PowderBlueOrbit

I saw this poster last time I was in Chicago, and I loved it because the word "Fist" was involved.

Now, five months later, I went to The WorldWide InterWeb to see what Sexfist is all about.

Seeing the word "Bluegrass" I was poised to rip them a new one until I actually took the time to listen to their posted mp3s.

And then something strange happened. Maybe it was the cute illustration, or the pleasing color scheme, but I actually liked what I heard!

Immediately, I used The Information Super Highway to see if I really had lost it, or if I actually discovered The Best Shit Ever. (More testimony after the jump...)

Continue reading "Sexfist." »

Posted by admin at 05:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Grado headphones are well known amongst audiophiles for their quality, and price. Recently, my "work/gym" headphones busted, so I was in the market for a new pair.

Because my hearing is fucked, I can't wear earbuds, which suck for the gym anyway.

I discovered these iGrado headphones, and, for $49, decided to take a chance.

I was utterly astonished at how good they sounded. Not only were they loud, but they literally defined all the nuances of music that typically get lost in cheap headphones. For example, I can hear snare resonation in kick hits on miced kits. Also, their vented diaphragm design allows just enough of your environment's sound to creep in. Unfortunately, they're not designed to fold up, which to my mind is a major oversight. But, the wraparound headband does seem to be made of a strong, yet flexible plastic. There is enough tension in the band so that the phones hug securely to your ears. They're still no V700's, but they're absolutely recommended for any sort of non-production use.

Posted by admin at 04:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last Friday, I was fortunate enough to make it into Concert Number XVIII of The Wordless Music Series, featuring none other than Stars of the Lid.

SOTL is one of the original Kranky artists and a super big deal because although they're not the first to pioneer ambient guitar drone, they're probably the most successful. Also, they tour like once a decade.

I knew the SOTL portion of the show was guaranteed, but what of the rest? Would this be a show of such high profile that me, satcheless with loosened, non-blackened jeans stood no chance of lasting through two opening acts to get the goods? I don't even wear glasses, thick or otherwise. What neighborhood is this? I was in a church. Juilliard was near. Children were involved. Violins. Wine and folding chairs. What was next?

It went down like this (more after the jump...)

Continue reading "Stars of the Lid 050208" »

Posted by admin at 04:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My Beautiful Girlfriend took me to see The Verve at MSG, and it sucked.

Well, not totally, because I got to hang with her, and I took this relatively cool picture.

As for the sucking, I think it can be summed up in 2 words:

Richard Ashcroft.

I could go into more detail, but my man summed it up pretty well at his new blog, discouragingly called "Leading Your Mind Astray."

Continue reading ""The" Verve sucked." »

Posted by admin at 09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Before retirement, deafness and senility, I used to play mp3s records. One of my favorite artists was Cinematic Orchestra. A Ninjatune alum, I labeled Cinematic "Nu" Jazz, and I'm sure this term is mine alone — one that nobody else even dreamed of.

I saw them billed at MHoW, and my thought process went like this:

Me says to me: "Oh, Cinematic at MHoW."

Me replies: "Hmmm, I wonder if it will rule, or if it will be gay."

Me says to me: "Well, their older shit is so dope..."

Me replies: "True, but maybe they've gone vocal and now blow ass like fellow Brits U.N.K.L.E. or Nightmares on Wax."

Me says to me: "Well, you could check The WorldWide InterWeb and see what the new material is like."

Me replies: "Nah, fuck it, I'll get tickets."

Clearly I was a dumbass. Heidi Vogel's vocals were not unlike my penis; big, black and bad. But once I realized she was singing about how "the stars light me" I started feeling a little light in the loafer and found myself wishing I had listened to the more reasonable voice in my head. Girls People, of course, broke out spoons and ate it all up.

Nonetheless, the lady can sing, and had the decency to step aside and let the music breathe. In an instrumental configuration, Cinematic is excellent.

Posted by admin at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

No press is bad press, but this writing made me throw up in my mouth like Oxy-C at Coachella:

Portland is America's rockingest city, and it's rockingest inhabitant is hippie homegirl Honey Owens. Proprietor of Rad Summer, the city's coolest shop, her band Valet make the freshest, most mind-altering cosmic desert jams going. Honey is also in Atlas Sound and goes out with Adam "White Rainbow" Forkner, completing an all-powerful holy trinity of Pacific Northwest hypno-rcok. SR

(editor's note — fuck you, "SR")

Meanwhile, Valet did totally rock recently at MHoW, where there at least, I got to see Homegirl play topless and I didn't have to read anything.

