for sure if i show you how to do my dance

Music words

2009-08-19T23:34:00.002-04:00

Music of any complexity (and even "Three Blind Mice" is complex in its way by the time someone has actually performed it on an instrument with its own individual timbre and articulation) passes beyond your conscious mind into the arms of your own private mathematical genius who dwells in your unconscious responding to all the inner complexities and relationships and proportions that we think we know nothing about.

Some people object to such a view of music, saying that if you reduce music to mathematics, where does the emotion come into it? I would say that it's never been out of it.

The things by which our emotions can be moved - the shape of a flower or a Grecian urn, the way a baby grows, the way the wind brushes across your face, the way the clouds move, their shapes, the way light dances on the water, or daffodils flutter in the breeze, the way in which the person you love moves their head, the way their hair follows that movement, the curve described by the dying fall of the last chord of a piece of music - all these things can be described by the complex flow of numbers.

That's not a reduction of it, that's the beauty of it.
Ask Newton.
Ask Einstein.
Ask the poet (Keats) who said that what the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth.

-from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams

1952-2001

Still love Chromeo and I got to tell Dave 1 just that

2009-08-15T21:14:00.002-04:00

Chromeo, aside from being the first successful collaboration between and Arab and Jew, are an electronic duo who play funky sing-songy 80's tinged dance music. They are certainly tongue-in-cheek and maybe some people would think that their music is too obvious in some way. Like, too much wink-wink going on, but I love it. Chromeo is composed of Dave 1 (older brother of the amazing A-Trak) and P-Thugg and the other week I got to tell Dave just how much I enjoy their tunes.

As Charlotte and I were looking for a place to satisfy our hunger downtown, a tall, lanky dude in glasses walked past us. I says to Maple, I says "that's totally Dave from Chromeo." I did not want to accost him on the street, so I rebuffed Charlotte's suggestion to talk to him. Then he meets up with a fine young lady and walks into the Apple store that is down there. I decided to walk in after him and we quietly approached him as he was checking out some shiny new Apple product.

Charlotte: Are you Dave?
Dave: Yup
Charlotte: From Chromeo?
Dave: Yup.
Charlotte and Alex: Cool! We just saw Chromeo a few weeks ago at Camp Bisco.
Dave: That was the really wet one right?
Us: Yup! Mud up to our knees!
Dave: Yeah, all out equipment was destroyed that night! Save one irreplaceable keyboard, but then the festival paid for everything else.
Us: Great! Well, that sucks, but great that they paid for it! We also just saw your brother (A-Trak) tear down Webster Hall last Friday.
Alex: The Macklovitch family makes some of my favorite music today!
Dave: Awesome! I'm going to tell my dad!

It's cool because I have never made Dave dance and he made me dance many times over, in private and in public.

A year and a half later

2009-08-15T20:48:00.003-04:00

What has happened to me since my last post over a year ago?

Not much has changed. I still work in Manhattan, I still live in Brooklyn (albeit one floor up), and I still love to eat cottage cheese with fruit preserves. One thing has changed though and it eclipsed any other mundane things in my life. That one thing is the love of a wonderful woman. She has a world of color and music churning around inside of her head and the love emanating from her is heady and intoxicating. It is reciprocated from my end and that results in Super Happy Awesome time, which must last for the rest of my life. Anything else would be inconceivable!

I live in the coolest city

2008-07-15T23:36:00.002-04:00

I filmed this in the 42nd Street subway station today, but added a better quality tune at home:

I am going to Ukraine in 2 days and will return on August 2nd. Not that anyone would notice by reading this dusty blog!

