Those close to me know that I am rarely without my specs. I only wear contacts on special occaisons, or days when I feel like I actually need to see things clearly.
About a week or two ago, I picked up these:
I dropped them yesterday. They place I got them from for an insane discount doesn't have them, and I'm about to scour all of ebay and Amazon to find them.
Whatever. I need these back in my life =(
Realizing when I got in to work this morning that my toothpaste had failed me miserably and left my breath in its basest state of rancor, I retrieved a brand new tin of Altoids from my desk drawer. The lid was held tightly shut by a band of thick cellophane that happened to have a vertical red stripe, presumably indicating where to pull in order to most easily remove the protective plastic. I pulled and pried with everything I had in me, but it was like trying to peel a hockey puck. The plastic band simply would not give.
The red stripe glared at me. “You’re a fucking wimp,” it finally snorted in disgust. Of course, life’s to short to take shit from the cellophane on a tin of Altoids, so I got out the trusty Benchmade. But even as I cavalierly sliced that red strip right down the middle, the little bastard's derision endured. “Wassamatter, princess? Aw, need Mr. Pigstabber to do it for you? Maybe your mommy could help. About time for her to change your diaper anyway, isn’t it, Shirley?”
So now I know. If you want to enjoy curiously strong breath mints, it helps if you yourself are also curiously strong. I suppose that goes without saying, but I never expected packaging so clever as to test the consumer’s strength prior to relinquishing the product.
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So, I caught the news about how 90s dance diva/pop singer, Cathy Dennis, is still making a living in the music business - not as a performer, but as a music writer. She's responsible for huge hits for Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears, S Club Juniors, and Janet Jackson, just to name a few. I'm happy to see her doing so well!
Anyway, this news caused me to flashback of my high school youth. I had seen her beautiful 60s haircut and neon green album cover and fell in love with her. I got her debut album, Move to This through my primary way of purchasing semi-cheap CDs: BMG Music Club (which I'm still currently a member).
I think at the time, she had "Just Another Dream" as a hit single, a dancey number with that catchy line "is it for real or is it just another dream (just a dream)", followed by "Touch Me (All Night Long)" which shows off her dancing skills on MTV.
Once I had the album, I was drawn to her sweet lullaby love song, "Too Many Walls". This song, complete with the violin parts, did really well on the Billboard charts.... and I believe it was the last time we heard from her in the States.
I don't know what happened really, she disappeared as quickly as she appeared on pop radio.
Looking at her discography, I can tell you that she did release two other albums, and a greatest hits, but as far as I know, they were only a blimp on the radar in the US. I'm sure she fared far better in her home country.
As luck would have it, Discopop reported a brand new Cathy Dennis album called Sexcassettes should be out in 2008:
Her manager, Spice Girls svengali Simon Fuller, adds that the album has “a real contemporary guitar feeling” - which is less encouraging.
I don't know about 'less encouraging', but it should be interesting to hear her new original songs.
Dennis, from the recent Yahoo article, adds more details:
Actually, yes. I've been working for the last year-and-a-half with a band I put together called Sexcassettes. We're shooting a video for the first single, "Killer Love," this month, and I hope to have it out by the end of the year. It's more of a band sound than produced pop. As usual, I have no idea what to expect.
