Category: Uncategorized (Page 1085 of 1133)

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Burning Pyre Erotics of Aesthetics
‘Taking his lead from Susan Sontag, Burning Pyre – real name Chris Owen – plays with the notion of what the ‘erotics’ of a work of art are, and how this translates to the act of music making, and consequently its interpretation and appreciation. Concerning the act of criticism, Sontag argued that “in place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art”, that criticism should involve the writer in a task of bringing to life the ‘sensual surface’ of the artwork. What then, constitutes these ‘erotics’ on Burning Pyre’s beautiful and minimal EP? The tracks ‘Long Light’, ‘Erotics Of Aesthetics’, and ‘Hope Dutifully Resides In The Darkest Of Times’ all engage with ominous, dark tones. Yet Owen does not let his work slip simply into the realms of the ponderous and the nihilistic. Instead, he frequently employs a touch of major chord here, a warm synth there, to offer a sense of hope which stems the tide of the dark electronic waves. The overall sound of these tracks is haunting and immersive, echoing the work of Mica Levi, whose score for Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin demonstrates comparable juxtapositions.’ — Christopher Sanders

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Laura Cannell Richard the Lionheart
‘The worlds of folk and Early Music are sometimes subject to accusations of head-in-the-sand escapism, figuring as havens for those unable to cope with the complexities of modern life and musical innovations. You’d be mistaken in levelling such accusations at Laura Cannell, however. Using self-developed techniques of the “deconstructed bow” and “double-barreled recorders”, Cannell combines a background in folk and medieval traditions with an improvisatory approach to create exploratory music that expands the no-man’s land between the archaic and the innovative, transcending temporality in instantaneous compositions.’ — The Quietus

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Heitor Alvelos The Other
‘Faith is the first full-length sound release by media researcher and curator Heitor Alvelos under his own name. Heitor Alvelos has provided photography and stage visuals for Biosphere, Fennesz, BJNilsen, Rafael Toral and Philip Jeck, as well as releasing sound pieces under the aliases Autodigest, Antifluffy and Before Surgery. All sources have been gathered, recorded and produced throughout five decades, all the way back to a recording by Francisco Alvelos in 1972 that closes the release. Elsewhere, sounds have been processed to various degrees, the bookends retaining their original contexts, others mutating into deep abstraction. Overall, they flow as one single composition, evocative and foreboding in equal measures.’ — Kudos Records

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Alessandro Cortini La Sveglia
‘Alessandro Cortini is best recognized for his work with Nine Inch Nails. He’s been touring all around the world with the band for many years now. Additionally, he is the frontman for the electronic-alternative band SONONIO. “La Sveglia” is a track best described as complex, but also makes complete sense. It begins with intense keyboard smears, but shifts gears and becomes a generally lighter sound. Cortini’s musical style can be difficult to describe at times considering he is frequently experimenting with different genres. However, his style as a whole is just extremely rare to find. Meaning, most artists are unable to travel down to the deepest depths of darkness and then transition into the light with such ease. Fortunately for Cortini, Risveglio serves as an example of how great he is at accomplishing this feat.’ — mxdwn.com

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Rat Columns Fooling Around
‘Blackest Ever Black presents Fooling Around, a new E.P. from David West’s Rat Columns. The title track is nothing short of a modern rock ’n roll classic: co-written by West and Mikey Young (Total Control, Eddy Current Suppression Ring et al) it appeared in truncated form on Rat Columns’ album Leaf (R.I.P. Society, 2014), but this is the first time that the original, longer, and definitive version has been given the vinyl pressing it so richly deserves. Its combination of void-chasing motorik, moody jangle, West’s plaintive vocal delivery and Young’s spaced-out synth embellishments makes for a song at once elegiac and relentless: think Splendour of Fear-era Felt or David Kilgour at his dreamiest, strapped to the engine of Neu!’s ‘Für Immer’, and you’re in the zone.’ — collaged