Posted by admin at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hey look, it's The Nudge! And they've been famoused yet again, but this time by The Fader. Jump over by, and check out "Warsong", an impressive track from their forthcoming EP Infinity Padlock. Infinity Padlock releases on Audraglint mid-may.

Posted by admin at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have always been a Big Fan of horror movies, especially "good" ones. I use the term "good" loosely though, because I usually like the bad ones too.

So when I hear that there's a movie about a teenage girl with teeth in her vagina, I can only imagine that it blows past the "good" rating right on to "outstanding". The movie is aptly named Teeth, and it truly is outstanding.

Continue reading "Teeth." »

Posted by admin at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Next to this, I think the best gift I’ve received is this knife.

This knife is The Metro from their Collaborations Series, made by Buck. Interestingly, “Buck Knives” were the first knives to have a locking blade that folds out of the handle. Much stronger than a penknife, Buck blades lock until you push the release.

With The Metro, I can pop beers just as easily as I can slice my initials into your back, right over your kidneys. Plus, I can palm the little fucker when The Fuzz shows up to try to take me down. (Emphasis on "try".)

Speaking of knives, it’s fast and easy to pick some up off The WorldWide InterWeb, like these or these.

Posted by admin at 07:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When my man isn't busy amputating his own finger, he's sending me near incomprehensible emails about how much I suck. They read like this:

"your gumball thing sucks donkey dick, check this out"

Polished like a Civil War spittoon, and blunt as the mill wheel that took Pa's arm at Little House on the Prairie, my man is quite the wordsmith. Watch him thumb his nose at punctuation and clarity.

But he may have a point. If you can keep your mind from exploding, this is a pretty champ MIDI controller.

Posted by admin at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Do you live in Hamburg? Would you like to see a film, in which a man loves a woman from behind? I bet you would, you filthy swine!

My man Chillmost, seen ripping a solo in this video, is performing with his band Venusberg at Markthalle in Hamburg this Sunday, February 10. You can find out about it here.

I wish I could go, but I have to fight crime elsewhere. I also wish everyone could just get along, and most importantly, I wish to God that the band's name was Penisberg and the lyrics were in German, and everyone performed naked in those huge novelty condoms, that are actually rather snug on me. And I wish they had a chorusline of Hamburg prostitutes with color-coded umbrellas and matching fannypacks, executing grandiose routines with Bauschian precision...

Posted by admin at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been reading tons lately. One of the best books I've read in a long time is, Soon I Will Be Invincible. by Austin Grossman.

Invincible is simple, fluid and infectious. At it's core it is a superhero tale; straightup good versus evil. In front of a contemporary world backdrop, there are superheroes, and, of course, supervillains. What sets these characters apart is how human Grossman crafts them. The Champions are comprised of heroes with names like Blackwolf, Damsel, and Mister Mystic; all tempered with insecurity, arrogance and vanity that seem to always follow power and fame. The villains are no different. Some are surly drunks, laughably corny, or hidden in seclusion.

The story itself follows supervillain Doctor Impossible, a global domineering, frustrated genius with a massive chip on his shoulder dating back to his college years. On the side of all things good, it also follows Fatale, a young woman and new cyborg who not only has to deal with her new skin, but is also tapped to join The Champions; the most powerful, and visible super team in the world.

At the time, the book was only available in hardcover, with the paperback version forthcoming.

Posted by admin at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So here is the "confirmed" lineup for Coachella 2008. Looks pretty lame to me. Most importantly, no MBV as was widely speculated.

Who the fuck is Jack Johnson? Why do people still insist on wanting to hear Death Cab For Cutie or My Morning Jacket for that matter? Does seeing Sasha and Dickweed Digweed on yet another lineup not infuriate you? If so, how? Does M.I.A., Aesop, Diplo and Hot Chip own stock in Coachella? Is Roger Waters alive?

So many questions. Whatever the answers, I'm not sure that the desire to see Portishead, Autolux, Cinematic Orchestra or gulp, bites lip, fights impending feeling of sucking The Verve, warrants me dropping the cash to head out west.

Posted by admin at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I owned a Sidekick 3 for over a year. Despite it's brick-like demeanor, I had convinced myself it was great. Although limited, it IM'd like a champ and txting was a breeze. The address book was extensive and well-designed. I could configure my business email account to it, and for awhile, it worked well.

