Memento Mori

A Tale of Two Sisters, 2003, Ji-woon Kim

When I was young  I'd daydream about my funeral. I'm not sure if this was a common thing for kids to do but maybe I was an uncommon kid. I was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck and that's probably the closest I've ever come. Throughout my life I've lost people near and dear to me, much more than anyone should by the time they're 31.

Please stop it - I miss you terribly.

Anyway here are some songs I put together for when my time comes. I made this mix about six years ago:

Click here to download it
1. Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
2. (smog) - Dress Sexy at my Funeral
3. Mates of State - Parachutes
4. Morphine - Cure for Pain
5. David Bowie - As the World Falls Down
6. Dinosaur Jr - Get Me
7. ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Ghosts are Good Company
8. Roxy Music - More Than This
9. Hayden - You Were Loved
10. Morrissey - There is a Place in Hell for Me & My Friends
11. The Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma (you like that back-to-back Morrissey action? I do.)
12. Smashing Pumpkins - Today
13. Saves the Day - This is Not an Exit
14. Coldplay - We Never Change
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Porcelain
16. Spiritualized - Angel Sigh
17. Smashing Pumpkins - Spaceboy

OMG

Helen shared this in Google Reader. This is awesome and I'm taking it to Kenya with me. Speaking of... I have to get to work on that. What other music should I take? So far I have Brian Eno's Music for Airports, Jonsi's two albums, Beck's Sea Change, Explosions in the Sky, Kid Cudi (I don't know why, just in case), some Snow Patrol, Burial, Mulatu Astatqe, and a few of my own mixes.

Death by Rain

After all the storming all weekend, we made a last-minute decision to head out to Littlefield yesterday to catch a pre-SXSW show of Scandinavian bands. I'd bought tickets beforehand but was ready to eat the cost if it was still pouring rain. Luckily it was not, so we headed out late to see Julie & Scott and to get face blasted by some Scandi-rock.






The Good The Bad came on - I'd never heard them before but their sound is awesome. They're like The Ventures on 'roids - all instrumental surfer rock. The lead guitarist kept clowning us, asking if we were going to dance and if they should just go home. Americans are lame, dude, sorry! We bought their LP, which is covered in naked chicks. Awesome!








I already love Casiokids but hearing them live was totally different - their sound is much bigger and they don't sound so cheap, given that their keyboards are basically children's toys. They kept switching up instruments throughout the performance - I'm pretty sure they each played every single instrument on stage, from the guitars to the drums to the keyboards. I loved how versatile they were - a really fun band to listen to and see.

They're each performing several shows at SXSW this year, including their official showcases. If you're lucky enough to be down there, I highly recommend both bands.

Lights are blinding my eyes

Main Man at B.East hosted by Ryan McGinley & Greg K of Misshapes


Blinded by the Lights by The Streets

When the summer ends

We don't need no stinking botanical garden...

Here's a little spring mix for you, some new songs and some old, but mostly what I was listening to at the time (about 2 weeks ago):

Global Warming
1. In Blue Hawaii - Brian Wilson
2. He's Gone Away - Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny
3. As Tears Roll By - Daniel Lanois
4. Hot Stenographer - Kinski
5. Average Man - Turin Brakes
6. Wake Up - Tim Armstrong
7. Loneliness is Having No One to Miss - Dntel
8. When I Grow Up - Fever Ray
9. I Can't See - Asobi Seksu
10. All My Days - Alexi Murdoch
11. Fort Wayne - Grand Duchy
12. The Awful Truth of Loving - Rainer Maria

If...

In honor of spring babies. I always poopoo the idea of having kids. Too expensive. There won't be a world for them to grow up in. They're tiring. I'm too selfish. But mainly I just don't want to HAVE the baby. Physically shove it out my no-no hole. No thank you. However, I do love children. If I had kids I'd play them these songs:


Gracie by Ben Folds from the album Songs for Silverman. I love this - very simple and great piano sounds. The video sucks but this is the best song quality I could find on YouTube. This kind of sums up how I'd feel about the bebe.


Here, There & Everywhere by the Beatles from Revolver. One of my favorite Beatles albums. Of course my child would grow up listening to the Beatles. OF COURSE.