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EEK feat. Islam Chipsy Live at TUSK Festival
‘Not only does Islam Chipsy’s debut album offer a breathtaking ride through Egypt and its flourishing Shaabi scene, but its manic, unrelenting, and downright senseless energy stands as an exotic mirror of our own wanton societies. Opener “Trinity” is awash with this energy, conveyed in the form of apoplectic 8-bit keyboards and ever-rolling drums. Once the track hits its stride — after a mere 30 seconds — it never lets up. Chipsy’s casual virtuosity goads it on and on in a delirious frenzy of trills and double stops, while the stamina of EEK’s two drummers (Islam Ta’ta’ and Khaled Mando) prevents it from collapsing in exhaustion. Their four years spent playing live in and around Cairo is evident throughout the song’s epic 10 minutes, which see them move effortlessly from one frenetic riff to the next in an unblinking and seemingly unending series of transitions. Listening to their high-pitched athleticism, it becomes all-too easy to imagine the riotous exuberance of the weddings, gigs, and gatherings at which they’ve made their name in Egypt, as well as the vibrant if not volatile atmosphere they must bring to the cities in which they perform.’ — Tiny Mix Tapes

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Blood Quartet Dragon Tree (live)
‘It begins with an echoing trumpet tone, a handful of harmonics from a Fender Jazzmaster, a shimmer of cymbal, and a scrape of a bass string … Blood Quartet are here. It was their first gig proper and the launch of the debut album, Dark Energy, and Heliogàbal in Gràcia was packed out. On other days, Rueda, Bela and Coll are well-known Bcn noisesters, Murnau B, and New York ‘No Waver’ Cunningham has long been a resident experimentalist in Barcelona. This is, as far as I know, their first collaboration. What can I tell you? It works. Awesomely well. Slow tempos, heavy riffs, splashes of distorted noise, delicate without sacrificing intensity, it was swirlingly hypnotic and … loud.’ — A Jazz Noise

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HEALTH STONEFISH
‘Though they might bristle at the obvious comparison, it’s hard not to notice the Reznorian qualities of Death Magic. With Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor married the formlessness of industrial music to radio-friendly pop melodies. The 12 tracks on Death Magic do much the same, neatly splitting the difference between exquisitely detailed bombast (more than anything they’ve done before, it’s a record that demands a huge stereo system and/or an excellent set of headphones) and something more human. While they still don’t have to worry about somehow getting accidentally swept up in the mainstream—a fate unlikely for a band still making scary songs about drugs and releasing vomit-soaked visuals—with Death Magic HEALTH wisely manage to sidestep the errors of so many other ostensibly “heavy” bands, who often chase after extremity to the point of becoming humorless cartoons. After a while, even unremitting noise and relentless nihilism becomes rote and, frankly, kind of boring. Without the occasional beam of light, it’s hard to actually appreciate how dark—or how good—a band like HEALTH can actually be.’ — T. Cole Rachel

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Florian Kupfer Headpiece
‘Explora is one of Florian Kupfer’s most accomplished EP’s to date. Tantalisingly ominous, it’s a stark contrast to the excellent ‘This Society’ EP which was showered in hope and promise, while here he’s gone down to opposite route. This does not mean however that is a depressing record, if anything it’s a pulsating and mystifying piece of work that shows an artist on his creative peak. “Headpiece” is one of his most brutal songs, covered in filthy distortion and utter dread it pushes his sound to whole new dimensions. Thunderous and earth-shattering, it builds and builds into gargantuan size while constantly growing in strength and resolve. It’s a destructive track that rinses itself of many of the usual conventions in favour of a more experimental and brash sound.’ — Alkaline