Continue reading "How I Am Punishing My SK3 and Learning to Love The Curve." »

Posted by admin at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Happy New Year. Stay tuned for posts about:

• Chicago's Firehouse Restuarant

• How I am punishing my SK3 and learning to love The Curve

• Why gym people should be slaughtered. Mercilessly.

• Ravenswood's Lillstreet Art Market and nearby Hazel store

• Weiner Circle

• Lincoln Square's Bad Dog Bar

• Lincoln Square's Borioso

• Logan's Whirlyland Bar

• Sirius

• Lucky Strike Seven Ten in Lincoln Park (?)

• Everyone Is Famous Guy

• Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve NV

• More Bull

• Carrying a Blade

• Beards and other shit...

Posted by admin at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My man used to rant about this kid, Meathead who had a fat little brother that was nicknamed "The Beef Chief" or "The Chief of Beef." This kid was always hanging around Emo shows being a pain in the ass.

As with most awkward kids, he ended up adopting the nickname because, let's face it, negative attention is better than no attention at all for loser little kids. So, he adopted the name Beef Chief.

Meanwhile, look what I found on The InterWeb. Why the fuck would you name your band Chief Beef? What are you trying to say about your music? What are you saying about yourselves? Is it like this:

Continue reading "Chief Beef." »

Posted by admin at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

All you need to know about this is MBV, Verve (with original guitarist), and Broken Social Scene.

Posted by admin at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Figuring out a good band name is a big deal. I have some favorites; Today's My Super Spaceout Day, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, and Cannibal Corpse are a few. Two out of three of the former are really long names, so maybe that's partly why I dig the Brooklyn-based trio; A Place To Bury Strangers.

The other reason is that they are searingly loud and fuzzy, and yet another example of The Return of Spacerock. That said, they still maintain some of the new new wave song structure and sensibility that the kids are digging these days.

Oh yeah, I took these High Resolution Photographs of the band at their free show in the LES sometime ago. In fact, I ran into unbeknownst uberfan, Matt Damon, who had these to say about these neo-gazers:

"A Place To Bury Strangers totally rocks. I think anyone who's not a dick with ears would be into them." —Matt Damon

Posted by admin at 09:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In an effort to catch up on missed posting, I saw this band Mahogany play. They were third act with Soundpool whom I've talked about before, and headliner Ulrich Schnauss.

Mahogany has been around for awhile, and I guess at least some of the band lives in Brooklyn. Musically, they fall somewhere in the Solexx, or Broadcast, millionth generation MBV spawn or something...

Posted by admin at 09:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I went to see Priestbird (a relabeled Tarantula AD), Earth and Pelican last Tuesday.

They played The Bowery Ballroom which is the undefeated champ venue of NYC. The Bowery holds it down nicely at Bowery and Delancey, making it easy to access from LES, SoHo, Downtown or The Village. I've never seen any sort of line at the door, thanks to an intelligent and competent staff. Even the bouncers are decent humans.

I breezed in, claimed my reasonably priced ticket hassle-free from will call, and grabbed a drink at the entry/lower level bar. Upstairs, the boxy main room was a welcome sight, mostly because I know it contains top-notch sound, and expert engineers. Every show sounds great here. And guess what? Since The Bowery doesn't usually oversell, you can move around in a refreshingly non butt-to-nut fashion. There is a bar on the main floor, there is a bar on the cozy upper level. Drink.

Continue reading "Pelican Is A Great Example Of A Band That Does Not Blow Ass..." »

Posted by admin at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had heard that Battles was killing it at Pitchfork, so I figured I'd see for myself. They played last weekend at Studio B, a newish, hippish venue hidden somewhere in Williamsburg. Also, my man wanted to go, so I took him for his belated birthday.

Unfortunately my man spontaneously combusted from having such a rip roaring time at the show. I managed to capture this tragedy through the wonders of Super High Resolution Digital Photography. Appearently he wasn't alone, as the bulging, near capacity venue suggested. Kids were loving it.

Continue reading "Battles show... (hands extended, palms facing upward and outward, shrugs shoulders cocking head to one side, says; "meh"...)" »

Posted by admin at 05:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

My Special Secret Operative sent me this, and it's real good. Thanx baby! Happy Friday.

Posted by admin at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Do you like Hippies? Do you like their "art"? Love it or hate it, you can op it at The Whitney through September 16th.

The exhibition is boringly called, Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era. It is, however, an excellent collection of surprisingly varied periodwork. Much of it is familiar; original Sgt. Pepper album covers, Warhol screens, famous Stones' photography, etc... But alot isn't, such as framed sheets of acid, bizzarro anti-sunglasses, and stained-glass mosaics. If you're a designer, you're really in for a treat because on display is a massive collection of original concert posters and flyers.

