love_sick_minors@night

wow i'm up late. how did that happen? just been sittin here feeding cds onto my computer (upon insertion, iTunes reads, imports, and ejects. if it's working right), which are actually being loaded onto the drobo (thanks to iTunes 7 multiple-libraries functionality - check it out: hold down openapple as you open it); separating out dj-appropriate tracks into a folder labelled "trakx"; adding said trakx into my traktor "track collection"; and, for the moment, playing around with and selecting among those songs in preparation for a dj mix, which will actually be a reconstructed and probably substantially revised version of "love is the dancer" (draft version still on the sidebar for a limited time!) with a newly emphaticized "love" theme...just in tine for valentime's day! (i hope?) and for dj dominance.

but, there were some things i wanted to talk about here, and since there's no blogging allowed during the day (new rules), and seeing as i'm up...

no age: no bassist; no coherence; no joke. no philly show photos extant online.
(this is from new york 2/9 by bryan bruchman)

first: i went to see this band no age last night. something so odd and off about that band name, and the album title "weirdo rippers" (would say it's weirdo - too non-weird to be weird tho - but) that probably kind of suits their music: sort of almost normal seeming (normal words, at least) but not. oh whoa, i just just now got that it's a cross between no wave and new age. (the opposite of new wave maybe?) okay that actually makes a lot more sense. almost too much...pity. apparently it was the name of an all-instrumentals album on sst. ok.

i'd heard about 'em a bunch, feels like for a longer time than is actually possible (since they've been releasing record for less than a year at this point), somehow getting the (pretty much erroneous) sense that they'd been around for a long time and were somehow a big deal in the underground. also that i probably wouldn't like them, except that i heard enough vague yet sufficiently positive mentions that i jumped at the chance to catch them here in my hood, at the queen of sheba (yes, thank you m. rubin), for $5, in a just-announced, cancelled/rescheduled appearance (moved west due to sick liars - hypochondriacs?) got to say i'm impressed by the r5/badmaster communications hook-up: there was an impressive (skinny-white) turnout for an event just announced that day, including a sizable bunch of young'ns who were turned away at the bar door (you wouldn't expect a NO AGE show to be ALL AGES, wouldya, harhar?)

...and i continued to jump, quite a fair amount, during their set. surprised myself by being one of the most visibly enthusiastic crowd-members (though that probably shouldn't surprise me anymore - still, since when do i like punkrok?) they're...certainly punk, generally pretty rock (and whenever they are, it's rowk), but also other things (noise/xprmntl?) that i ought to like even less, but somehow it mostly works. simplicity is key - the songs are short and usually have only one or two identifiable ideas. reminded me of gbv a lot, though their singing is even less good (no i should say tuneful - no valu judgments.) maybe the thermals (no getting pysched on. no culture icons.) not actually as poppy as either of those, except for moments.

the de-facto highlight came during their final freak-out of their final song (short set, of course, no encore, but it was about exactly the right length), when their guitar somehow made its way through the crowd, and somehow ended up in my hands, and so i "played" it for a couple of minutes, though of course it was run through lots of delay and reverb and fx so it didn't really matter what i played, but you know, i did what i could. the funny part was i still had my coat in my arms underneath the guitar, as i was playing, which prevented me from actually holding it anything like correctly. and then i dropped my coat on the ground when i went up to give them the guitar back. they thanked me for jamming with them. and a couple of kids gave me shout-outs as i biked home.

i bought their cd. hey, i might was well at least buy one punk album a year right? (did i buy any last year? contemporary ones i mean? pop-punk, actually, does not count - fancy that) so far i don't enjoy it as much as i enjoyed the show, not nearly. understandably it's not as immediate - and i may be appreciative that it has more mellow noodly stuff, if i decide that that stuff is good. anyway not quite buying the #12 AotY, high-up track, p4k love - as i have, come around to on the tough alliance (also a punk-informed not-punk duo with a distinctly fresh/skewed perspective and some psychy/ambient leanings. except their pop pops a lot more.) but i'm still listening. mostly while i work on my headstand. can't decide whether "neck escaper" is an auspicious or ominous title for that purpose. probably also i'm not listening to it loud enough is the problem. or maybe i should be jamming along with it.