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Mike Cooper Fratello Mare
‘Fratello Mare, a reference to Folco Quilici’s classic film of the same name, is the latest tropical opus from UK born, Italian based musician Mike Cooper. It’s Cooper’s continuing ode to the Pacific, its people and the traditions that have flowed from that part of the world into seemingly endless iterations within contemporary culture. Recorded across 2014, the album dovetails neatly with his other Room40 editions White Shadows In The South Seas and the post-everything classic Rayon Hula. It expands his combining of highly personal lap steel playing, with exotic music and percussion alongside field recordings made on islands across South East Asia and the Caribbean whilst on residencies and other travels.’ — Room40

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Spencer Radcliffe Green Things
‘Spencer Radcliffe has been putting out music for a while — first as Blithe Field, then under his own name — and you can chart his progression since 2008 in a satisfying arc. His early work takes the form of spacey electroacoustic experimentation, which snaps into sharper focus after changing his name and releasing Sinking Down, his first EP that feels like a complete thought. Over the past two years, the Chicago-via-Ohio songwriter has only been getting better as he finds the common ground between his freeform flights of fancy and more traditional song structure. Those two sensibilities congealed on last year’s Brown Horse — a split with the like-minded R.L. Kelly released through Orchid Tapes — and all of his development comes to a head on Looking In, his upcoming debut full-length, out via Run For Cover in the fall.’ — Stereogum

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F ingers Tantrum Time
‘Extraordinary new LP from a group comprising Carla dal Forno (Tarcar), Samuel Karmel and Tarquin Manek (Tarcar, LST). Deeply drugged, synth-daubed death-folk and DIY electronics of the highest order: acutely psychedelic, inscrutable but emotional, sunken but prone to soaring, with flashes of horror too. Beautifully conjures the mirth and murk of childhood summers…a relatable surburban gothic…grazed knees, hide-and-seek, nettle-stings. Trampled flowerbeds and failing light. Ghouls in your neighbour’s garden. Think Nico meets Dome or Alison Statton wandering The Pickle Factory after dark. If you dream you die, you
die.’ — Blackest Ever Black

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Tarcar Fireball
‘Tarcar is the Melbourne-based duo of Carla dal Forno (Mole House, Fingers Pty Ltd) and Tarquin Manek (LST, Bum Creek, Fingers Pty Ltd). A modern-day revenge tragedy in six parts. Symmetrical, finespun, almost courtly; but quick-tempered with it, and far from blood-shy. A picture emerges: domestic disturbances, pissing on the compost heap, noise complaints from hateful neighbours. Sulking, pouting, goading – a hierarchy of needs. Cold leaves and Christmas. Body-clocks betrayed. Staying up late to collect bottles to smash in the carpark across the road. Marijuana and make-believe. Cracking this thin ice with deft stomping aplomb.’ — collaged