An oddball sculpture by Yayoi Kusama was probably my favorite, as were the photographs of Elliott Landy.

Hiding in the basement was an interesting exhibit by Taryn Simon. All with retarded tigers and shit. But, unfortunately for you, it's gone. Looks like you can commodify it here.

Posted by admin at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Anyone remember Harmony Rockets? They're basically Mercury Rev (whom, after releasing All Is Dream, I've long since signed-off on) in disguise. HR released a couple of experimental/noise disks in the mid 90's.

The current incarnation featured MR's Jonathan Donahue (keys, sequencing, and ambient vocals), Grasshopper (ambient guitar), and some Other Dude (more keys, more sequencing/drum pad). They did a great job, as I'm sure much of the performance was improv. Their 20-25 minute set featured melodically keyed loops, and lots of synth/guitar layering. The "songs" were worked over a 4/4 kick sequence weaving in and out of the mix, with Other Dude beating some tribal accenting into the drum pad.

Donning shades and wearing some sort of shoulder-padded 80's blazer, Donahue ocassionaly fondled a pair of facing LED trees positioned on stage in front of the group. I'd like to think that they were MIDI triggers or something, but I don't think they had a purpose other than being a theatrical medium for Donahue's flailing arms, which is sort of fisty.

The show was at The Annex in the LES, and cost $10. The Annex is funny to me because it used to be a lame ass velvet rope club(s) years prior. My girl lived upstairs, and it was really annoying to go over there on the weekend, because that spot thought it was all that. Suddenly it got shut down because people were openly caining or something. But I digress. Thinking that it may sell out, I stupidly bought tix in advance through Ticketweb, so it really cost me $13.

There were other performers too, like John DeVries (doing a decent lone man and his guitar folk-angst thing), The Silent League (who I really liked from what I heard here, and here), and Hopewell.

I gave Silent League a chance, but they seemed gay to me. Then I was tired, so I went home. I've posted one more High Resolution Photograph after the jump...

Continue reading "Harmony Rockets @ The Annex" »

Posted by admin at 05:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It was a great show, it's just that the music was awful.

Me and my boy made it out to Cake Shop last night to see the Charalambides, a Texas-based psyche-folk duo. They fall in line with bands like Flying Saucer Attack and Windy and Carl. Spacey, out, yet pretty and melodic. But not anymore, I guess, evident via Christina Carter's off-pitch howls, and Tom Carter's metalish guitar work. The couple seemed to be performing in opposition; trying to unravel what the other created. Most of all, both deliveries were curiously devoid of any effects. It would've helped if the two would have slung that shit through some delay for chrissakes.

Special mention goes to La Otracina, a Brooklyn-based post-metal noise trio, with a hilariously spastic powerdrummer that resembles an unholy marriage of Garth and Animal. Guitarguy needs to take the annoying super grating feedback/short hum out of his signal line, but hey. They're were great to watch.

The real star of the evening was Cake Shop itself. Cake Shop is a bakery, cafe, record store (new and used), as well as a bar and venue. Typically there is a hefty amount of indie cred one needs to even get near Cake Shop, located just down from Piano's and Living Room in the LES. But last night was different, and it was a school night, so the kids were mellow, friendly even. The bakery has this delicious coconut-brownie square thingy called a Lamington that's worth fending off the hippest hipsters to get hold of.

Posted by admin at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...Burgers!

I've been a vegetarian for 14 years now, and the quest for a truly great veggie burger is certainly an epic one. Lucky's Famous (Burgers) on 52nd Street near 9th Ave, serves up a pretty worthy offering. They make their own VB's and have a bunch of good sauces to spice things up. They stock fries, cheese fries and onion rings, too. My guess is that their carrion burgers are banging like Lois from Family Guy.

If you S.O.L in Hell's Kitchen, it's worth stopping. Plus, the joint is done up in orange and yellow. Luckys! More High Resolution Photography after the jump...

Continue reading "Luckys Famous..." »

Posted by admin at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

No, not your perverted Uncle Rico, but Mo' Wax founder James LaVelle's U.N.K.L.E. They're about to drop a new release called War Stories (pft., ummm, what?), and I feel obligated to tell my millions of readers just how much it sucks ass.