Rasta Highland Cow smiley

2008-06-17T08:57:00.002-04:00

Highland Cow smiley

2008-06-17T01:04:00.003-04:00

The girls

2008-06-07T12:31:00.002-04:00

I like them black girls
I like them white girls
I like them Asian girls
I like them mixed race girls
I like them Spanish girls
I like them Italian girls
I like the French girls
And I like Scandinavian girls
I like them tall girls
I like them short girls
I like them brown hair girls
I like them blonde hair girls
I like them big girls
I like them skinny girls
I like them carrying a little bitty weight girls

Calvin Harris is a Scottish electro producer with a punk rock bent and he has just produced the first Dizzy Rascal mc'd track that I like. Actually, I love it! I usually find Dizzy Rascal's flow too disjointed, and while I appreciate it, I don't listen to it. Maybe I just haven't heard the right thing... Anyway:

Listen to more of Calvin's music on his mySpazz page here. I recommend "Acceptable in the 80s" and "Merrymaking At My Place."

Yesterday, I found myself inside a drained public swimming pool in Brooklyn with thousands of dancing people. The reason we were all there was M.I.A. throwing down her weird, otherworldly rhymes, while air sirens and steel drum rhythms permeated the air. Holy Fuck opened. If you are not familiar with Holy Fuck, they are an experimental lo-fi electronic group. The sound is akin to a mash-up DJ with a rock attitude. However, no records or computers are used to create the sound. Instead, the band uses live drums, guitars, and keyboards, along with toy instruments and indescribable devices. Peak energy and some awesome twisted sonics throughout their whole set! Then Diplo came out in a Tickle Me Elmo suit (the head kept being removed) and played some tracks nonchalantly, including a Santogold tune ("Creator" to be exact). Then some girl came out to little fanfare and I, along with what seemed like many others, mistook her for M.I.A. She was skinny, black, and weird so she fit the description. After throwing down some rhymes and warming up the crowd, she exited the stage. M.I.A. finally appeared when it got darker to a oddball video introduction. The stage was lined with glowing palm trees, a giant screen and colored bars on either side. Although I thought the sound was a bit muddy (we were in an empty swimming pool, after all) her energy was contagious. She loves her air horn sound too. I suppose it inspires feelings of attack and revolution, which I think is her goal. She attacks her microphone and her DJ attacks the air with (sometimes harsh) blasts of sound. I could not even see the DJ (I think it was Diplo) because for most of her set, the stage was filled with 100+ dancing people! Good beats by the way! I shook my moneymaker and my friend Richie was kindly asked by security to remove himself from a raised platform, on which he had made his personal dance floor.

Musically, I enjoyed Holy Fuck more, but the overall energy and atmosphere of the entire night was fantastic!

Photos here.

Videos here.

The Metric system

2008-05-26T20:35:00.002-04:00

Alex Metric is a UK producer who's music wholly satisfies my need for thick and twisting house / electro. I like it because the rhythms are tight and springy, not overly slamming and annoying. It's a full sound that this Metric one makes, so listen in small doses. If you can get the fucker to work, you can listen to his tunes on his mySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/alexmetric

Maybe I don't want to be rescued

2008-05-25T02:56:00.002-04:00

Today, while I was cleaning my parents' swimming pool I noticed a wee creature leisurly paddling next to the wall. I looked closer and realized that it was a tiny turtle! Much too small to be a teenager but it could certainly have been a mutant ninja. I took him out of the water, placed him on the kitchen counter and took some photographic evidence of my discovery, which will be posted at a later date. Then I gently placed him on the grass in the back yard. Then I thought that perhaps he wanted to be in the water and I just set him back a whole day! I
think he (I don't know why assume it was male. Turtle sexism on my part I suppose) was a baby snapping turtle so I think I've got a rich, full butt snapping in my future. Just hankering for a snappering!

The iPod warned me that I am running out of juice. To all of you out there in TV land, good night! May the four winds blow you safely home.

Here is something else to look at.

2008-05-20T00:49:00.003-04:00

I haven't listened to Spor in weeks.