Naked As We Came by Iron & Wine from Our Endless Numbered Days. Directed by Sam Beam himself. I think babies would love his voice. Babies love folk. THEY DO.


Rad by Smoosh from She Like Electric. When the kid gets older he/she is gonna love this album.


Little Bitty Pretty One by the Jackson 5. Tell me you're not dancing right now and I'll slap you.

What will you play your little one?

We're Just Friends

1. Put your MP3 player, iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag at least 10 friends (make me #11 so I can see your results).
5. Everyone tagged has to do the same thing.



IF SOMEONE SAYS 'ARE YOU OKAY' YOU SAY?
Foolish King - Pajo

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF
The Girl from Ipanema - Frank Zappa

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Split Needles - The Shins

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Waltz in F Minor, Op 20 No 2 - Chopin

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Woozy with Cider - James Yorkston

WHAT'S YOUR MOTTO?
Yer Bounda Fara - Ali Farka Toure

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
In Our Bedroom After the War - Stars

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed) - Bright Eyes

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Tsubasa - m83

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get - Morrissey

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Eisler on the Go - Billy Bragg & Wilco

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Blowing in the Wind - Bob Dylan

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Watermelon in Eastern Hay - Frank Zappa

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Drop Re-record - The Jesus & Mary Chain

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Shine - Cyndi Lauper (awww!)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Long Slow Goodbye - Queens of the Stone Age (I swear this was an accident!)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
You - People Under the Stairs

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
Kicking Horse on Broken Hill - Godspeed! You Black Emperor

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Slowly - m83

WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
Here Comes - Tahiti 80

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Let it Rock - Bon Jovi

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
We're Just Friends - Wilco

Download the songs here. Only good for the first 10 downloads because of stupid RapidShare.

Latte

latte: 1) adj. our slang for LATE
2) n. a smooth coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk

Both definitions apply here. A roll n' a bump!

Other things I love:

Winter 2009 Mix

Photo taken at Brown Betty Cafe, Clinton Hill

01/09 Snowfall
1. LCD Soundsystem - All my Friends
2. Mum - Marmalade Fires
3. m83 - Graveyard Girl
4. Yo La Tengo - Sea Urchins
5. Jonas Reinhardt - Tandem Suns
6. Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Giant
7. Mum - They Made Frogs Smoke til They Exploded
8. She & Him - Should Have Known Better
9. m83 - Teen Angst
10. Brightback Morning Light - Amber Canyon Magik
11. My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus
12. Heavens - True Hate (Our cat is named after Matt Skiba)
13. The Mars Volta - Birthday (Sugarcubes cover)
14. Lou Reed - Set the Twilight Reeling

Not necessarily new songs, just things I'm listening to at the moment. Angel, if you're wondering specifically which bands I liked from your mix, please see #s 6, 8 and 12 above.

Tonight - live from Greenpoint

TED LEO DOES INDIE ROCK KARAOKEEEEE!

OUTFIELD - Your Love
PRINCE - Kiss
THE WHO - My Generation
KELLEY CLARKSON - Since You Been Gone
STOOGES - Search and Destroy
RAMONES - Blitzkrieg Bop
MISFITS - Where Eagles Dare
BILLY IDOL - Dancin' With Myself
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds
THE CURE - Just Like Heaven
THE CLASH - Rock the Casbah
BOWIE AND QUEEN - Under Pressure
JOY DIVISION - Transmission
YEAH YEAH YEAHS - Maps
SAINTS - Stranded
ARETHA FRANKLIN - Respect
BLONDIE - Dreaming
BRUCE SPRINGSTEIN - Dancin' in the Dark
BRUCE SPRINGSTEIN - Born in the USA
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS - Suspect Device
MINOR THREAT - Minor Threat
CREDENCE - Fortunate Son
AMERIE - One Thing
STEELY DAN - Reelin' in the Years
SANTOGOLD - LES Artistes
THE KINGSMEN - Louie Louie

I'm pretty sure the "indie rock" refers to Mr. Leo and not the song choices. Ryan and I are going and will have a Colombian or PR dinner beforehand. Excited excited excited.