I can't overstate how seminal Mo' Wax was in the early/mid nineties. This label released my first exposures to (good) acid jazz like Dee C. Lee, Palm Skin Productions, The Federation, and Major Force West. Mo' Wax releases also caught my attention because of their excellent design and art direction by Swifty and Futura. As the 90's rolled on, Mo' Wax exposed me to DJ Shadow, DJ Krush, RPM, La Funk Mob, Attica Blues, Luke Vibert, Andrea Parker, Urban Tribe, Air, and of course U.N.K.L.E. These are the artists that defined trip hop. Bizzarre side note, mowax.com now redirects to some sort of community board...

LaVelle was also a legendary DJ that could move effortlessly between genres — a reflection of his brilliant label. But then, of course, something happened in the late 90's (well after LaVelle sold partial ownership to A&M, soon to be swallowed by Universal) that caused LaVelle to become a boring 4/4 DJ. Perhaps audience tastes "change" or perhaps it was his affiliation with the prog house label Global Underground, but LaVelle's sets featured almost none of the style and depth that he and Mo' Wax were known for. I even spun with him once at Smart Bar in Chicago, and all I heard out of his crate was a bunch of queer, vocally house and stock techno.

I guess the writing was on the wall with the release of laughable Psyence Fiction, what with "collaborators" like Badly Drawn Boy, Richard Ashcroft, Thom Yorke, and even Metallica's red-haired stepchild, Jason Newsted (!). PF featured weak beats and sissy vocals galore. If you dig that, then you'll be served up an extra large, steamy helping of the same by War Stories.

Appearantly, LaVelle has taken some cues from fucking Moby and later era Air. Suddenly he has a straight up live, "rock" band. There's wanking guitars (which I bet he "plays" live) and lackluster vocals — his vocals, no less.

Maybe he's jealous of default success of TIm Goldworthy's (yaaaay!) DFA (ala the track, Restless, featuring Queens of The Stone Age douche Josh Homme), or maybe all these dudes are no different than everyone else in wanting to be rock stars, but the result is something that sounds like U2 (ala the track, Keys to the Kingdom) vs. She Wants Revenge (ala the track, Hold My Hand). Come on dude, you wrote a track called "Hold My Hand"? (Lyrics: Hold my hand, I need you now, throw me down, I don't know how...) Even the help of Autolux on the track, Persons & Machinery, can't create something that doesn't blow.

Anyway, it's too bad. I know things change. If you'll excuse me, I have a small puppy to kick.

Posted by admin at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Unfortunately, I had to go to the upper west side today. I had some time to kill, and remembered this great place that I had eaten lunch at prior. EJ's Luncheonette isn't an original, old-school diner, but who cares. It looks like one, and serves great food.

If you're stuck up around 81st and Amsterdam, check it.

Posted by admin at 09:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When my bitchin' girlfriend said you was taking me to Gobo for my birthday, I had to laugh. Everyone knows a "gobo" is a lame graphic that is projected on the floors of malls and showrooms. Nevertheless, I had to force back the sanguine taste of pure unadulterated rage. Here's why after the jump...

Continue reading "Gobo" »

Posted by admin at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

This white wine is good. It is light, dry, and affordable. It is Muller Thurgau, Alto Adige, 2005. Here's some more info, because I know you care.

Posted by admin at 03:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

My fisty girlfriend took me to see Blonde Redhead play Webster Hall last Tuesday. The show was ok. Just ok.

On a scale of 1-10, it went something like this:

Crowd = -5 (See, it was a 18 and over show. There were alot of lunkhead kids there, sweating Blonde Redhead. Which makes sense because BR's new album 23 is excellent and accesible.)

Band = +5

Crowd + Band = 0 (Otherwise known as the Meh Value.)

Sure, the show sounded good — because it sounded exactly like the album, complete with multiple layers of overdubs suspiciously triggered by engineers some mysterious force other than the members. On the positive side, Simone Pace's drumming was impressive, considering it's presence in the mix of the new album. And, obviously, Kazu is hot.

But, ultimately, you may as well buy 23, smoke a dube and listen to it at home.

Posted by admin at 03:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Everyone knows it's a real sonofabitch to backup photos when you're on vacation.

Until now you either had to wastefully buy a bunch of stupid memory cards or deal with some half-assed photo shop and drop a mint for the transfer(s). Except in Japan, of course, where The Onodasaka Juglar Memory Slot Implant can easily handle both Compact Flash and, of course, Sony Memorystick media. But good luck getting that operation on this side of the pond.

So I got wise to this gem, the Apple iPod Camera Connector. You can find a dorky review here or search The WorldWide InterWeb for more dorky reviews.

