just relax. please.

Gal Costa - Baby

2007-07-03T01:03:00.000-07:00

Of course, most of you will probably be more familiar with the Os Mutantes version of this song, but Gal Costa's rendition is quite beautiful and here's the video for it. It's weird, but I hadn't ever looked this up on youtube before, or even had any idea it existed, but when I typed in "Gal Costa" into the youtube search field the text "Gal Costa baby" popped up. So, I'm left wondering what genius was looking this up on my computer and how I should thank them. So, if it was you, step up. I'll make you a mix cd or something.

Unfortunately, the clip cuts off before the song is over and done with.

And tomorrow, JRP (that's this blog, silly face), should have some more Philly related videos to share with you, so keep a look out for that!

Oh, and if for some reason we are delayed in our posting, please check out my friend's blog KRAKEN RADIO. So far, he's made two amazing podcasts for the general public to download and enjoy and they come highly recommended by people in the know (er, me....but that's good enough.)

The 80's Through A Series of Tubes (redux for the summer): Dolly Mixture

2007-05-29T00:34:00.000-07:00

Just in time for summer, I've found a clip of one of my favorite obscure girl bands from the 1980's. I know I've been promising to keep posting about krautrock, but the warmer weather (amongst other things) has made me desire more pop-oriented music and Dolly Mixture certainly delivers when it comes to pop, but don't be turned away by that label. They're certainly not "mindless pop!"

I actually came across a track ("Everything and More" which you can listen to on this myspace page) from this band on a random blog almost two years ago and put it on a few random mix cd's I made at the time and sort of forgot about them until I lucked into (again, randomly) stumbling upon a download of their 1984 release The Demonstration Tapes - A Double Album. There's a lot of information about the band on this site (http://punkmodpop.free.fr) but I am going to summarize some of it here for my readers that just come for the youtube clips (not that there are a lot of you actually reading this thing, anyway!)

Supposedly, the girls were girlfriends of members of The Damned, but obviously that noteriety did them little good, because most people at least know of The Damned and little have heard of Dolly Mixture. When I've tried describing their sound to people, I like to say they're kind of like Liliput meets The Go-Gos. As far as releases go, the band put out four singles prior to The Demonstration Tapes on a few scattered labels (this included the single "Everything and More" and the song "Been Teen" which is what they're performing in the above youtube clip) and then after the double album, they put out a few singles on their own label and a final EP (called The Fireside EP) but I've yet to be able to track down the later stuff, unfortunately.

Anyway, I don't have a lot of love for most 80's girl-pop bands, or girl-pop bands in general (unless they're Swedish in origin. That's quite another story!) but I find Dolly Mixture to be endearingly competant with their songwriting. With songs like "Shonay, Shonay" ("Do you remember that time on vacation when I left you crying at the station?/I was excited by the hurrying crowd/By all that was busy and bright and loud." and later in the song "And you ought to know that I really did care/I try to think of things that I should be doing/But all that comes is that I've been losing you") the band finds themselves a lot more self-reflective than their sugar-pop counterparts. But they're also not afraid to have fun and this is also evident with songs like "How Come Your Such A Hit With The Boys, Jane" and "He's So Frisky."

So try to track down their album and give the youtube clip a watch and the myspace songs a listen. I promise you'll enjoy it and if you don't....well, I don't know what's wrong with you!

Beach House - Master of None

2007-05-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I'm a little late to jump on the Beach House bandwagon. Pitchfork gave them a nice little write-up when they released their album in October of 2006 and from then on, they've kind of exploded and as usual with these things, I waited it out before giving them a proper listen. I try not to trust the hype, but you can (maybe) trust me when I say the hype is pretty much worth it. The band's self titled release on Carpark has been on a constant rotation in my house (if you go to my last.fm page, you can see this for yourself...) and I seriously can not get enough of their airy, breezy Mazzy Star meets Nico meets every awesome shoegaze band you could possibly think of-sound.

Anyway, I'm a little brain-dead from my last week of school, so instead of writing a lengthy analyzation of their sound (I'm not very good at that kind of thing, anyway), I'm just going to post a video from youtube of my favorite song off their album called "Master Of None." Enjoy.

Way too much!

2007-05-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

So, lately, I guess people have lost their minds, cause they keep giving me their music under the assumption that I know jack shit about anything!

Anyway, eventually, I'm going to finish listening to everything and write about it here.

Till then, go listen to some happy music! It's springtime!