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p.s. Hey. ** H, Hi! Oh, no, thank you! I’m very honored by what you wrote and by the many thoughtful responses to it. I’m very happy to have been able to host it, and, yeah, I’m just very grateful! A post on Jarman’s ‘The Garden’ would be great. I think there are plenty of people who read this blog who will not be very familiar with it So, if that ends up seeming like an interesting project, I would be very pleased to host it. Oh, no, your responses over the weekend were great! I mean, that’s the most interactive and community-like that the commenting section has been in a very long time, and I was very happy to see and get to read that. A big success! Love, me. ** David Ehrenstein, I don’t know if Christophe knows Techine. I’ll definitely ask him. I think Barthes would easily win a battle with me for Antoine Monnier’s heart or whatever else, for better or worse, ha ha. ** Tosh Berman, A very bon voyage today if I catch you before you head off to the airport. I saw the photo you posted on FB of that island, and, whoa, so beautiful and intriguing. It’s going to be amazing trip. Enjoy every living second. ** Steevee, Hi. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, if the film gets it wrong, and there doesn’t seem much doubt that it will (get it wrong to some degree or other), corrections will appear widely. And it’s obviously not an act of slander or a hate crime. It seems like the anti-boycott voices have risen and are knowledgeable in many cases, and that they are swamping the boycotting calls anyway. Interesting. Oops, hope you got some sleep in the end. ** Styrofoam, Hey! Hopefully we’ll finally get to talk tonight my time. ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Thank you so much for your careful reading and amazing thoughts/response. It was really great to be able to read that. Wow, thank you. A monkey forest? In the UK? Wowzer. Sounds fun. ** Hunter, Hi. I don’t know. I think social media’s influence has caused anger and venting to be some kind of addictive drug, and actually doing level-headed work to cause change seems to be far, far less appealing. It’s a very interesting phenom, but I find it depressing. Definitely at least visit NYC and spend a few days or a week or something there minimum. You’ll find out pretty quickly if it’s useful to you. I’m doing quite well, thank you. Sciences, interesting. Yeah, I mean, other than taking a few poetry writing classes in a couple of years at a city college and during one truncated year at university, I never studied writing seriously much less majored in writing, and it didn’t stop me from writing primarily or cause any negative effect on my writing as far as I can tell. As long as you really like to write, you will, and it’ll be fine, I’m sure. My busyness is due to getting ready for the premiere of a film I collaborated on, and writing a new film, and working on my writing and on my gif-writing, and stuff like that. Good busy. Thank you, man, and have an awesome day. ** Douglas Payne, Hi, Douglas. I’m very honored by the company I’ll get to keep in your Master’s thesis. That’s really amazing, thank you so much! No, I don’t know ‘The Imposter’, but it sounds like something imperative to see. Huh. I will start tracking it down today. Thank you very much for the tip. Yeah, that’s extremely intriguing. ** James, Hi. I’ll look for your email. I had a good weekend, and you? ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hi, Jeff. Glad you liked the Menken Day. Oh, hm, no stand out favorites of Menken’s, I don’t think. I’m just sort of generally taken with what she does pretty much every time. No, for reason utterly mysterious, the festival still hasn’t made their official announcement, now five days late, and my tongue is forcibly tied until that happens. It has to happen any minute, I think. Thickening the text: that’s very interesting, and I think I understand what you mean. Actually thickening as opposed to adorning? ** Sypha, Hi. Political correctness comes from the right and noble place, but I think it’s a generalization that people find attractive because it allows for intellectual laziness. People don’t even want to think about nuances and ambiguities. They don’t want to take the time and mental energy to study the source of each instance of political incorrectness and value or judge it individually. Now that the Republicans have turned into extremists, I wonder what actual conservatism, in the classic sense of that word, is. And I think political correctness is a new form of conservatism that people think is acceptable because it’s generally practiced by self-identifying liberals. I find the faddish, knee-jerk employment of pc as a defense and offense very depressing. ** Postitbreakup, Hi, Josh. Wow, what happened in Amsterdam was so not an ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ kind of thing, ha ha. I could have handled that. Anyway, what happened is to complex and personal for me to talk about. Well, I think I only realized those three guys were huge influences after I had written a lot and started to think about where my work came from. So your not being able to identify big influences at this point is normal, and, actually, probably very healthy. Writing like Stephen King is cool. I’m personally not into his writing, but I know quite a few serious writers who admire his writing. I admire people who can write quickly. I wish I could. I’m just not a natural writer in that sense. My voice is very raw and a mess, and I have to work it extremely and intricately to get it right, but that’s just me. I think most writers whom I admire are able to write their amazing things much more easily and swiftly than I write my things. I think, yeah, you really, really need to understand that you are really, really, completely alone and safe when you write and that no one can see you write or cares what you write and how. I think that’s very important to being able to write only what gives you pleasure. That’s all it’s about, I think. Anyway, that was fascinating, what you wrote, and I’m very pleased that you shared it with me/us. ** Misanthrope, Are you now upgraded? Wait, happy birthday! Everyone, it’s the one and only Misanthrope’s 44th birthday today! Give a private or public shout of joy and well wishing on his behalf, won’t you? ** Kyler, Hi. I haven’t seen the new Woody Allen, but I always end up watching his films in some context or other, so I definitely will. I don’t like Joaquin Phoenix’s acting, no, but I don’t not see films because he’s in them, and I think I’ll get his thing/appeal one of these days. ** Okay. There’s another gig of music that I’m liking and listening to right now. I hope you’ll find something or things in there for yourselves. See you tomorrow.