Tickets are $20 plus service charge and include a one-year sub to NY Mag. This is going down tonight at Studio B in Greenpoint (that's Brooklyn to you Manhattan-anchored peeps).

My favorite music, according to Last.fm

Yes, that is Dane Cook. I can't be sure but I think someone has shit on or around the coat area. Are you on Last.fm? It's a sneaky marketing tool but I kind of like it. That is, if you listen to music primarily from your computer. That is.

More time wastin

Will post Saturday shenanigans later. Just joined Musebin, a one-line music review website still in beta. This seems a perfect format for me as I hate wordy, extraneous reviews. Some recent gems of albums I have (not written by me):

On Boards of Canada's Music Has a Right to Children: These kids have no faces. Fortunately, you can have yours melted off as well while listening to these electronic sweeps.

And also: Cracks open the doors to a misty, sun-drenched, ethereal childhood that you though was long since lost.

My review: Rainy day brainsplosions.

On Kleenex Girl Wonder's Ponyoak: Great lo-fi indie-pop indulgence. Makes the Big Brother list of albums you should foist on others.

On David Bowie's Low: DB's art-rock masterpiece still sounds fresh & futuristic after 30 years with styles from post-punk to spacey funk to ambient euro-chill. (This is the kind of music review I cannot stand. Too label-y.)

On albums I do not have:
On Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak: While it's his most daring and polarizing release, it's also his best. The pop-hip-hop answer to "Closer" and "Disintigration."

On Guns n Roses' Chinese Democracy: Chinese Democracy is not like reviewing music. It's like reviewing a unicorn. Should I be primarily blown away that it exists at all?

Etc. etc. etc. Like Twitter, you only have 140 characters to make your voice heard each time. And, you can have all your reviews shared on Twitter. What I want to know is, where's the movie site?

Saturday in Pictures

A double whammy: Wintuk in the morning, the Jealous Girlfriends/Asobi Seksu at night. Brunch at Bar Milano in between.

I've loved Cirque du Soleil's productions since I was a child. My brother and I would watch them on VHS over and over again and I've always wanted to see them live. This was my first time and the magic is still there after all this time. I would love to see them in Vegas one day. From start to finish, magical and beautiful.

Bar Milano is owned by the same people as 'ino and inoteca, two of our favorite Italian spots. This is the higher end version, with an extensive wine list and refined food menu. Our waitress was very knowledgeable in wines and we had a nice relaxing brunch in a cozy booth looking out into drizzly New York.

The Jealous Girlfriends started off rocking the venue. Great band from Brooklyn.

This is my second time seeing Asobi Seksu live. To tell the truth, this is the way I prefer to hear them. Their recordings don't do them justice - they've been away from touring for a long time because of a new album (dropping early next year) but don't sleep on them next time. Here they are singing "Thursday," my favorite song of theirs:

This was June 2006 at Joe's Pub, which I went to with Ryan. I'd never really listened to them before which is always kind of a dodgy situation when going to a live show but their shimmering sound was too good. It was love at first tambourine shake.

Liquid Jane - Botelya

My friend Chad & his band Liquid Jane just completed their first video. Check it out! (They are singing in Tagalog, the main dialect of Manila, Philippines)

Photos from The Mars Volta @ Hammerstein Ballroom

The music: I don't normally listen to them but Alex absolutely loves this band. I bought some earplugs beforehand and they made all the difference. They are awesome live - really tight, crazy and just on it. I can see myself rocking out to them. Mind you, Alex listens to them to fall asleep.

The crowd: A lot of younger people. Mostly guys. One self-proclaimed fan of "stoner rock." A bunch of people who went to or wanted to go to Prog Nation. A few heshers. And one old couple - the woman was headbanging with her eyes closed and at one point was banging her forehead into my arm with her hands waving in adoration. Neat.

Here's some MV for your listening/viewing pleasure:

Make me a mixtape, something old and something new

Sad news.

Who even remembers these anymore? Why do I still have them?

Honestly, I still listen to some of my old mixtapes. So many memories associated with them that I just can't bear to throw away or digitize. Real hands wrote in those letters, real hands cut out images and glued them to the covers. A real person spent real time arranging and choosing songs to put on these tapes and I can't do them the injustice of getting rid of them.