Holderlin - Holderlin's Traum (1972)

2007-03-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

This entry isn't so much to delve into a specific group as to just talk about a specific group's album. Also, there's no youtube clip for this post, so if you only really come here for the clips I guess you should just move along and wait a few days cause there will be plenty of those coming.

Ahh, but to the point or the subject...or....the topic of this humble little entry. I didn't know anything about Holderlin when I decided to pick up their first album Holderlin's Traum. A quick google search yielded very little information and what information I could find was in Japanese or some other language I couldn't even pretend to understand. The information I could gather was the following;

Holderlin started out primarily playing cover tunes of German folk songs during much of the 1960's. Hailing from Germany, the band was founded by two brothers, Christian and Joachim Grumbkow. In the early 1970's they received a record contract and the album, Holderlin's Traum was their first release. They went on to continue releasing music well into the 1980's, but I've not had a chance to hear anything but Holderlin's Traum and frankly, I'm afraid that if I did pick up any of their later efforts, I'd probably be disappointed.

This album is great stuff. Most songs are peppered with strong, ethereal female vocals, but the third song "Strohhalm" is pulled along by some great male vocals. The stand out tracks are their shorter songs, like the second track "Peter", which showcases some beautiful acoustic guitar work at the beginning right before jumping into a jaunty folk groove. This song consistently gets stuck in my head. I wish I knew German so I wouldn't have to just go "na na na na" to the parts I don't understand!

The album shifts effortlessly between folk and krautrock stylings. The song "Requiem Fur Einen Wicht" is the most indicative of this fusion of techniques. Actually, there's a wide melding of styles; eastern influences, jazz, prog, folk, kraut. Each song handles the union of these musical approaches creatively and beautifully.

In short, I'm pretty bummed that I can't supply you people with some media of the band. But I highly suggest you try tracking it down, or if you know me, eventually I'll probably play it for you....because that's just what I do, isn't it?

Did you know that Faust means Fist?

2007-01-29T22:46:00.000-08:00

I figured with the passing of Uwe Nettelbeck on Jan. 17th, it was only appropriate to begin my series of krautrock-based entries with the band he created; Faust.

The first song I ever heard from the band was the absurdly jaunty "Picnic on a Frozen River" from Faust So Far and I will readily admit to heavily using the song on many mixtapes. Another one of my favorites, from their self-titled album, was "I've Got My Car and My TV." which I was able to find a live performance clip of from 2005.

Faust formed in 1971. According to what I could dig up on wikipedia, they were also one of the first bands to sign to Richard Branson's Virgin Records (for those of you unfamiliar with Richard Branson, maybe you will remember his reality show called The Rebel Billionaire?). Although they are often noted as being one of the preeminent influences in the genre known as krautrock, they weren't commercial successes like Can or Kraftwerk. The band broke up after Virgin refused to release their fifth album and for some time after that, no one knew where the band was, or what they were doing. There are some documented instances of members performing together in the 80's, but it wasn't until 1990 that some of the members began touring and performing together recurrently. As you can see from the above clip, the band is still performing at various festivals in Europe.

I would kill to get my hands on some of Faust's original releases. Yes, having the music on pure, pressed vinyl, even with it's hissing and popping from age, would be amazing, but mostly, I would love to see the artwork in it's original state. The first album (Faust) was pressed on clear vinyl, inserted in a clear sleeve that had a silk-screened x-ray of a human fist. The second album (Faust So Far) had illustrations for each song included within the sleeve (I think Pearl Jam did something like this for one of their albums. Ha.)

Obviously, I don't know as much about Faust as I would like to know. Thank god, for wikipedia helping me fill in the gaps where my knowledge failed. Still, over the years, I have had more and more time to fall in love with their music and in time I'll learn more.

Here's one last clip of the band in concert during the 70's. Unfortunately, it's in German and I am not fluent in the language, but you take what you can get on youtube, sometimes;

Back from the dead.

2007-01-29T17:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't really die, obviously. I was more or less sucked into the black hole known as college, but for the moment, I seem to have fought my way back to the realms of the living. My social life still sucks, but I am chalking that up to the frigid weather.

So, this is just a short update to give those of you that still read this blog some news as to what's to come. I've been listening to a lot of kraut/folk/prog-rock as of late, so expect to be seeing more updates dedicated to bands belonging to that genre. I've also been doing my homework on more modern releases, so for those of you that find anything released before 1995 as boring, there should be a few things here in the future to cater to your interests.

And as always, I welcome your suggestions and insight, so please, do not be afraid to comment!