second: the list of sxsw showcasing artists came out last week. (btw i'm going again woohoo! in, as it happens, exactly one month from today/tomorrow.) it's looo ooo ooong. i went through and made the list of artists that i've heard of, or thought i had (gets surprisingly hard to remember when the list is that long; you realize how inevitably generic most band names become.) which was still loo oong. then i narrowed that down to acts i'm actually excited to hopefully see. which was still fairly lo ong but it felt quite disappointingly short, i guess because "excited" is a bit of a stretch for some of them. still, assuming all goes well, these are the folks i will try my darnedydarndarndest to get to see:

Aberfeldy (Edinburgh UK)
Annie (Bergen NORWAY)
Billy Bragg (London UK)
Lindstrom (Oslo NORWAY)
Pop Levi (Los Angeles CA)
Robyn (Stockholm SWEDEN) [yes, again, duh.]
The Tough Alliance (Gothenburg SWEDEN)
*Sally Shapiro (not on the list currently - somebody at her label told me today it's still unconfirmed but...assuming all goes well.)

and i would be pleased as punch to catch all or any of the following:

Bearsuit (Norwich UK)
Bella (Vancouver BC)
Black Moth Super Rainbow (Pittsburgh PA)
The Concretes (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Cut Copy (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip (London UK)
The Dollyrots (Los Angeles CA)
The Fashion (Copenhagen DENMARK)
Flosstradamus (Chicago IL) [yes!]
Jason Forrest (Berlin GERMANY)
Freezepop (Boston MA)
Fuck Buttons (Bristol UK) [based on hype, tourmates, and cute name]
Future Clouds & Radar (Austin TX) [still haven't heard but i think i'll like em anyway]
Jeff Hanson (St Paul MN)
Hanne Hukkelberg (Jar NORWAY) [sweet!]
Her Space Holiday (San Mateo CA) [finally?]
Jolie Holland (Brooklyn NY)
Juiceboxxx (Detroit MI)
Kaki King (New York NY)
Khan (Berlin GERMANY)
Jens Lekman (Gothenburg SWEDEN) [still]
Jeffrey Lewis (New York NY)
Lykke Li (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Mahjongg (Chicago IL) [indeed]
Make A Rising (Philadelphia PA) [my buddy's buddy's band]
Erin McKeown (Boston MA) [certainly]
MGMT (Brooklyn NY)
My Brightest Diamond (Brooklyn NY)
No Age (Los Angeles CA) [yes, again, duh]
Okkervil River (Austin TX)
The Raveonettes (New York NY)
R.E.M. (Athens GA) [?]
Retribution Gospel Choir (Duluth MN) [figger if i'm gonna be a low junkie]
The Russian Futurists (Toronto ON)
Shout Out Louds (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Simian Mobile Disco (London UK) [real band set this time?]
Sissy Wish (Bergen NORWAY)
Throw Me The Statue (Seattle WA) [my buddy's band!]
Vampire Weekend (New York NY) [hey why not? everybody's doin' it]
White Shoes & The Couples Company (Jakarta INDONESIA) [go tim sendra]
WHY? (Oakland CA)
Yo La Tengo (Hoboken NJ)

some other band names i noticed:

43 Songs About 43 Presidencies (Sacramento CA)
Fourcolorzack & Pretty Titty (Seattle WA)
Ringo Deathstarr (Austin TX)
Rock & Roll (Paris FRANCE)
SuperstarDJs (Austin TX)
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (Austin TX)
You, Me, And Everyone We Know (Washington DC)
Yves Klein Blue (Brisbane AUSTRALIA)
David Moore (Indianapolis IN)

okay time for some sleepy, so i can wake up later and work on mixy. which incidentally what should i call?:

ross of love will tear us apart
ross of love is like an itching in my heart
ross of love makes the world go 'round
ross of love is all you need
ross of love comes quickly
ross of love is a losing game
ross of love was made for two
ross of love is the drug
ross of love for sale
ross of love machine

do you want me to go on? i could go on... (anybody else feel a mixtape series comin' on...)

interestingly, out of the 11190 (and counting...) songs that are on my computer, only one of them is titled "love." and i've already used it on a mix, so it will not be on this one.