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Poppies
‘Illuminations, released in 1969, was the sixth album by Buffy Sainte-Marie. Though most of the tracks did away with the backing she had used on her previous two albums, Illuminations had a completely different sound from anything she had previously done. From a basis of vocals and acoustic guitar, Sainte-Marie and producer Maynard Solomon used electronic synthesisers to create a sound that was much more experimental music than folk. Indeed, Illuminations was the first quadrophonic vocal album ever made.’ — ekr

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Little Wheel Spin and Spin
‘In contrast to her first two albums which were entirely acoustic with occasional use of her distinctive mouthbow, parts of Little Wheel Spin and Spin added electric guitar by Bruce Langhorne and string arrangements by Felix Pappalardi, or feature fellow Native American performer Patrick Sky on guitar with Sainte-Marie. This served to pave the way for Sainte-Marie’s stylistic experiments on her remaining Vanguard albums, where she covered territory ranging from country to rock to experimental music.’ — ArtMusic

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Now You’ve Been Gone for a Long Time
‘Her previous album Illuminations having sold so poorly as to lose Vanguard a considerable sum of money, the label placed considerable pressure on Sainte-Marie to come up with something that would sell in larger numbers. To this effect, She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina was recorded with guitar from Ry Cooder and Neil Young and assistance from the latter’s backing band Crazy Horse. There was also a change in focus of the material: covers of contemporary songs, which she had almost never recorded before, accounted for five of the eleven songs. Vanguard boss Maynard Solomon, who had produced her first five albums and most of Illuminations, surrendered production duties completely to Neil Young producer Jack Nitzsche, who was later to marry Sainte-Marie.’ — Chronology

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He’s A Keeper Of The Fire
‘On her misunderstood and gradually revered album Illuminations, American composer Peter Schickele provided arrangements to “Mary”, “Adam” and “The Angel”, whilst the four tracks “Suffer the Little Children”, “With You, Honey”, “Guess Who I Saw in Paris” and “He’s A Keeper of the Fire” were her first work to be not produced by Vanguard boss Maynard Solomon. Instead, they had a stripped-down rock sound and were produced by little known folk-jazz songwriter Mark Roth. Bob Bozina played guitar, John Craviotta drums and percussion and Rick Oxendine played bass.’ — New Weird America

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Cod’ine
‘Buffy Sainte-Marie’s It’s My Way is one of the most scathing topical folk albums ever made. Sainte-Marie sings in an emotional, vibrato-laden voice of war (“The Universal Soldier,” later a hit for Donovan), drugs (“Cod’ine”), sex (“The Incest Song”), and most telling, the mistreatment of Native Americans, of which Sainte-Marie is one (“Now That the Buffalo’s Gone”). Even decades later, the album’s power is moving and disturbing.’ — Allmusi
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Suffer the Little Children
‘School bell go “Ding! Dong! Ding!” / The children all line up / They do what they are told / Take a little drink from the liar’s cup / Mama don’t really care / If what they learn is true / Or if it’s only lies / Just get them through the factories / Into production / Ah, get them into line / Late in the afternoon / The children all come home / They mind their manners well / Their little lives are all laid out / Mama don’t seem to care / If she may break their hearts / She clips their wings off, they never learn to fly / Poor Mama needs a source of pride / A doctor son she’ll have/ No what the cost to manhood or to soul / Sun shine down, brightly shine / Down on all the land / Shine down on the newborn lambs / A butcher’s knife is in his hand.’ — BS-M