The 80's Through A Series of Tubes; Part 4 w/The Butthole Surfers

2006-09-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

Although the Butthole Surfers didn't find commercial success until the 90's (with the song "Pepper"), I felt it was appropriate to include them in this week of 80's nostalgia because the band's most memorable and challenging work came out of the decade that we all fondly remember for ..... swatch watches? Hmmm.

But how do I even start when trying to write about the Butthole Surfers? The band is an evasive creature stylistically and very hard to catagorize, but I suppose if we're going to use labels, we could say they were one of the forerunners of indie rock as we know it, but even that seems horribly simplistic, because indie rock as we know it today barely touches some of what this band created in their hey-day. So, let me try again; The Butthole Surfers are "masters of calculated outrage, the group fused the sicko antics of shock rock with a distinct and chaotic mishmash of avant-garde, hardcore, and Texas psychedelia; sleazy, confrontational, and spiteful, songs like "The Revenge of Anus Presley," "Bar-B-Q Pope," and "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey Oswald's Grave" seemed destined to guarantee the Buttholes little more than a lifetime of cultdom." (from allmusic.com).

Alright, so I cheated. But sometimes it's better to quote a source when it obviously gets the point across a helluva lot better than I ever could hope to under the circumstances. And what are those circumstances, you wonder.....? I'm lazy. Pure and simple. And I have a cold. And I'm on dayquil! So there.

I could probably type away pages of this blog, just talking about the band and how great and original they were (are? I haven't listened to anything since Electriclarryland (uggh!), so I have no idea what 2001's release Weird Revolution sounded like), but as I've already said, I have a cold and I don't feel particularly well. Still, I feel slightly guilty about giving the Buttholes the shaft, so to speak....so I'll leave you with two youtube clips, rather than one and a short list of Butthole Surfer albums you should add to your collection if you don't already have them.

First, the list;
1. Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac (1985) - This was the bands first release with Touch and Go. It includes the songs "Concubine", "Mexican Caravan", "Lady Sniff" and "Butthole Surfer" (which was actually where the band got their name from, since a radio DJ mistook the song title as the band's moniker.)
2. Rembrandt Pussyhorse (1986) - This album is my favorite by the band. It's a bit more subdued in comparison to P...P...AMS (see above) but it always leaves me with this uneasy feeling, like it's gotten under my skin and I won't ever be able to scrub it away. Sometimes, that's just what an album should do. Also, the cover of "American Woman" totally puts the Kravitz crap version to shame.
3. Locust Abortion Technician (1987) - Ahh, the debut of the Gibbytronix vocal effects thingamabob, this album is a glorious mess. Critically, it's usually listed as the band's best album. You probably just need to listen to it for yourself. Do that, and then let me know what you think, ok?
4. Hairway to Steven (1988) - I like this album a lot, but not nearly as much as P...P...AMS and Rembrandt Pussyhorse. Still, it's worth listing for the songs "Jimi", "I Saw An X-Ray Of a Girl Passing Gas" (best song title ever?), "John E. Smokes" and "Backass", alone.

And now to the youtube videos;

The band at home and live performing "Jimi" in 198? on SnubTV;

Live in Detroit, 1985;

The 80's Through A Series of Tubes; Part 3 w/Orange Juice

2006-08-31T06:06:00.001-07:00

You probably know Edwyn Collins, especially if you owned the Empire Records soundtrack. In 1995, his song "A Girl Like You" became a mild hit single here in the US and around the world, with the single getting video time on MTV along with it being played on the radio constantly.

It's a pity that I don't remember any of those radio DJ's mentioning the band that Collins fronted for about 8 years before he achieved any commercial success. Orange Juice had their fair share of early hits, but none the size of Collins' "A Girl Like You." Formed in Glasgow in 1976, the band could be compared to a lot of 80's British outfits (like The Smiths) but such comparisons are just unimaginative. Their debut single, "Falling and Laughing", released in 1980, effuses a sort of pop tenderness, without coming off as mawkish or schmaltzy.

My favorite album from the band is their first, You Can't Hide Your Love Forever. Released in 1982, (the year I was born!), the album is a rhapsody of songs focusing on romance, rejection...the typical subject matter for a lot of our beloved 80's bands. Luckily, the album doesn't feel too dated upon listening to it now, 24 years later. It's obviously a product of the 80's but it still has it's place amongst the albums we still listen to from that time. Most bands today might wear their hearts on their sleeves, but few have the lyrical wit and musical charm,that Orange Juice possessed, to make that enjoyable. I've read that Franz Ferdinand lists Orange Juice as one of their major influences, but it's harder to hear the effect of the music on them. At least when you compare Orange Juice to Belle and Sebastian, the sound of OJ's influence is dead obvious.