that when asking for a rundown of surfer date next week my girl comes through with a LIST. I will respond to said list as soon as I get home. Hmm
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07/23/08 Ramkota Exhibit Hall Souix Falls, South Dakota
07/24/08 Grandmas Sports Garden Duluth, Minnesota 07/25/08 Riverside Ballroom Green Bay, Wisconsin 07/26/08 Streeters Traverse City, Michigan 07/29/08 Vans Warped Tour: Pittsburgh, PA 07/30/08 Vans Warped Tour: Riverbend Music Center OH 07/31/08 Vans Warped Tour: Verizon Wireless Music, IN 08/01/08 Vans Warped Tour: Marcus Amphitheater WI 08/02/08 Vans Warped Tour: First Midwest Bank IL 08/03/08 Vans Warped Tour: Canterbury Park ,MN 08/05/08 Vans Warped Tour: Credit Union Centre SK 08/06/08 Vans Warped Tour: Race City Speedway AB 08/08/08 Vans Warped Tour: Idaho Center Amp, ID 08/09/08 Vans Warped Tour: Gorge Amphitheatre WA 08/10/08 Vans Warped Tour: Columbia Meadows OR 08/13/08 Vans Warped Tour: Save Mart Center CA 08/14/08 Vans Warped Tour: Coors Amphitheater CA 08/15/08 Vans Warped Tour: Shoreline Ampitheatre CA 08/16/08 Vans Warped Tour: Sleep Train Ampitheatre CA 08/17/08 Vans Warped Tour: The Home Depot Center CA 09/04/08 MSU Auditorium East Lansing, Michigan 09/06/08 Crocodile Rock Cafe Allentown, Pennsylvania 09/07/08 House of Blues Atlantic City, New Jersey 09/08/08 Recher Theatre Towson, Maryland 09/10/08 The Orange Peel Asheville, North Carolina 09/11/08 The Music Farm Charleston, South Carolina 09/12/08 40 Watt Club Athens, Georgia 09/13/08 Real Big Deal Festival Gainesville, Florida 09/15/08 House of Blues New Orleans, Louisiana 09/17/08 Canopy Club Urbana, Illinois 09/18/08 The Blue Note Columbia, Missouri 09/19/08 Liberty Hall Lawrence, Kansas 09/22/08 Club Oasis Louisville, Kentucky 09/23/08 Newport Music Hall Columbus, Ohio 09/25/08 Magic City Music Hall Johnson City, New York 09/26/08 Northern Lights Clifton Park, New York 09/27/08 Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel Providence, RI 09/28/08 Toad’s Place New Haven, Connecticut 09/30/08 The National Richmond, Virginia 10/01/08 Lincoln Theatre Raleigh, North Carolina 10/02/08 Rocketown Nashville, Tennessee |
I'm always excited about acoustic releases. I generally prefer them since they strip away the flashiness and give you the raw talent of the band. Motion City Soundtrack's Acoustic EP is no different. The EP features five tracks from their 2007 album "Even If It Kills Me". For those who don't know Motion City Soundtrack is an increasingly popular indie rock/alternative rock/pop group formed in Minneapolis. The band has released three albums under Epitaph Records.
As with most acoustic releases, the songs all sound much more earnest and heartfelt. The versions of "Fell In Love Without You" and "It Had To Be You" should go down in love-song history for their incredible emotion-evoking sound. Unlike some acoustic albums, Motion City Soundtrack delivers complete studio quality throughout the entire EP. There are not only acoustic guitars, but chimes, drums, piano, bass-- the whole nine yards.
This wasn't just a sit-down in the basement; it was crafted with much precision. The vocals may not have been as smooth as in "Even If It Kills Me" but they are strong and hit all their marks (which is no small feat with all of Motion City Soundtrack's high octaves). Even if you've already purchased "Even If It Kills Me" I highly recommend you pick this EP up. The quality and effort put into the Acoustic EP is easy to recognize, and it's a whole new take on all of the songs.
Links:
motioncitysoundtrack.com
myspace.com/motioncitysoundtrack
epitaph.com
Hey peeps! It’s been almost a year since I mentioned this so I just want to quickly remind you guys that you can help contribute to charitable causes simply by clicking a web button. Doing so takes up an almost imperceptible fraction of your daily surfing time. In fact, donating to The Animal Rescue Site would take about the time it took you to read this sentence. One click. No lie. The clicks from yesterday alone provided 186,935 bowls (42.4 metric tons) of food.
Plus, everything you buy from them provides shelter animals with necessary relief. And, seriously, who wouldn’t want this incredible t-shirt? (I mean besides mailmen and people on the lam, of course.)
By the way, The Animal Rescue Site is a part of GreaterGood.org. If you like the idea of giving just by clicking, you will want to also visit the GreaterGood sites for World Hunger, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, and Protection of Rainforests.
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OK, show of hands: how many of y'all reading this have dropped acid? Strangely enough, considering my interests in neurology and altered states of consciousness, I never have. Nope. Not once. A friend of mine once said that I acted as though I were on acid all the time, just by default. Therefore, I've always been afraid that eating a tab or two might, paradoxically, make me normal. Can't have that now, can we?
