but I’m picking up speed as I go, and I’m planning to dedicate Friday and Saturday almost exclusively to writing.

The character I’m writing as is either a slightly weirder version of myself, or a version of myself that’s no more weird, but is more willing to discuss the ways in which he’s weird. I’m still planning to post the full novel when it’s ready.

Benjamin attempted the Sisyphean task of writing a 50,000 word novel (or novella, depending on whether you like to split hairs, but probably novel) in a mere seven days. I say Sisyphean because I imagine that, like me, Benjamin often got halfway through a word or sentence or paragraph only to become completely disgusted with what he’d written and delete everything in a backward wave of frustration. In writing you are always pushing the boulder up the hill, and you never reach the top: you merely reach the point at which you can push the boulder no higher. Which is why these word count thresholds for Benjamin’s challenge (and similar pursuits such as National Novel Writing Month) are so intriguing.

While chatting with my lit agent over a beer the other day, he confessed that following National Novel Writing Month he would have a glut of material to parse that should never have seen the light of day, but he wasn’t cynical about it. On the contrary, he praised the follow-through and dedication of those able to cross the finish line. According to Hemingway, the first draft of everything is shit, so what difference does it make how quickly you wrote it or what particular goalposts you set? The most slapdash prose can almost always be salvaged, and the haphazard plots can be set straight. My own novel went from an unreadable 700-page mess to a streamlined 300-page manuscript that skirts at least some meager type of understandability.

And still: Benjamin’s volume requirement felt like a trap he’d laid for himself. It’s not just the purposefully harsh parameters of The Odds Are Against Me that I’m talking about—it’s the fakely comforting notion of borders for creative play: an artist is expected to fill a gallery, and they have some leeway as to what “fill” means; an improv team is supposed to fill 25 minutes of performance time, most of which may end up being spent in silence. Yet writers working toward a word count leave themselves no freedom in this regard: neither white space nor silence, no matter how compellingly achieved in the prose, no matter how it fills out the story, will fill out the physical space you’ve carved out. There is no relief from the word. In trying to set a hurdle for a pursuit that by design can only asymptotically approach its endgame (and is always published before it can ever be truly perfected, which would take to the end of time), the difficulty of writing is only magnified. Trying to bring a narrative from start to finish is challenging enough.

The Mary Onettes /// “Bricks” ///...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:36:00 -0500

The Mary Onettes /// “Bricks” /// Islands

You’d think once we realized the 1980s were a renewable resource we’d stop referring to this or that band “mining” the era for their apparently capitalist ends—as though more than 0.001% of musicians get rich. Then again, it can be hard to communicate a genuine affection for those (never really) bygone standards when everyone else is using them as industrial marketing lube. To the Mary Onettes, the drizzly, symphonic European pop of that most flattening decade is more a perpetual waterfall, the natural flow of energy that drives hydroelectric dreams.

Scoop: Arcade Fire's Third Album (Addendum)

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:09:19 -0500

You may remember some reliable hearsay on my part concerning the forthcoming Arcade Fire LP. Well, there was one last deeply awesome thing my source reported that I unforgivably left out of that transcriptive post, and here it is:

“One track features harpsichord, which was quite lovely.”

Pirate Radio (2009) Maybe if they’d stuffed one more rock...

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:20:00 -0500

Pirate Radio (2009)

Maybe if they’d stuffed one more rock cliché in there, this film could’ve shot the moon. Unfortunately, as it is, you’re stuck on the high seas in a boat whose every single occupant is a prop: the innocent lad, the lesbian who cooks, the far-gone American. There is quite literally no backstory or motivating force for any of them. It’s a waste of a charismatic high-wattage cast (who may get you to laugh despite yourself), sprinkled with sexism-as-fuctioning-philosophy and tropes that were corny enough to ruin Almost Famous nearly a decade ago. The soundtrack is good but packed with easy choices. January Jones makes a bafflingly stupid cameo. Kenneth Branagh, as the villainous government prig, is introduced as your conventional evil college dean but spits some fascist jive that I frankly cannot believe a survivor of the Blitz would ever allow to exit their mouths. By the time we get to what I’ll call the “Underwater Argument,” you’ll realize that this film isn’t even remotely interested in telling a story; it’s a series of stunts, and that’s supposed to be enough.

saladfork: GvB posts Memory Tapes remix of Yeasayers’ Ambling Alp Extremely fucking necessary.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:38:33 -0500

saladfork:

GvB posts Memory Tapes remix of Yeasayers’ Ambling Alp

Extremely fucking necessary.

Surfer Blood /// “Swim” /// Astro Coast Indie rock...

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:08:37 -0500

Surfer Blood /// “Swim” /// Astro Coast

Indie rock almost never means indie rock. ”Swim,” on the other hand, is two power-pop cannonballs coated with high fructose corn syrup and chained together with a stretch of splintering West African guitar. With vocals this urgent and issuing from a mile-wide vortex of reverb, Surfer Blood will be crowned the new Shins sooner rather than later, but their Mr. Universe muscle mass makes them a dangerous and altogether different beast, liable to explode at the drop of a hi-hat.

flamgirlant: Faces On Film /// “I’ll Sleep To Protect You” Yes,...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:08:20 -0500

flamgirlant:

Faces On Film /// “I’ll Sleep To Protect You”

Yes, I know this sounds like Modest Mouse what with the lyrics, cadence and crooked guitar, but this song is just so good. I like how Faces On Film keeps their broodiness in check - a lighter shade of gray, if you will.

Oh I will.