But enough with all that! Here is a video of the band playing "Falling and Laughing" live;

The 80's Through A Series of Tubes; Part Two w/The Residents

2006-08-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

I remember the first time someone told me about The Residents. I think it was my friend Josiah. I had spent the night in his dorm room and was wading through his record collection. He had a lot of great stuff and when I came across The Commercial Record he got this very devious grin on his face and grabbed it from my hands before I could really comment on it.

As each minute long song played it's course on his turntable, I felt dumbstruck by the music. Each song was a minute long, and as my friend was explaining to me as they played, meant to be repeated three times in order to become the "perfect" pop song, since the minute long clips consisted of a verse and a chorus and a pop song is simply those things repeated over and over again. The music sounded deranged, a bit of Captain Beefheart meets Moondog meets a lot of drugs, maybe. It was a little hard to pinpoint at times.

"Who the hell are these guys?" I asked.

His grin opened up to me, becoming larger and even more devious looking. "No one knows who they are."

Of course, I thought he was simply messing around with me, so I shook my head at him and said, "And how is that possible?"

And so Josiah proceeded, with an ever widening grin, to tell me all about The Residents.

The band, living in San Francisco, had been together since the early 70's. The Commercial Album, which had been self-released in 1980, was not their first album. Indeed, it wasn't their last either, because the band was still together (as far as anyone knew) and making music.

"How did they get their name?" I asked. "And how does no one know who they are? Do they ever play live?"

Josiah answered each question gleefully. It's wonderful when a friend obviously takes pleasure in introducing another friend to something new. The story behind how they ended up with a name like The Residents is probably my favorite story about a band, ever. Apparently, the band, having sent a major label their work, hadn't written any names down for the return address, so when the major label rejected the recording and sent it back to them, they'd written "To The Residents" on the return package, and that's how The Residents (as a band name) were born.

We don't know who they are, because in pictures and when the band appears publicly, they are always wearing masks and costumes. Most notably, the masks are of huge eyeballs with tophats and often they dress in suits to match the tophats. So, that's how no one knows who they are and yes, they make public appearances. Like this one, on Canada's MuchMusic in 1986;

And here they are playing live in Oslo that same year;

The 80's Through A Series of Tubes: An Overview of the Decade Through YouTube

2006-08-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I tend to overlook the eighties when it comes to....well, anything. I don't particularly like clothing from the eighties (and I am slightly horrified that a lot of eighties styles are coming back "in" amongst people my age. Seriously, wasn't once, enough?) and I was too young to understand the whole Cold War/Reaganomics mentality. I do, however, remember Bush Sr. being elected when I was in 4th grade and I remember spitting on some kid for calling my parents hippies since I mentioned that they hadn't voted for him. (I guess things don't change all THAT much, do they?)

As far as music goes, I don't tend to look back on the 80's kindly. Perhaps it's because I've been to one too many eighties dance nights, where the dj's idea of an awesome set means playing New Order's "Temptation" and kids react as if it's the only good song to come out of the decade. It wasn't, although, it was one of the better songs out of a slew of horrible, trite, pop hits from groups like WHAM!.

So, this week, at Just Relax, I'm going to peruse youtube for some of the better groups and songs from the eighties. I'm going to try to avoid the obvious, such as groups like The Smiths, and try to find clips from bands we don't tend to think of when we reflect back 20 years.

To kick things off, at a suggestion from my friend Frouse, I've looked up REM's first ever television appearance in 1983 on the David Letterman show. Perhaps REM seems an obvious choice, (which I said I was going to avoid), but I find that most people I talk to tend to want to talk about the band's work in the 90's(Out of Time, Automatic For the People, Monster, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, Up) , which is odd to me, because some of their best work is their earliest (Murmur, Reckoning, Life's Rich Pageant, Document), like the song they play in this clip, "Radio Free Europe."

Grace Jones - Demolition Man

2006-08-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I lied. Here I go back two decades to the video for Grace Jone's cover of "Demolition Man" (it was originally a song by The Police.) Someone put this on a mix cd for me a year ago and it's one of those songs I like to throw on when I need to get motivated, (i.e. the song makes me want to dance.) The beginning of this video absolutely creeps me out, but it's kind of genius!