The bottom line is that the thing works with Apple Video/Photo iPods. It's basically a fucking jack that you plug into the ass of you iPod, then plug your camera cable into the ass of the Connector. The Connector iPod sucks the photos off your camera, saving them as a "roll". If you want, you can later scroll through the roll to review the shots, although infuriatingly there is no labeling or editing system incorporated.

The thing costs $30 so what the hell, right? But the bitch is that it drains battery life faster than Condi's vibrator on an overnight to Tehran.

Posted by admin at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The other thing I tried to do last night was go with my boy to see Ladyhawk at Cake Shop. I know nothing about this band except that they are Canadain, and their name reminds me of the gay movie.

But I'm not really always open to checking out new stuff, so I decided to try. A precursory walk-by showed them playing 4th out of 4 bands, with the show starting at 8pm.

Ok, fine. Thanks, Cake Shop, for putting a sign in the window. Everyone knows this means they should be playing by about 11pm (this is, of course figuring in the Rule-of-Slack that most bands operate by.

Continue reading "Ladyhawke?" »

Posted by admin at 07:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yesterday marked the end of my first experience with The Master Cleanse. I made it 1 week. I am slowly weening back to eating, by drinking juice first, then soup, etc. I am alive.

Full review after the jump...

Continue reading "Master Cleanse Review" »

Posted by admin at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

What kind of music is this?

Atlanta based Deerhunter seems to be the latest hype-driven Contemporary Spacerock offering. I find them having equal parts pure/noise/guitar ambient (Amp) and psychadelic/art rock (Flowchart.). I also hear traces of Georgia brahs, Olivia Tremor Control, and perhaps early Grasshopper-era Lips. This suggests that Deerhunter has some loose roots in, and a weird skew on, pop. Unfortunately, I also hear some tinges of "post-punk", which I fucking hate. I think alot of reviewers will tag the pop-punk/post-punk ribbon to these guys, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. At least no one has said "sounds like My Bloody Valentine". Yet. According to their mandatory myspace page, their live shows are pretty wild. Take a read through the "Sounds Like" testimonials.

Continue reading "Deerhunter" »

Posted by admin at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (359) | TrackBacks (0)

One of my 4 readers suggested that I review music. I will when I'm goddamned ready. From here on out, I will review music in this 5 question/answer format:

What kind of music is this?

Summary:

Thank you.

Posted by admin at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Speaking of food, my new favorite wine (and it's not just anything that can't be knocked out of my hand with a stick) is Berro', which means; "I Will Drink". Oh, and did I ever as seen by the empty bottle.

Here's some info on it, sorry about the stupid state ID thingy...

Oh, and if you're in NYC you should go and ask Gabrio for it at De-Vino, in LES. Bookmark this link, because it's a great wine shop, with a nice (useful) site.

Posted by admin at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Yes. It's called Loreley. Since personally sampling the fine superiority of German beer last fall, I have developed a bias. Real German beer is the best. Did you know that there are strict credentials, known as the "German Beer Purity Law" or Reinheitsgebot, for a beer to be labeled "German"? Reinheitsgebot states that German beer is made from only four ingredients; water, hops, barley, and yeast. If you add anything else- like, say, some sort of berry- then it legally cannot be called beer.

Anywho, this place is the closest us New Yorkers can get to it without hopping on a plane. And it's somewhat hidden, tucked between LES and Nolita, so it cuts down on the knucklehead factor. Sorta. I recommend Warsteiner because it's fun to say, and comes in a big special glass which sits well in the hand. Meat eaters tell me the food is excellent; authentic, reasonable, hearty, and, well, German. They make their own pretzels, and you can get an order of Pommes Rot Weiss euro-style.

Posted by admin at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently, the excellent band Pinebender came thru NYC to play a few shows. They are a Chicago band, and they had a "big" show at Mercury a couple weeks ago. Thing is, the The Future Superbowl XLI Champions were playing on that Sunday. Luckily I was able to catch the band the next day at Northsix where they played in the basement.

Continue reading "Pinebender" »

Posted by admin at 04:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

There is a "new" 3D modeling program called Modo.

You can see it here: Modo 202

Mercifully, the interface is pretty cool and more or less intuitive to someone like me, who is not a modeler. Like, you can do stuff in layers. Also, the interface itself is extremely customizable, maybe too much so, but at least you have the option to build it from the "ground up" if you like. The different interfaces you contruct can be saved and tabbed so that you change environments quick-like.

Continue reading "Modo Hype" »

Posted by admin at 04:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)