The world is lazy

but you and me

we're just crazy

so when I'm with you

I have fun

Sometimes

When you want to die

Just look inside

Let it slide

Ride the light

Just try

To keep it real

And everything will turn out cool

Woke up this morning and had french press coffee. I'm not sure I taste the difference so much but it was still good. I'm half certain it's the process of making it that people dig, reminds me of drinking some in Luke's room a few years ago. He made us Ramen noodles and we probably had some conversation about something. I started thinking about music and art. Morning time is a good time to do that, I think. I'm excited to see what will happen soon. Musically, Erik and I are releasing a vinyl soon and writing new tunes. Also, I'm starting something new with Joey called Moses and the Ten Commandments. And on top of that, like a cheery on a milk and cookies hand-dipped milkshake, I'm piddling with solo things. I'm not sure what it's like quite yet. I "wrote" two songs yesterday, one that was a total chill-out love song and another that is like a dirty Tom Petty song. I'm excited to see what will come of my music and art in the winter months ahead, where I envision myself staying indoors (Bloomington is really cold now) and recording things on the four track.

So, lately, I've been listening to a lot of Ecstatic Sunshine/Ponytail/Dustin Wong. I'm really excited about how this music uses guitars and effects in a natural, flowy way that doesn't seem to processed. The sounds are really beautiful and powerful, while not seeming too compressed or anything. I've been thinking a lot about pedals and guitar things the past few weeks, pondering noises and cont

emplating what I think pedals should do. Here's a video I've been watching:

I've become partially obsessed with this Miracle Fortress cover of John Cale's "Hanky Panky Nohow". Sometimes the melodies in songs of this sort really get me emotional and stirs up all kinds of things. It's really good. Here's the link to download the "Maybe Lately" 7" (which is out of press, I think): http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RXNV6ZHV

(Thanks to cool Steve for the upload)

In addition to the Dustin Wong thing, David told me about some new Ponytail stuff floating around on the internet, so I investigated and found some sweet audio from their set at Primavera. It's really cool, especially the new songs that have an emotional and melodic quality maybe not found in "Ice Cream Spiritual" or anything before that.

Below is a sweet video from that performance of what I think is a new song. It seems so fitting that they are playing surrounded by palm trees and such. Cool, awesome, check it out:

Oh, and here's the link if you want to listen to the whole thing: http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/31819

I just finished the last of the french press and that shit was good.

whhhhhoosooooooooopszzz

I got the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack today, a little reluctantly, especially considering my long time love for Yeah Yeah Yeah's. Put simply, it's so good. Karen O's cover of Daniel Johnston's "Worried Shoes" (a song of Johnston's which has always been a favorite) is specifically beautiful.

I haven't even seen the movie yet!

Micro-connection # 2

Matthew Arnold, "Dover Beach"

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long agoHeard it on the A gaean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breathOf the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Today, while listening to Growing's "Laterals" and reading Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach", I couldn't help but to feel like maybe the two of them were meant to be micro-connected.

Friend of the Week.

This week's friend of the week is Dillon Hooten. Dillon is another IU friend. He has a wealth of knowledge about punk/hardcore/metal music. He also has an awesome blog called STRATOSPHERING.

Sometimes you forget that so many have love for you.

It's things such as this that keep me going. (Thanks to Scofield for showing me this)

read this

I bought this tape from Wild Animal Kingdom records the other day. The tape came two days later, just in time to accompany me for a 5 hour drive to Nashville.

Pill Wonder are/is a good band/individual. The tape is one of the better lo-fi things I've heard. To be honest, lo-fi mania sort of drives me insane, because for the most part it's not very good. Lately, however, Pill Wonder are convincing me to look back on some other things, specifically in the Underwater Peoples camp.

Life but no More

I've been listening to this record a lot.

It's the album "Life but no More" by Frank Schweichhardt. It's really good. Frank used to sound a lot like Mark Kozelek, which was cool, but now he has a sound more of his own. He once stopped a show to yell at some kids who were talking during his super quiet set. That was cool too.

Now-a-days Frank has a whole band backing him too.

This album is a beautiful listen, go buy it and enjoy it with someone you care about.

Micro-connection # 1

Here are some drawings of the artist David Shrigley. I talk about him a lot because his work does a couple of things, simultaneously, that I really like. It's funny (in a rude way sometimes) but it also feels innocent enough to be fun.

Which is the same way I feel about...

Friend of the week.

Friend of the week this week is Madeline Dowling. Here, she is relaxing at the rio caliente spa in Primavera, Mexico...she is naked. We live in the same building.

She features heart problems and a constant connection to every famous person, ever.

Friend of the week.

This is David Scofield. I met this dude at IU. He's one of the more interesting characters I've known, full of stories and always ready to argue about anything.

Check out those Simpsons boxers!

Organic Macaroni and Cheese = SO DELICIOUS!!!

I was listening to Animal Collective this morning on my walk to class. I listened to the songs "Water Curses" and "Chores". They fit the occasion so well. I found this Panda Bear version of the song a long time ago, but didn't realize how beautiful it was until now.

When There's no one Watching

Broing

Everyone

I bought this record on a whim at TD's the other day. Other than the content of the record, all I know of Homecomings is that it is "the work of local soundsmith Mike Dixon (Prayer Breakfast/Repseki/Rapider than Horsepower)" and "the sound is reminiscent of camping in brown county". The latter is what convinced me to buy the self-titled lp.

I'm on my 5th or 6th time through the record and I think it's some of the better local(ish) music I've ever heard and certainly one of the best album to come out of any local scene I am a part of. It's exciting and inspiring to hear people who are around making music to this kind of calibur.

Definitely, if you have the chance to pick up a Homecomings record, do it.

(this album, along with a few more that I'm specifically psyched on are in the process of having more formal reviews written about them, which will show up sometime on the community blog Summer Teen Diary).

Friend of the week.

This is Erik Fox, himself. Erik and I have been friends for a long time. We are in a band together, called Osteoferocious.

Humble Abode

The Books

Osteoferocious 7" Vinyl Album Art

Keep it Real