Spor

2008-04-05T15:14:00.002-04:00

Spor is a early-twenty-something drum & bass producer and DJ from London. The sound he produces is expansive, wide-open drum & bass with just the right touch of futurism and cyber-kinetic-robot samples. He also produces a podcast with Chris Renegade (of Renegade Hardware, also Spor's home) called the Lifted Music Podcast. It's a great podcast to check out if you are interested in fresh, new, exciting drum & bass, peppered with some classics. "Solarize" anyone? However, today I want to bring your attention to Spor's non-drum & bass productions, 2 of which can be found here: http://www.myspace.com/sportactics Keeping to Spor's deep and enveloping production standards, these tracks act like quicksand, pulling you in deeper and deeper. But in stead of futuristic drum & bass, these favor the mid-tempo sound and bounce of breakbeat and electro.

I looooooove this song

2008-04-01T23:43:00.004-04:00

Disco Friends by Just Jack

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2spoYBGvrdw

The video slide show is unimportant. This song is so lovely I feel like my liver is going to melt from all the pleasure. It's that intoxicating. I'm also a sucker for that vocoder, which reminds me of this classic from 1986:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LfXKkNo7YZ8

Vocoders rock so hard.

Daft Punk Alive 1997

2008-03-29T14:44:00.004-04:00

This album is great and it is nowhere near the overexposure of Discovery or Daft Punk in general. This is quite different from the latest Daft Punk spectacle of the traveling pyramid of lights and sounds. This is a sweatier, clubbier experience, for it features no robotic choirs or prog rock guitar riffing. Just beats that sound robotically precise, yet full of feeling. That umph that hits yo' kidneys. The album was released and should be listened to as one continuous track.

Jam of the Week

2008-03-24T01:52:00.004-04:00

The Jam of the Week is raspberry jam! Its delicate balance of tart and sweet is nothing short of brilliant.

Playing other people's music part 2

2008-03-16T12:09:00.002-04:00

What is DJ-ing? Many uninformed people will dismiss it as simply "playing other people's music." I think it is far more than that. It's an art unto itself and it has just as much to do with connecting with people as with the music itself.

DJ's throughout time have all used records as a way to channel the energy of the crowd through their music and vice versa. From Grandmaster Flash to Andy C. A DJ has a world of music at his disposal with which to create a musical quilt. Like a master chef, a good DJ applies just the right amount of ingredients to make a perfect meal. It is not simply playing other people's music; it's taking that music and using it to create a musical journey, to establish unexpected connections between pieces of music (sometimes of entirely different genres), and to surprise and delight
the listener. In a way, a DJ can dig a lot deeper and surprise more than a live band.

I used the word "records" up above, but I am using it generally and not specifically referring to vinyl or acetate records and dub plates. I think CD's (although practicaly obsolete), MP3's and other digital tools are a perfectly acceptable way to bring music to the masses, although I do think vinyl sounds better.

DJ-ing is one of my favorite art forms, and although I cannot DJ myself, I can spin records in my head.

My current favorite DJ's are Spor and the Streetlife DJ's.

Playing other people's music

2008-03-04T20:13:00.003-05:00

No I am not talking about the common criticism of DJ's. I will save that for another post. I am referring to cover songs and how a good cover can completely change the mood of the original composition while acknowledging the artistic accomplishments of the original artists. It's like looking at something through a new pair of glasses. Something that was subtle in the original is now at the forefront of the cover. Or something that was prominent in the original song is now reduced to a fleeting blip. I will now peruse the Internet to exemplify my point. Nevermind the videos.

The original song:

^Blue Monday by New Order^ - 1983

The cover:

^Blue Monday covered by Flunk^ - 2002

Then there's the covers that "feel" the same, but definitely do not sound the same. Case in point:

The original:

^I Put a Spell On You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins^ - 1956

The cover:

^I Put a Spell on You covered by Marilyn Manson^ - 1995

I am very excited to see a live taping of the Maury Povich Show this Thursday! I hope it's either an "Are YOU the Father?" episode or a "My 15-Year Old is a SLUT!" episode. Either one will do.

À cause des garçons

2008-02-27T23:24:00.002-05:00

My favorite new tune is by a singer named Yelle (that's Yeah! and Elle put together).