Electrelane - Film Music

2006-08-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

"Film Music" is, according to allmusic.com, Electrelane's first single from 2000. I had no idea that they'd been around that long, but I am not all that surprised. Sometimes it takes the listening world awhile to catch on to things. I'm happy to say that since 2000, Electrelane has released three albums and the listening world (at least the small one I inhabit) is catching on. While, I don't know much about Rock It To The Moon, I am a huge fan of both The Power Out (2004) and Axes (2005).

Sooo, since it's Friday and I've been bombarding you people with, as one friend put it, "a bunch of fuddy duddy bands from before we were born" (pssh!), here's the video for "Film Music." It's not exactly the newest of music, but it's definitely not as old as the usual things I post.

The Incredible String Band - Everything's Fine Right Now (live 1970)

2006-08-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

Since I mentioned them (The Incredible String Band), I decided to see what I could rustle up on youtube and this was my first hit. For those of you looking for amazing live clips of some obscure/lesser known bands from the 60's-70's, I highly suggest doing a search on youtube for "beat club."

Of course, if you do that, I might have a lot less material to post because you'll have already found it. Oops.

Oh well, enjoy!

The Pentangle - Train Song

2006-08-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

Apparently this clip is from a BBC special in the '70's. I've been listening to The Pentangle's album Cruel Sister quite a lot lately and although this song doesn't appear on it, it is a pretty good example of what I like so much about this band. I'm told that their music can be hit or miss. For sure, the music seems very earnest and not as humorous as music from bands like The Incredible String Band, but it's still worth a listen if you're a fan of the folk genre. I can definitely hear a lot of Pentangle's influence when I listen to The Espers.

Devo + Neil Young (clip from the Human Highway)

2006-08-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

I realize I've been posting a lot of Neil Young clips since I started this blog (I believe this is the third one) but I promise this one will make you, my few readers, happy because Neil Young + DEVO is always well worth your time.

The Monks (live in 1966) on German TV

2006-08-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

One word; amazing!

Neil Young on the Colbert Report

2006-08-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

I don't think I need to say much about this, although it's a shame Colbert cuts Young off and they don't get to finish singing 'Let's Impeach the President.'

OKGO's "Here It Goes Again"

2006-08-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not the biggest fan of OKGO's music, but the band consistently puts out really great videos. This is perhaps the most amazingly choreographed dance video that I've ever seen and it's just a bunch of dudes on treadmills!

Can - Paper House (live 1971)

2006-06-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

Not much to say about this right now. Just something to watch.

the B52's - Rock Lobster (live '79)

2006-06-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

Because no summer is complete unless you've listened to Rock Lobster, (along with every other song on the B52's self titled album), about a million times, I give you a clip of the band performing the song in 1979.

Thanks to Brandie for finding this clip and sending me the link (after I practically begged her for it!) Ha.

Tuxedomoon - The Stranger

2006-06-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

Not the best quality of video, but since it's one of my favorite Tuxedomoon songs, I was very excited when I stumbled across a video for their song The Stranger.

I don't know a lot about Tuxedomoon, except that they're underground cult favorites from San Francisco. I've been listening to whatever I can find of their's lately, though. I have my friend Li to thank for introducing me to them in a roundabout way. She talks and writes about them from time to time, so eventually when I came across Pinheads on the Move I ended up grabbing it for my collection without even listening to it. It's probably been one of my best impulse grabs in the last few months.

I also have to thank the music blog called The Entroporium for a nice little write up on Tuxedomoon that they did last year that increased my curiousity about the band. You should read it, too....after you finish watching the video!

John Fahey - In Christ There Is No East or West

2006-06-09T22:44:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to a lot of John Fahey at nights before I go to sleep. There's something very calming to me about focusing on how he plays, to all of the little small things he does that make a song soooo big and beautiful. Imagine how happy I was when I did a search for Fahey on youtube and came across this clip. "In Christ There Is No East or West" is one of my favorite songs. Watch the clip and maybe you'll understand why.

Bollywood's take on "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"

2006-06-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

Found via BoingBoing.

A conversation with a friend and me while we watched the video:

"why do bollywood people jump around so much??"
"I think it's pretty amazing. Haha. I have no idea."
"it's like syncronized too much caffeine!"

There are a lot of comments on the page that will give you an idea of when the clip was made and where it came from. Pretty cool stuff!