I used to listen to a lot more music in high school. Back in the day where you actually knew the albums. You had a physical relationship with a tape or CD. Nowadays I gather music so fast I don't have time to absorb it all. After sponging up melodies, bass lines and lyrics I'd take pen and paper and write down all the songs I wanted to tape, then spend another couple of hours rearranging the order. Then I'd carry all the music to my dad's office where the baller soundsystem was and hole myself up for an entire afternoon. Making one mixtape. After the music was recorded it didn't end there. I kept a huge stack of magazines and colored paper to make covers with, which was just as fun as picking out the music.

Back then, you knew when you got one that it was made with thought and love. And maybe some tears as well. Bring analog back!

Universal language

Deaf Indie Elephants is a music blog I stumbled upon. I like it because there are videos and downloadable mp3s, and the music taste is similar to mine. Here is the latest, a live set by Portishead.

Recently I purchased my first CD in about 5 years. Shameful no? At MoMA's Home Delivery party I made the acquaintance of Tropical Jeremy, who played a Wally Badarou track and I had to ask him what it was. So it was "Endless Race," a track from Echoes, which I later purchased.

Here is Tropica Jeremy and another DJ at the Natural History Museum.

Summer Playlist

Today is Ryan's 1-Year (Yo!) anniversary at VNS (Visiting Nurse Services) of NY. So I met him and Eugi in Soho to get some cones at Van Leeuwen's ice cream truck, for now stationed at the corner of Prince and Greene streets. Delicious, naturally-made ice cream. We all got strawberry, which was blended smooth without any lumps of strawberries. Which I thought was great because usually, strawberries in ice cream or yogurt have the consistency of gritty rotten meat. Hello summer!

I wanted this to be a mixtape but who even makes those anymore? I am still holding on to this old stereo my friend gave me for Christmas many years ago that has a tape player in it. Because I do listen to mixtapes. From over 10 years ago even.

For this playlist, there are a couple of old tracks. Many are new or recently (like in the last year) released. Not your typical summer mix I guess - some songs are somewhat melancholy and slow, to match all the fragging rain we have been having this year. It's only about 40 minutes long, which gets me door-to-door from home to work. Enjoy.

I Hope I See the Sun Today:
1. Inni Mer Syngur Vitleysingur - Sigur Ros
2. Dust me Off - Tilly & the Wall
3. Sooner or Later - N*E*R*D
4. Cherbourg - Beirut
5. Rainbows - Dennis Wilson
6. Drops in the River - Fleet Foxes
7. Boneless - The Notwist
8. This is the One - The Stone Roses
9. The Sun Always Shines on TV - A-HA!
10. Eraser - No Age

Download it here.

Look outside

Listening to a podcast of Bob Boilen's All Songs Considered this morning, some gems from the summer preview:

Kimya Dawson singing "Alphabutt." I have loved the Moldy Peaches' zany, folky style since...college? This is a hilarious children's song about butts and farts. Right up my (backdoor!) alley. Oh I kill me.


New Missy Elliot song from her upcoming album Block Party. This jam was produced by Timbaland and featured in Step it up & Dance. Don't hold that against it though, it's got a great go go beat.

Events & things

Image from United Palace Theatre

Image from The Worker's Institute

* Last night, King Kong Radio Theater in the West Village. This awesome, original play ends July 8th. Basically it's the story of King Kong done Radio Theater style with sound effects and the players acting multiple roles. Harkens back to times when you actually had to use your imagination.

* Tonight: Richard Hell and Christopher Wool at the Strand. "Richard Hell is a musician known for his image and his facility with words; Christopher Wool is a painter who first became famous for his words. The two are friends and they have collaborated on the creation of a series of gorgeous word images. These provocative, funny pictures comprise the content of their beautifully designed and printed new book, Psychopts. Barry Schwabsky, a poet and a frequent writer on art for The Nation and co-editor of Artforum's international review section, will moderate a discussion with the artists."

* Just announced: Sigur Ros will do two more shows here in NYC in September at the beautiful United Palace Theatre. AKA angels sing beneath gilded lights. I'm going. Are you?