Look at her. She's incredibly hot. The song I am in love with is called "A Cause Des Garcons" which translates to "Because of the Boys." She is French and thus the song is completely in French. Also it bangs in this slick, buoyant, most non-irritating way! It's a pop / house / electro hybrid with this delightful girl singing. Throw in some synths, a badass breakdown, plenty of attitude, and you have yourself a gem of a tune. Listen to it here:

Yelle MySpace

"A Cause Des Garcons" is the second song down.

Awesome house tune

2008-02-26T23:26:00.002-05:00

This is the Thomas Bangalter (of Daft Punk) remix of DJ Mehdi's "Signatune" It sounds fresh and different! Slamming and at first a little bit off putting, but it really sucks you in.

Oh my god

2008-02-18T23:47:00.001-05:00

This is from the 1985 animated film The Adventures of Mark Twain.

Look what I made

2008-02-15T19:09:00.001-05:00

It's a little Chromeo sound sampler thing.

CLICK HERE PLEASE

Wow that was strange

2008-02-14T22:15:00.005-05:00

So my roommates are out having dinner and I, being home, decided to order something in. I called up a Mexican joint and got 1 order of something and 1 order or something else, totaling no more than $ 15.00. When the food arrived there were four (count them, four) orders of my meal. There was also a 2 liter bottle of Orange soda. The bill was $45.00. I paid with a credit card when I called and thus did not have the opportunity to say "I only want one, here is cash for that." It was already paid for! So my quick thinking swayed me to simply take all the food and forget about it. Now I have 3 neatly packaged meals (each the same) in my refrigerator. I hope my roommates want to eat some of that.

Noise canceling headphones are so fucking weird. I am test driving some right now and I feel a little nauseous. When activated, the noise canceling technology fills your head with the opposite frequencies of the ambient noise around you, thus canceling it. This makes me feel like I am either underwater or on bad drugs. There is a weird pressure on my chest. But they sound so damn sweet! The bass is full, the treble is hungry. I listened to the Pendulum remix of the Prodigy's "Voodoo People" and it practically shattered my skull; not because of the volume, but the sheer fullness and intensity of the sound. I don't know if I used a semicolon there correctly. Anyone care to comment and tell me?

Fucking orange soda... I practically drank the whole bottle already. I would never touch that shit if it wasn't right in front of me. I didn't even say anything about soda and there did not seem to be any kind of language / dialect / accent barriers with my telephone transaction! I don't get upset over forty five bucks and it's not like it was wasted, but I just can't really put it all together. Why orange soda?

I think I would like to be an editor. I'll look into that.

Chromeo is probably my favorite music out of all the new music I have heard in the past year. Dave-1 and P-Thugg play music that is the sound of love making and love breaking. 80's house pop funk two step synth rock is what I would call it. Their songs are about girls and momma's boys and dancing and looking fine. A word of advice from their Fancy Footwork album:

Just take her to the movies and you're gonna work it out!

If you like romance, funk, dancing, infectious grooves, and vocoders (those things that make an instrument sing with your voice. Think Peter Frampton but with a 80's synthesizer) then you should give them a listen if you have not already. You can do so here at their myFace page. I particularly like "Needy Girl" and "Bonafied Lovin'" Betsy, you liked that Sam Sparro song, so you should listen to this. Let me know if you like it. I am always trying to spread good tunes.

Most exciting game award

2008-02-10T15:57:00.000-05:00

I just played the most exciting, spine-tingling, edge-of-your-seat game of Yahtzee ever. The suspense could have been cut with a knife. I felt like every roll was the last 10 seconds in some career-defining championship match. I kept thinking "this is what bobsledders and gambling addicts feel" as I rolled dice like some crazed voodoo doctor. Dice seem ancient and timeless and should not be fucked with, so when my large straight doesn't come I don't get angry. I don't want the Dice Gods on my ass.