Thom Yorke's The Eraser

2006-06-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

I remember, around the year 2000, three years after Radiohead's seminal release Ok Computer, I found myself remarking to a friend of mine about how awesome it would be if Thom Yorke were to release a solo album. We agreed and figured it would be an inevitable development in Yorke's career. We just didn't think we'd have to wait another 6 years for it.

The summer of 2006 seems to be a busy season for Yorke. He's just kicked off a North American tour with Radiohead playing new material to sold out crowds and his solo album, The Eraser is set for release and has already leaked to the internet and hundreds of fans are now sampling it, digesting it and like me, trying to figure out if we like it or not.

It's not that the album is unlikeable. I doubt Yorke or any of the Radiohead band members could create something (unless we're talking about the majority of Pablo Honey, for which I have forgiven them) that I could completely hate. Also, when listening to this album, as with any solo venture, you have to take a step back and realize that this isn't supposed to be a sort of mini-preview or even reflection of the band that the artist comes from. With that in mind, I tried to sit back and enjoy this album. I tried really hard.

And I did enjoy moments on it, but for the majority of the album's length I felt myself reflecting on Yorke's career with Radiohead. The Eraser is supposed to be a solo effort, but I would not have been surprised had I heard that the leaked tracks were instead leaked b-sides from 2003's Hail to the Thief.This is not a bad thing, but it does leave me somewhat disappointed. The album feels about three years too late.

Here's the thing, for being in a band that is known for continually pushing the envelope, Yorke really seems to be stuck in an electronic hell of a rut. There's nothing inherantly wrong with electronic music, except that the majority of it all sounds very much alike. At it's heart, The Eraser is an intelligent electronic pop album. Songs like Black Swan, Skip Divided, Atoms for Peace, And it Rained All Night are all very listenable and catchy. They all exhibit interesting changes in time signatures and showcase Yorke's penchant for lyrical nonsense that better fits the mood of the song than a literal story might. Atoms for Peace in particular gives me goosebumps as Yorke's voice floats over layers of beats singing "I want you to get out and make it work." And the song does work because it takes the same sort of appealing and quiet sound that groups like the bland Postal Service try to utilize but without making you wish you could stab yourself in the eye with a fork after repeated listenings. Still, just because Yorke can make intelligent pop music doesn't mean that it should be heralded as one of the best musical endeavors ever, because eventually The Eraser bleeds into the same old blips and boops and beeps and you find yourself thinking, "Hey, haven't I heard this one before?"

The Eraser should be bought and it should be listened to but don't expect it to change your life. It's just a pop album, but a pop album that you can feel better about listening to, than say....Ashlee Simpson's newest crap.

finished flyer

2006-05-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

I'm not too happy with the color I used for the date, place and time on the flyer, but since I did all of this in about 20 minutes, I'm pretty pleased with the final product. I'd fix it if I had more time, but since I didn't even really have the 20 minutes to spare to MAKE the fraggin' thing, well....you get me. Anyway, here's the end product.

PS. Poliana, I liked the font you suggested and would have probably attempted to do it by hand in the spirit of that poster, but....no time!

a new flyer in the works

2006-05-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to finish up a flyer for the next doctor and Philip show and I'm using the following image as the focal point;

I'm too tired and I have too much to do in order to prep for my vacation, or else I'd just do the show information by hand onto the flyer. Instead I am trying to find a free font that fits the image and use that for the flyer. Any ideas? Let me know here.

mixtape for the summer

2006-05-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

Making this tape was fun and I tried to keep it lighthearted in sound for the most part. There are some slower songs towards the end on side b, but I'm still pretty pleased with the end product. I hope Michael H, enjoys it!

Here's the playlist:

Hmm. Now I know what to do with MY mini-Bush Flags!

2006-05-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

My favorite photograph of the week comes courtesy of Gawker. Although, I suppose I shouldn't use the word "courtesy" because that implies that they gave me the courtesy of using the photo.....which, er...they didn't.

Basically, if anyone from Gawker.com comes across this and they want me to take it down, I will, but until then, I want to share it with you people.

Wonder Showzen

2006-05-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

So, I don't have cable. The only television I really watch are episodes of Veronica Mars, Lost and whatever is on WHYY at any given time. I also watch the Daily Show, but not on TV. Clips are easy to find on the internet. My boyfriend came home the other night and played some clips from an MTV2 show called Wonder Showzen for me and I am not exaggerating when I say I was howling with laughter for a good half hour.

Anyway, I can't post EVERY clip that I enjoyed because I pretty much thought all of them were hilarious. If you go to youtube.com, be sure to check out all of the Q&A sessions with the kids on the show. My favorite one is "What is Heaven?"