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Moonshot
‘After the very modest success of her previous album She Used to Wanna Be a Ballerina, Vanguard again teamed Sainte-Marie with renowned pop session musicians in its effort to improve sales and the amount of money she was making for the label. Although the album itself fared little better commercially than its predecessor, only spending seven weeks on the Billboard Top 200, an extensive promotional campaign by Vanguard and extensive AM radio airplay saw the closing track, a cover of Mickey Newbury’s “Mister Can’t You See”, become Sainte-Marie’s sole significant commercial success in the States, spending two weeks in the lower reaches of the Top 40 in late April and early May 1972. However, Sainte-Marie was very upset with Vanguard’s extensive promotion of the single and this was one reason why she only recorded one more album for the label before moving to MCA in 1973.’ — Wiki

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Now That the Buffalo’s Gone
‘”Now That the Buffalo’s Gone” is the first song from the 1964 album It’s My Way! by Canadian First Nations singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie. The song’s title refers to the near-extinction of the American bison and serves as a metaphor for the cultural genocide inflicted by Europeans. A classic folk protest song, “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone” has a simple arrangement with guitar and vocals by Sainte-Marie and bass played by Art Davis. The song is a lament that addresses the continuous confiscation of Indian lands. In the song, Sainte-Marie contrasts the treatment of post-war Germany, whose people were allowed to keep their land and their dignity, to that of North American Indians.’ — Biocritics

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Guess Who I Saw In Paris
‘Buffy Sainte-Marie’s album Illuminations is as prophetic a record as the first album by Can or the psychedelic work of John Martin on Solid Air. The songs here, while clearly written, are open form structures that, despite their brevity (the longest cut here is under four minutes), break down the barriers between folk music, rock, pop, European avant-garde music and Native American styles (this is some of the same territory Tim Buckley explores on Lorca and Starsailor). It’s not a synthesis in any way, but a completely different mode of travel. This is poetry as musical tapestry and music as mythopoetic sonic landscape; the weirdness on this disc is over-exaggerated in comparison to its poetic beauty. It’s gothic in temperament, for that time anyway, but it speaks to issues and affairs of the heart that are only now beginning to be addressed with any sort of constancy.’ — Allmusic

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My Country Tis of Thy People You’re Dying
‘”My Country ‘Tis of Thy People You’re Dying” is Buffy Sainte-Marie’s statement-in-song about Indian affairs. “My point in the song is that the American people haven’t been given a fair share at learning the true history of the American Indian. They know neither the state of poverty that the Indians are in now nor how it got to be that way. I try to tell the side of the story that’s left out of the history books, that can only be found in the documents, the archives and in the memories of the Indians themselves.”‘ — BS-M

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Starwalker
‘Coincidence and Likely Stories was the thirteenth studio album by Buffy Sainte-Marie but her first for sixteen years, during which time she had been raising her son and working on the children’s television show Sesame Street. The album itself was largely recorded at Sainte-Marie’s home before being sent to producer Chris Birkett for the final production and mixing in London. The album showed her continuing with the electronic music she had first developed on Illuminations and the tribal themes seen on Sweet America, her last pre-retirement album. Although the album received some very favourable reviews and was often seen as her best work since Illuminations, it failed to make any impression in the United States.’ — collaged

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The Incest Song
‘Word is up to the king’s dear daughter / And word is spreading all over the land / That’s she’s been betrayed by her own dear brother / That he has chosen another fair hand / Many young man had a song of her beauty / And many a grand deed for her had been done / But within her sights she carried the child / Of her father’s youngest, fairest son / Tell to me no lies / Tell to me no stories / But saddle my good horse and I’ll go and see my own true love / If your words be true ones, then that will mean the end of me.’ — BS-M