Anyway, I am listening to a lot of Daft Punk's Homework. I think that is their best, most consistent work, but the recent multi-media orgy of bliss that was the 2007 tour is in a close second. Homework still sounds new to me. It's fun and innovative and even the things that are not really "pleasant" (like "Rollin' & Scratchin'") are still interesting. But then the pleasant stuff ("Revolution 909," "Around the World," "Da Funk," "Fresh") just knocks you out. I think Daft Punk achieves this by playing only to the emotional side of things (as opposed to cerebral) through the use of disco samples that remind people of things and make them want to dance. Everyone has heard Chic's "Good Times" and it's about... duh.. good times and dancing. That's the bassline to "Around the World" and it's just all about good times and dancing. I think that when they do try to get all cerebral and proggy and weird (a lot of Human After All) it doesn't work. Their live show infused all those songs with the good times, but on record... I just wanna dance, man.

Hmm.. I missed "KAIJU: A Night of Live Monster Wrestling" at Webster Hall. Someone gave me a flier the other day and "live monster wrestling" sounded very intriguing.

I want some Malaysian beef jerky.

Current music

2008-02-03T21:58:00.000-05:00

My two favorite things to listen to right now are Untrue, an album by the anonymous UK producer Burial and "Black and Gold," a song by Sam Sparro, a Los Angeles singer who has yet to release a debut album. Black and Gold is spot on. It's absolutely infectious. Listen to it here:

It doesn't bang, but it doesn't crawl either. Listen to Sam Sparro's voice at the very end of the song. It's pretty ridiculous how tuneful and pleasant it is. It doesn't have that metallic AutoTune tonality of so many other singers' recordings. This shit is bathed in electronic tones, but every tone is beautifully smooth and mellow. It's like velvet robes on bare ass cheeks. Smooth.

The Burial album is a little different, albeit also smooth. It's the most unabashedly emotional music I've heard in a while, but it works. It works because there is no ego attached to it. Burial is completely anonymous for fear of his or her music becoming corrupt. That may seem like a lofty and perhaps pretentious thing to say, but it's true. If no one knows who you are, there is no pressure. Burial is a myth. A story someone made up. That is why it sounds so sincere. The ghostly vocal samples pleading for things lost and loved, undecipherable dialog, beats that start, crackle like sparks only to die down and look around. If you cannot understand a vocal sample, it could be anything, including something personal. Warning: this is not party music. It will totally kill your party, but it's absolutely gorgeous.

Life is beautiful

2008-01-25T20:06:00.000-05:00

I find that very beautiful, but enough about fruits and vegetables. I think human life is very beautiful as well. The mind, the body, and the soul are a fascinating and enlightening thing to me. I also think that abortion should not only be legal, but encouraged. I think that if the resources of our minds allowed us to harness science to such a degree (to safely and efficiently terminate pregnancy) then we should not overlook it as a practical solution to the "big problem". Our world is not in a good place and it is not getting any better. Overpopulation leads to hunger which leads to violence which leads to war. Reckless recreation makes no sense. I don't understand how one can hold life sacred, yet bring more children into the quickly disintegrating world (that they will inherit). You will cause them pain by ensuring that they live in an overpopulated, corrupt, dirty world and that's no way to treat something sacred! I think people who want children (I do) should have one child, and if they only get one, to not try any more. We can reset the world for a future generation. We could give them what we don't have so they can thrive! That requires sacrifice, but that's how beautiful I think life is.

Does anyone remember Pure Moods?

2008-01-22T22:06:00.000-05:00

This is kind of interesting:

Top Selling Artists

I had no idea that Enya has sold 26 million records. Same as Jay-Z!

I am blogging with my iPod

2008-01-20T13:07:00.000-05:00

I have seen the top of the mountain and it is good. I am not good with money. Recently, a fairly large chunk of it came into my possession and it is decreasing already at a very healthy rate... or unhealthy I suppose. My biggest vice seems to be concert tickets and I seem to just be giving them away. I don't worry though because I believe that giving strengthens my karma. Keep your dogma out of my face or my karma will run over it. On the topic of concert tickets, I am very excited to see Chromeo next weekend. I also got tickets to their afterparty in Brooklyn. It will be a night full of love making and love breaking and the following night DJ Shadow will mend my broken love with Bay Area nuttiness in tune and on time.