But they also have a cool segment on the show called "Beat Kids", where children go around asking adults off-the-wall questions. In one, a boy named Trevor dresses as the Pope's decaying corpse and stands in front of a catholic Church asking people if they think he's going to hell for dressing up like the dead pope. One woman actually tells him "Yes."

My favorite one, though, is with a girl named (although, she kind of mumbles her name, so I could be wrong) Tanell, who walks around Wall Street asking business men, "Who did you exploit today?"

And here is the clip;

other people always find the most amazing things

2006-05-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Before I do, which is ok, because it's always a nice little surprise to read a person's blog and be surprised. I've become pretty pro-YouTube as of late, even if from time to time I don't agree with their reasonings for pulling certain clips, but hey, what can you do? Nothing is perfect.

Except for this;

Amon Duul II - Eye Shaking King (1970)

Thanks to my LJ friend, Ortho_Bob for finding this gem.

I'm going to be gone for....

2006-05-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

Not for an agonizingly long time, but for at least a couple of weeks. Don't worry. Nothing BAD has happened to me. In fact it's the complete opposite. I am going to be in Hawaii for a week and then after that I am going to spend a few days in Southern California with my Uncle Jack and his family. And then I am going to be in Texas for 8 days or so, catching up with my Mom and Dad and everyone else that I love that dwells in the deep heart of....well, you know the song.

Speaking of songs, my good friend, James, sent me the best thing EVER on youtube.com and I am going to share it with all of you lovelies, here.

Ahhh. Doesn't that just bring you back? I was never a huge Sesame Street fan when I was a kid....as far as Big Bird and the gang went, anyway....but I LOVED the animations with numbers and letters that they had on in between everything. This one was probably one of my all-time favorites, especially since from time to time, images from it have popped up in my head. I couldn't remember where they came from, (as early memories of images often go), but now I do and I feel strangely satisfied and calm.

2006-05-08T10:58:00.000-07:00

There are now 3 episodes of the Skeletor Show on youtube.com and all of them are pretty funny. I especially like the second one. KITTIES!

Also, this is probably NSFW 'cause they drop the F-bomb a few times. Otherwise, it's pretty tame.

2006-05-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

I've had Momus' "Is It Because I'm A Pirate?" stuck in my head allllllllllll day.

So, in lieu of that, I am going to reccomend that you check out his blog, Click Opera. I promise, you won't regret it.

I made this.

2006-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

The following "sketch/cartoon" started out as a bunch of overlapping circles and jutting lines. I stared at it for a long time and it became this;

2006-05-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

I want to post about Stephen Colbert at the White House, but that will have to wait until later. For now, you can look over the playlist from the most recent mixtape that I made for my boyfriend.

back in the days of 'shock and awe'

2006-04-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

This video has been making the rounds in the political blogs that I read. I'd avoid reading all of the comments on youtube, because a lot of them just talk about how Neil Young once supported Bush and how much of a hypocrite he is for making an album that features a song titled "Let's Impeach the President" and how he isn't even an American and blahblahblah. If you're anything like me it will just depress you. It's depressing enough that the woman that interviews Young basically accuses him of trying to cash in on the fact that Bush's approval rating has severely dropped. It's scary that in this nation you can be attacked just for changing your mind. People seem to forget that Young's family, his wife and children, are Americans. Even if he is Canadian, what happens here still concerns him and those that he loves.

But all of that aside, you can not deny that Young's album is very political. The song that seems to have everyone abuzz is "Let's Impeach the President" which includes soundbites from speeches the president has made throughout the years behind a chorus of people singing "flip" and "flop." He also sings "Let's impeach the president for hijacking our religion and using it to get elected." It's a heartfelt song from the point of view of someone that once trusted the administration to do well for this country and has found himself betrayed by those he put his trust in. I imagine the song speaks to the 70% of American's that are dissatisfied with the president's performance. Of course, the album doesn't let up with "Impeach the President". You can't call an album Living With War and only touch on a small part of a larger subject. Young sings about consumerism ("Restless Consumer"), families dealing with their loved ones being in the armed services ("Flags of Freedom") and so on. I'd give a better re-cap, but I'm only writing about this album as I listen to it stream. I can't go backwards in the feed. When it's released, I'll buy it and give it a better write up.

You can listen to the whole album, Living with War here.

ohmy.