Well, thanks to London, Ontario's Golden Death Music, you do not need to resort to illegal pharmaceuticals to experience seriously altered states--I'm talking the kind that can potentially mutate you into a Homo erectus or a telekinetic, maggotlike far-future form, so be careful when listening. Also, if you're forced to take a piss test at your job, do not be surprised if traces of Golden Death Music's stunningly beautiful first album, Ephemera Blues, turn up in your urine. This is the kind of bizarre, edgy, yet still tranquil music that will permeate your entire being after a few listens, lighting up your chakra, opening your Third Nostril, and perhaps transforming your pineal gland.
Golden Death Music is singer/songwriter Michael Ramey, but the album sounds as though it's been composed by a whole studio full of musicians. Nope. It's all Michael Ramey, who has written and recorded every song himself--a sizable achievement, since Ephemera Blues has a very large sound. Mixing elements of Pink Floyd, Donovan, 13th Floor Elevators, Legendary Pink Dots, Radiohead, and Jethro Tull into a swirling, multicolored and multitextured album, Ramey has created a record that literally defines the word "psychedelic." Though most songs are primarily driven by acoustic guitar and vocals, drifting in and out and through these primary elements like noctilucent clouds are eerie synths, glitchy electronic touches, flutes, cellos, electric guitars, horns, and heavily-reverbed backing vocals. Though the sounds all blend together nicely to create a languid, sleepy texture, all instruments are still distinct and nicely arranged in space, which makes this album a wonderfully immersive headphones experience. Coloured waves of sound will fill your mind with disembodied bliss...and best of all, there's no nasty come-down or flashbacks to worry about!
Much like Pink Floyd, Golden Death Music acknowledges that melody is the keystone of any piece, and Ephemera Blues is built on a solid foundation of melody and songwriting. Ramey's lyrics are often rather dark, as on the album closer "Into the Ocean"--"Throw yourself into the water / Feel the changed and tainted ocean / Let the damaged waves caress you / Feel the change"--but not morbid. In fact, there is an airy lightness to this album that gives it the feeling of a peaceful near-death experience and greatly justifies the name Golden Death Music. "Waking Nightmare" may be constructed from a tense, unnerving electro-glitch base, but the melody itself and the vocals are quiet and pretty, as though Ramey is observing the waking nightmare of life from the stance of someone who's left it all behind. Even "Lost in Violence," my favorite track on the album, manages to depict our earthly hell with a relaxed peacefulness.
Speaking of Pink Floyd, Ramey is one hell of a good guitar-player, and his acoustic guitar work will no doubt remind you a lot of David Gilmour. There are no guitar solos in his songs, however: they are trim, economical tracks that usually measure about four to six minutes in length--just long enough to let you lose yourself in them without becoming overlong or tedious.
In many ways, Golden Death Music's Ephemera Blues is musical theosophy. Much like the literary work of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Golden Death Music gathers together elements from many, many sources and attempts to synthesize them into a mystical, transcendent, syncretic unity. However, unlike theosophy, Michael Ramey actually succeeds. Whereas Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled was a hefty tome of absolutely insane religio-babble, Ephemera Blues is a tight, complex, but manageable assemblage of musical concepts and ideas that really will make you feel as though you've tapped into the Pistis Sophia, the gnostic truth, the one-ness, behind the confusion of reality. And it will bring you the peace of musical enlightenment.
LO-LO-LO-LOVE
-My new iPhone. Can I get a what what? People, I am addicted and you don't know how good it feels to have a phone that actually WORKS. Blow it out, Verizon.
-I've been up in the gym workin' on my fitness. And feelin' good like Nina Simone.
-Date next Wednesday. Surfer. Hot. Vegan. xXx. Intelligent. HOPEFULLY NOT A POTENTIAL DATE RAPER. Needs C50 screening ASAP.
-Poketo
-Fabulous earrings from Aldo that were $10.
-Being blessed. Staying Blessed. Capital B!!!
-Potential home buying soonish.
-Three more weeks of working 3 jobs. It's so close I can taste it.
-Catering is kickin' butt! I have some recipes to post so you can taste my yummies.