Perfect Foods, Inc.

2008-01-15T20:13:00.000-05:00

This place is great. Deep in the onion fields of Pine Island, New York there lies an ordinary barn. Only this is no ordinary barn! It contains the following:

Trays of plant matter resembling photovoltaic arrays:

Crazy hanging shit:

Grass that is fresher:

Hard workers and curious spectators:

This is worker No. 44. He works hard and has met his harvest quota for this week, which means he will not be killed:

By this:

Whole civilizations of miniature posthuman beings live in sprout forests such as this one:

The geometric patters exhibited here line up to several constellations, including Ursa Minor and Coma Berenices:

The plant matter is kept at a strict 27° F until the hatcheningification. Bovine surrogate is injected 7 days into the incubation period, and again at 14 days. While the plants are waiting, they are kept in bunkers like this:

There are plenty of fans to maintain proper circulation!

Employee No. 20 working the late shift. She has been rewarded for her fruitful harvest with a G-Unit chain:

If you have a chance, visit this barn in Pine Island, New York. Only they probably won't let you. Think they're fucking around? Look at that pendant!

Project Runway Canada is like, totally better than Project Runway

2008-01-08T19:35:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but it takes great internal strength to not scream out every time Heidi Klum squeaks "Hi!!!" like a shrill fucking Heidi the Aryan Goddess. I try to care about the contestants, but I feel strange watching a person appear extremely quirky and bizarre, only to find out that a horrible brain damaging car accident was involved. One contestant has mentioned that he is not gay so many times, he obviously must be gay. Another one is a 40 something ex-biker chick named Sweet P that reverts into this weird, wide eyed, scared thing. Tim Gunn is soooo obviously acting. I mean, he comes over to a contestant, strikes a pose (see how I'm holding my glasses? I invented that shit!), and says his various catch phrases. "Make it work" "Make it work" "Make it work" "Carry On." In every season (except maybe the first one) no contestant ever seems to listen to his advice (which is usually good) and pursues their fucking "artistic vision" and ends up getting kicked off! I am all for artistic vision, but he knows and he is trying to help you! Many of these designers are so stubborn. "My way, or no way" I felt so bad for poor Ricky when Victoria got in his face. Then an HIV positive contestant gets an infection and leaves! Jesus! What is this? The Real World? Anyway, do you see what I am saying?

Project Runway Canada, on the other hand, hosted by supermodel Iman in this inaugural season, is another story. Well, it's not that different, but bear with me and perhaps I can explain why it is more enjoyable. Iman does not chirp "Hi!!!" like her American counterpart. Iman says: "'Allo deezigners..." all chill n shit. Iman's Somali accent is much more pleasant than Heidi's German. Also, Iman's last name is Abdulmajid, which I like much better than Klum. The contestants consistently come up with better designs than the Americans. A gown a contestant created sold for $10,000 at auction. That's Canadian dollars, but that's nothing to laugh at anymore! The contestants are all more excited to be there, because this is the first time around for the Canadians. One episode saw them drawing inspiration from a performance by Measha Brueggergosman, who is a Canadian opera star. Even the bitching (of course, it's there) is better. On a balcony, when a 23 year old "punk" (think last year's winner, Jeffrey Sibilia) says something nasty to another contestant, he looks at him and says in his Transylvanian accent (no shit!):

"You are so full of anger."

and walks away. So, basically, Project Runway Canada is much better than the U.S. Project Runway 4.

The Mix of Today has been playing while I discussed Project Runway. It's funky as hell, trust me. It's recorded by two people I have never heard of: The Breakbeat Junkie & Plugg. It's called Break the Funk IV, and it can be downloaded here:

http://themixingbowl.org/topics.php?action=viewtopic&topicid=58967&page=1#505045

It's fresh, full of samples, grooves. It's like fuzzed out hip hop, with scratching, funky little edits. Then it's stretched and stretched, until by minute 55 it's some crazy space groove and you forget about hip hop for a little while, till Afrika Bambaataa is all up in your face telling you about funk. Breaking and entering is what this mix is all about. The words "hip hop" are sampled effectively, you learn about dance, and even the Beastie Boys come up for air for a second or two. It will probably rock a party efficiently.