2006-04-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

I know. I know. It's been quite awhile since my last post, but in all honesty, I have not been able to relax very much in the last few months. This semester at school is killing me and it's been doing the deed slowly. Luckily, some friends of mine decided to fly into Philadelphia this last weekend and I was forced to put all worries behind and actually enjoy myself. On Sunday, we went to the Art Museum (my first time since viewing the Dali exhibit there last year) and I took a picture of a painting that I really liked, (excuse the blurriness, but I had to take the picture without using my flash.) However, I did NOT stop to read the artist's name and since I am not even going to pretend to be very educated in art history, I'm going to post the picture here and let my reader's fill in the blanks. By doing this, you'll help me relax.

Or something.

"i am an imposter octopus"

2006-01-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend is probably one of the last people on this earth to still have a tape player in his car. This is a wonderful thing because it allows me to engage in one of my favorite stress relievers/time wasters; mix taping.

Now, why, in this day and age, where one can simply drag mp3's into iTunes and hit "burn cd" do I allow myself the stress of having to get up and hit stop every time I want to switch to a different song, of having to make sure the volume is adequate...."leave your own argument for cds vs. tapes here".....?

Well, I already stated the first reason. My boyfriend has a tape player in his car. I don't think I need to go into how dismal the radio is these days, so we'll pass that and assume it's a given.

Also, I don't find the intricacies involved in making the perfect tape stressful. If anything, I find all of those little details relaxing.

So, today, I finished the fourth (or fifth?) tape in a series of tapes that have found themselves strewn about Matt's car. Here is the setlist for your viewing pleasure.

Later, I'll post some scans of the tape and the artwork. Till then, share with me your setlists....whether it be for cds or tapes or iTunes. Why did you make the _______? And most importantly, did creating it help you to relax?

2006-01-27T15:44:00.000-08:00

I never tell people that I'm artistic. When they ask me what my hobbies are, I never list "art" or "drawing" or "painting" or "doodling" as one of them. I suppose this is because, in my head, for one to be a hobbyist, it is implied that they have some level of skill in their choosen hobby. I don't even begin to kid myself into thinking that I have a lot of skill as an artist. There are five year olds that can draw circles around me.

But, even with the knowledge that I am a poor artist, I will still sit down and doodle. And I will create something like this:

And although, my drawings aren't always the most relaxing of imagined creatures, creating them always seems to calm me.

your voice so smooth and sweet

2006-01-26T14:32:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, in order to fully relax, I will need to let myself have a cathartic experience. I will need to cry and laugh and scream and sing and dance and at the end of all of that, I will feel cleansed and renewed.

Most of the time, I avoid music for this kind of experience. I absolutely love music, but I don't want a soundtrack for my life, because life isn't really like that. Most people listen to music like they use toilet paper. They use it for a specific reason and quickly flush it away when they're finished with it.

I try to listen to music in a variety of ways. I listen for the intricacies in the songwriting, the changes in time, the unique ways that an artist can sometimes command their intrument or their voice, a clever turn of phrase in the lyrics, or just the simple quality of the recording. Where was it recorded? Can I hear noise in the background? Most of the time, though, I try not to relate too personally to a song. Rather, I try to listen to the music for what it is and then attach my personal issues to it later.

Unfortunately, I can't listen to Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over the Sea without feeling like the album is speaking about my whole life. Sometimes it talks about my life in the simple swell of a trumpet. Or it's Jeff Magnum singing about tomatoes and radio wires. Either way, I allow myself some time every few months to just sit down with this album and listen, because it reminds me of a time in my life when I thought I would never make it. It reminds me that I am still here and I did make it.

I let go of every little memory that has ever hurt me. I smile through a song that reminds me of touching moments, of happier times. I relive every little tragedy with the knowledge that I persevered.

And I cry. And I laugh. And I scream. And I sing. And I dance. And in the end, I feel better for it.

And I relax.

What sort of albums, movies, books.....whatever.....help you experience a sort of catharsis?

2006-01-24T22:50:00.000-08:00

I am a highly stressed and wound up person 90% of the time.

I've realized that this is not good for my health.

With that realization (as with most realizations) I've decided that I need to change things up a little. I am now on a mission to document what makes me relax, when I find I am feeling relaxed. (That is a horribly worded sentence. This does not make me feel relaxed! Grrr!) This way I can share my experiences with whomever comes across these words, and also...I can keep track of these things for myself, (selfish me! Ha.)

More later.

2006-01-24T17:21:00.001-08:00

Just sit back. Relax. I will be right with you.