Austin Improv

mcnichol wrote: Rhys Chatham | A Crimson Grail | 2007 This work, written for 400 (FOUR HUNDRED!!!) guitars, was commissioned by the City of Paris for a massive festival in 2005. Despite the number of axes, it moves like the tide. Gorgeous.

I love me some Rhys Chatham. Did you see him here last year at SXSW? To my dying shame, I missed it. The Table of the Elements boxed set, An Angel Moves Too Fast to See is incredible.

shando wrote:I love me some Rhys Chatham. Did you see him here last year at SXSW? To my dying shame, I missed it. The Table of the Elements boxed set, An Angel Moves Too Fast to See is incredible.

I really haven't heard much else by him, though he's one of those names I've read for years. I have a Philip Glass record he put out on his Chatham Square label in the early 70s, and had heard a little of the Angel box, but must not have been in the right headspace at the time. This new thing is mindbogglingly good. I did not see him at SXSW

What I've heard of him reminds me of Stars of the Lid, one of my favorites and used-to-be Austinites. Their new album ("Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the Decline": 3xLP, 2xCD) comes out soon and what I've heard of it makes it their best yet.

here comes mr. lame pop fan.
i'm having a good time writing and listening to american idiot really loud. there is no one else home.

Neon Bible

The new Arcade Fire!!!

Also, I forgot to mention that Return to Cookie Mountain by by TV on the Radio and the new Of Montreal album have been on constant play near me lately.

Andy Breckman's ancient CD "Proud Dad".

Breckman is better known as the creator and producer of Monk, and the writer of Rater Race. He also wrote for Saturday Night Live a long long time ago. He wrote and directed the sketch where Eddie Murphy pretends to be white. But he also used to be comedic folk singer.

I am not as committed as Bob about getting MP3 links to amazing shit, so I'm not even gonna try. But here's what's been rocking me out recently:

In Advance of the Broken Arm by Marnie Stern Do you like Deerhoof? Do you like Hella? Do you like art metal? Do you like women who can shred? Do you like good music? Holy fuck, this is an album.


Speaking of Hella, this is some jacked up accoustic fractured art metal spazzcore something or other. Seriously wicked.



I think I'm a little late to Menomena, but I like this album. But I do forget it's in my car cd player. Why's that? I don't know.



I mentioned this earlier, but Of Montreal's Hissing Faun, Are You The Destroyer is great. Pop to the point of almost being freaking disco, but it was written in the aftermath of the lead singer's divorce and the lyrics are dark.



And maybe the best album of last year, TV on the Radio's Return to Cookie Mountain, which I've only discovered int he past few weeks. Amazing record. Like My Blood Valentine's Loveless and Brian Wilson's Smile running at the same time. Or some such.

shando wrote: Like My Blood Valentine's Loveless and Brian Wilson's Smile running at the same time. Or some such.

Thanks for providing that description. I've had the album since November, but never sat down to listen to it until I read that. Loveless is what makes my blood circulate.

I'm grading all week and my playlist is the following albums on shuffle:

Return to Cookie Mountain TV on the Radio
Apologies to the Queen Mary Wolf Parade
No Certain Night or Morning Home Video

I've only heard Cookie Mountain out of that list -- I'm going to make sure I check out the rest of those. We had a drink-fueled chat about Hella before... I NEED to hear that...

Also Loveless is the shjit, but it's a crime that the Isn't Anything-era eps "You Made Me Realize" and "Feed Me With Your Kiss" are out of print. Those are tops.


Until Monday or so, the only music i had in my head was the music that ran through our sketch show. I'd made a pre-show DVD of music video / live music on tv stuff, some intermission music, and two songs we sung in the show (with music by John Ratliff)...

Count V | "Psychotic Reaction" | on American Bandstand (1966)
Dick Rivers | "Ces Mots Qu'On Oublie Un Jour" (cover of Things We Said Today) | on the BBC special The Music of Lennon & McCartney (1965)
The Rolling Stones | "Gimme Shelter" | live on Pop Goes the 60's (1969)
The Flirtations | "Nothing But a Heartache" | music video (1969)
The Creatures | "Where Can She Be" | from some Finnish film (1966)
Monks | "Monk Chant" | live on Beat Club (1966)
The Kinks | "You Really Got Me" | live on Beat Room (1964)
Devo | "Satisfaction" | music video (1978)
The Mummies | "Come on up" | live on San Francisco public access tv (1992)
Love | "My Little Red Book" | on American Bandstand (1966)
Zakary Thaks | "Love is a Beautiful Thing" | live promo film (1967)

Korla Pandit | various organ music from the 1940's/50's
Black Eyed Peas | some pumped up song we used prior to heading back into the second act

Frank Mills/John Ratliff | Let's Build a Meth Lab
Frank Mills/John Ratliff | Don't be a Douchebag
The Russian National Anthem mixed with that "Y'all Ready for This" hi-nrg dance tune


I dropped a whole mess of Joy Division and early New Order live bootlegs onto the ipod before the end of the weekend, and was rocking those Monday and Tuesday at work.


This morning, while walking out the door, i grabbed a bunch of random cds that i hadn't heard in a long time:

Cocteau Twins | Tiny Dynamine & Echoes in a Shallow Bay (1985)
Cocteau Twins | Treasure (1984)
The Wedding Present | Seamonsters (1991)
Can | Soundtracks (1970)
Cocteau Twins | Head Over Heels/Sunburst & Snowblind (1983)
Cocteau Twins | The Pink Opaque (1985)
The Fall | Dragnet (1979)
Throwing Muses | The Real Ramona (1991)
Galaxie 500 | Today (1988)

...whew!

mcnichol wrote: Frank Mills/John Ratliff | Don't be a Douchebag

...whew!

What's wrong with being a douchebag?

Revive!!

This week I've been stone-col' rockin':

Shellac - Excellent Italian Greyhound (7 years of waiting on this one...)
Trans Am - Illegal Ass 12"
Don Caballero - What Burns Never Returns
Polvo - Today's Active Lifestyles

...so, mostly the heavy, mathy stuff.

Send More Paramedics - The Hallowed and the Heathen

Ass Whippin' Zombie Speed Metal

mcnichol wrote:...so, mostly the heavy, mathy stuff.

Dude, you ever listen to Mastadon or The Sword?

vine311 wrote:Dude, you ever listen to Mastadon or The Sword?

I have not. Their names and design sense always said "speed metal" (and "norse nythology") to me, which I usually just have a passing fancy with. But I will definitely check them out... The mathy/heavy stuff I like is usually made by total nerds (look at photos of any of the four bands above), though I just saw a photo of The Sword and they seem to fit that bill too. Also, I love drums, and then drummers for all above (except maybe Polvo) are complete maniacs -- I like my guitars-to-drums-in-the-mix ratio to be about 50/50.

I only suggest them because of the insane time signature changes that happen in some of their songs. (Mastadon especially) Also, if you want insane drummers, look no further than Mastadon. I've got some stuff I can loan you if you want to check it out. However, to the untrained ear, it will sound just like speed metal.