Two step.

Daft Punk

2008-01-05T21:06:00.001-05:00

So, we all went gaga for "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"... in 2001. I thought it was innovative as hell. I bought the Intastella 5555 DVD. I thought Daft Punk were mad robot geniuses. Then this past year saw an incredible surge in popularity for Daft Punk and "H.B.F.S." in particular. It showed up in every other DJ mix I listened to. Kanye West used it in a hit song. DJ after DJ mixed Kanye's track with Daft Punk everywhere I went. Few seem to be aware that the original tune is called "Cola Bottle Baby" by Edwin Birdsong and is more than 20 years old. But I digress.

After hearing this song everywhere this past year, I started becoming bitter. Everyone was hailing Daft Punk as the second coming of Christ. I kept thinking "Sure, they are great, but you are 7 years late!" I even saw them in Brooklyn over the summer, and sure enough, the show was rapturous, but I was still saying Daft Punk were overrated.

Then I listened to their memento from this past tour, Alive 2007, and I think I understand something I didn't before. Daft Punk created a spectacle, in the vein of a Broadway show. They themselves said "The music is the same, the show is the same, but every performance is different." They used their tour to bring their old songs to life, to showcase new tunes, and to create a complete sensory escape from reality. The ecstatic roar of the crowd in the recording is very good at conveying the atmosphere that Daft Punk were going for. It is the sound of thousands of beaming smiles. I find that if I stop looking for constant innovation in Daft Punk and really appreciate what they are doing (as opposed to what they are not) I enjoy their music more. Also, I think their surging popularity in 2007 speaks about the strength and longevity of their songs. "Around the World" was a hit in 1997, and here we are 10 years later with a whole field bouncing in ecstasy. To top it off, it feels relevant. Not a nostalgia act in any sense. So I am quite convinced that I bore witness to one of the greatest shows ever. But I still don't want to hear "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" in a club... for now.

Oh, and finally, at the show, they played "One More Time" one more time at the end!

Jitters

2008-01-05T15:35:00.000-05:00

I have been drinking coffee all day and have not eaten a thing. I feel a state of hypersensitivity approaching. Everything around me will slow down and I will be able to see each individual flutter of a fly's wings. I will be able to hear the breathing of my neighbors. I will be able to outrun that cheetah from down the street.

The Boys Noize remix of Feist's "My Moon, My Man" is pretty brilliant. After hearing it, my roommate was impressed and suggested that I listen to the original. The following day, before I had a chance to listen to it, she told me: "I don't even like the original anymore."

My Mix of Today is the Streetlife DJ's Essential Mix, which was broadcast on December 15th, 2007. While Pete Tong claims it is hard to categorize, it can safely be said that this is a house mix. However, it is fresh. It has mash up elements, like edits and samples out of nowhere. It is high energy, but not Hi-NRG. It is fun, not too hard, but not minimal either. Shit like a remix of Jacko's "Wanna Be Starting Something" into a remix of Daft Punk's "Aerodynamic" is bananas. B. A. N. A. N. A. S. Also, there are breaks and an Eric B. & Rakim remix thrown in.

If you would like to hear this mix, point your web browsers and Bit Torrent clients here:

http://www.themixingbowl.org/topics.php?action=viewtopic&topicid=61883

I wonder if snowflakes believe their own hype about being unique.