Strongly Dislike
-Fender Bender in the parking lot today. ALL I WANTED WAS MY VENTI BLACK TEA! Dude and his girl got out of the car and got rowdy. I nearly burst into tears. It was my first accident in 10 years of driving that mofo car.
-Breaking shit in the repair room. If we had a Hippocratic Oath for repairs, I'd be breaking it.
-Kids coming on a weird schedule. We can't do the fun stuff if you don't bring them on time!
-Bikini razor burn.
-Nair Leg burn.
-Can't find burgundy date shoes. FAIL FAIL FAIL.
-Been away from Vox for far too long
It's another big CD-Tuesday for us, we've managed to cover most all of them:
- Sunfold - Toy Tugboats
- Mouth of the Architect - Quietly
- Lackthereof - Your Anchor
- Samantha Crain - The Confiscation EP
- The Avett Brothers - The Second Gleam
Man, I'm so glad that it will be a light release date for July 29th, but looking ahead, it looks like another big day for us for August 5th: The May Fire - The List, Peter Bradley Adams - Leavetaking, /Passenger. - Wicked Man's Rest, Trapt - Only Through The Pain, and Telepathique - Last Time on Earth... so looking forward to tackling those, since I am also assuming we will get more, the closer we get to that date. So below are last minute submissions for July 22nd:
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07/22/08 DC 9 DC, Washington DC
07/23/08 M Room Philadelphia, PA 07/25/08 Union Hall Brooklyn, NY 07/26/08 Mercury Lounge New York 07/27/08 Middle East (upstairs) Boston, MA 07/29/08 Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC |
SUNFOLD
myspace.com/sunfold
With the release of Toy Tugboats, released today, July 22th, this North Carolina band, Sunfold, is kicking off a mini tour on the East coast.
Even though some of you might not know the name Sedona (the original name for the band) or Sunfold, you might know them through Annuals. What's interesting to note is that Sunfold includes all the members of Annuals, just under a different name.
Their biography lists that basically Annuals is headed by music singer/singer Adam Baker, while Sunfold is under songwriter Kenny Florence's direction.... and under his direction, it looks like Sunfold are gearing to a refreshing wide range of instruments (hammered dulcimer, lap guitar, cello), in addition to the standard guitar/bass/drums rock and roll fare.
I do like what Sunfold is doing here, trying out different genre of music. Take a listen to "Gnosis" and you'll think this must've been inspired by popular jazz and 70s progressive rock. The banjo and lyrics on "Shapeshiftin'" sounds very old-time music, while "To Wake the Eye" is pretty much jazz. "Sailed off to Sea" is their most country-sounding song, and "Gorgée de Rubis" is experimenting with artificial sound as well as a hint of Hindi music. As you can see, all songs are all over the place.
This might be a good thing if you consider that they are still growing and trying to find where they fit in. It should be interesting to see how the two bands exists parallel to each other as time goes by.
Toy Tugboats is out today on Terpsikhore Records. Look for their mini tour and/or see Annuals.
LACKTHEREOF
lackthereof.com ♥ myspace.com
Speaking of side projects, Lackthereof began life in 1997, before Danny Seim started another band in 2000 called Menomena, which took over as the main project. Seim have decided to return back to Lackthereof with this latest release called Your Anchor, released today, July 22nd on one of our favorite record label, Barsuk Records.
The promotional song Barsuk want us to us is "Last November", which makes my choice a lot easier, but if you ask me, I would've prefer to use "Ask Permission" as I felt that song edge out November slightly.
Since the songs on this album were probably closely watched and mixed by Seim, himself, he controls all you hear - so the songs seems to fall on the more experimental side. There's odd melodies and unconventional music shifts, making it not very pop radio friendly.
The most radio-friendly song is his cover of The National's "Fake Empire", one of his favorite bands. To be honest, I haven't had a chance to check out the National, due partly to all the hype for the band last year. After hearing Lackthereof's version of "Fake Empire", I might check out what all the fuss is about..... Although, I would hazard a guess that it sounds very unlike the original.
PS, the most interesting thing, if you ever get a chance to see photographs of Seim and his pug. Apparently, Ms Geddy Lee, the dog, is the manager of Menomena.