I am down with

2008-01-03T19:51:00.000-05:00

I am down with Mr. Scruff. Mr. Scruff in a DJ from Manchester, UK. Drum n bass infused with weird loopy jazz? Sure, I've heard of that. Rock elements? Sure, I remember Andy C mixes with guitars or their digital counterparts. And what about other styles of electronic music? Well, duh, they all live in the same house. What I heard in Radio 1's December 1st, 2007 Essential Mix was drum n bass infused with, fast, furious, jazz riffing. Horns and piano. You completely forget that you are listening to drum n bass. And then the beat beefs up and you got rollicking, good timey hip hop. All that melodic spittin' - like Jurassic 5 style. And it all works brilliantly. And on top of that is MC Dynamite (although on the second half which is mixed by another not as pleasing (but still dood DJ) It is with these words that I introduce my first ever Mix of Today. In what I will now do whenever I feel like it, I will post one of those. (The second half of the mix is by another DJ and that is not what I reference above. But Dynamite MC is on it and it's good.)

I assume if you are interested in hearing the above then you know how to use Bit Torrent.

Here is the torrent at themixingbowl.org

If someone reads that, wants to listen to what I am talking about, and does not know how to use Bit Torrent, you can ask me. It's worth your time to learn.

Reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I am only 3 chapters in. "Scary" describes it well. In one scene, babies are being conditioned to hate flowers and books by shock therapy. No shit.

Seeing Daft Punk last August. This was an accident. It was supposed to be a photo.

Hello, I'm brining sexy back

2008-01-02T08:59:00.000-05:00

-OK, do you have a receipt?
>No, I do not.
-Sorry, we don't accept used sexy without a receipt.
>You motherfuckers don't know how to act.

Sweet sweet coffee is pouring into my belly. It tastes like amaretto clouds. They are gathering over the northern tip of my county ready to unleash a torrent of caffeine.

I really like subway musicians, but not the "official" ones. There is a spot in the Time Square station where any musician who happens to be there has an official looking banner announcing who they are. I like the undocumented musicians on the trains themselves. The other week I got treated to not one, but two mariachi performances on the same ride. First was a duo with great, full sound. Then came a trio in matching Mexican shirts with a stand up bass. That was impressive, but their accordion / guitar / bass sound actually sounded more hollow than the previous bass-less band. One time, in the Times Square station I saw a man with an electric violin. The violin looked like H.R. Giger designed it; with flashing lights, black extensions, and an overall twisted shape. The man looked like he belonged in Dream Theater. Tight leather pants, boots, some rock T-shirt, and long, ratty hair reminiscent of Ronnie James Dio. He had a drum loop going and was shredding his violin, all while headbanging and contorting himself with reckless (albeit staged) abandon. He was interesting, but cheesy as fuck.

However, my favorite subway musician (and I doubt he would even call himself that) is a shriveled, blind, old man who gently sings sweet songs about hardship and young love. The R train turns into the Mississippi Delta for just a few minutes and I am in heaven. I always give him money.

The other week I saw Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling of onetime Howard Stern fame looking sloppy, old, and cheap. Then later on (not the same day) I saw Hugh Grant dreamily walking down the street. He looked stoned and not as good as he does in dem moving pictures. Turns out he was coming back from an auction where he unloaded a painting for many millions of dollars. I'd be looking stoned too.

I am listening to Peaches' The Teaches of Peaches. It's so sleazy I feel that I am covered with slime. Groovy.

dubstep

2008-01-01T22:06:00.001-05:00

I am listening to dubstep music and it is brining me great pleasure. The rumble of the bass in the belly of the beast and the sky high atmospherics make it incredibly engaging music. It sways, it jumps, it skips, and it rolls.

everything must go

2008-01-01T21:15:00.000-05:00

I started a blog. Look at that. I don't know anything about blogging actually. Blogging bypassed me. I guess I was too busy doing something else. So just bear that in mind.

Supamon pissed all over the floor so I took away his computing rights.

I am going to shit my pants in ecstasy at the end of the month when I see Chromeo and DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist in the same weekend. The former will be a rapturous dance party from 1987, but filtered through 2112. The latter will be a journey into trippy, hippy, hoppy, Bay Area psychedelia. Needles to say, I am more excited than a raccoon that found out all the worlds' broomsticks broke. I say this because it is common knowledge that raccoons are chased off porches with brooms worldwide.