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The Dream Tree (performed by Owen Pallett)
‘On its initial release, Sainte-Marie’s Illuminations was an utter disaster commercially, failing to get anywhere near the Billboard Top 200 and being deleted and largely disowned by Sainte-Marie within a few years. However, in more recent times Illuminations has acquired a fan base quite distinct from that associated with any of Sainte-Marie’s other albums. In addition to being cited as a favourite album by a number of famous musicians, a number of critics have seen its twisted, eerie soundscapes as laying the grounds for the evolution of gothic music as well as having an influence on New Weird America. In 2000, just before Vanguard re-issued it on CD, The Wire ma
gazine listed Illuminations amongst its 100 Albums that Set the World on Fire While No-One was Listening.’ — collaged

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Universal Soldier
‘Buffy Sainte-Marie wrote “Universal Soldier” in 1962, a time when people fretted over missile gaps, Khrushchev and the H-bomb. Vietnam was still a couple of years off the American radar. She had been writing songs in college while studying Oriental philosophy. She hadn’t considered music a career. She wanted to be a teacher, a vocation still close to her heart. At the time, she wrote songs without thinking anyone would hear them. Then she got the record deal. Universal Soldier was released in 1964. It wasn’t long before the song became the anthem of the anti-war movement, despite the fact it was pretty much banned on U.S. radio. “It’s about the personal responsibility of all of us, ” she says of the song which is now in the Canadian Songwriting Hall of Fame. “Because we can’t blame just the soldier for the war, or just the career military officer, or just the politician. We have to blame ourselves too since we are living in an era where we actually elect our politicians.”’ — BS-M.com

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God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot
‘The greatest Canadian song, well I mean, I think the greatest song period of all time, is “God is Alive, Magic is Afoot” by Buffy Sainte-Marie and Leonard Cohen as it appears on Buffy’s album, Illuminations, and anyone who says otherwise is mistaken. It’s the best song that’s ever written. It’s kind of like a mission statement from Cohen himself, just underlining his sort of three sides: his Jewish upbringing and his, you know, Buddhist inclinations as an adult, and his sort-of Christian monoculture that kind of binds him all together with Buffy’s own sort of Cree history in this kind of ecstasy in which she performs it, the mantra-like qualities it takes on and added to that is just the innovation of the tape-loop effects — actually I’m not sure if it’s the tape loop or if it’s a Buchla but maybe it’s a combination of both. It’s technically innovative, it fits into both of their oeuvres, so it’s the summit of the mountain. Yeah, there’s really no song that touches that song that I’ve ever come across.’ — Owen Pallett

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p.s. Hey. ** Bernard Welt, B-ster. I can’t guarantee this is the real me, and, besides, ‘real’ … wha?! Well, that is all very interesting. I don’t know that Robin Williams film. Should I correct that? I think the only movie I’ve liked him in was ‘Secret Agent’. Maybe. Don’t hold me to that. I think we will be hunting for perfect pastries in a mere couple of hours, so I suppose I will save everything else I can of to say until then apart from saying, yes, you did blow my mind. Because that’s easier for me to admit in print than vocally. ** David Ehrenstein, If you were speaking in part to me, I do know that Straub film, yes. Excellent film. ** H., Hi. Lovely reaction to Ben’s post, thank you! I’m glad that you’re glad you invested your time in the new Ashbery book. He released a new poem, I think onto the internet/social media, a couple of days ago on his 88th birthday, and it’s a beauty. ** Steevee, Hi. Look forward to improving myself a little via your new interview. Everyone, Here’s Steevee’s interview with Stevan Riley, the director of a new documentary on Marlon Brando, and it’s on the site of the excellent magazine Filmmaker to boot. Man, you should really invest in an external hard drive and back up your stuff regularly. It would save you a lot of stressing out about that. ** Kier, Hi, Kier! Hi, buddy boy! Yay (said at the top of my lungs in a volcanic voice)! About the new apartment! Wow, so do you move in on the first of the month, meaning in two days? Oh, wait, you said beginning of next week, so, yeah, soon enough. That’s exciting! Give us a new house tour when you’re in the house! Please? I’m glad your work is good with and without electrical fences. Yeah, you did say you’re going to see Iceage! If you talk to them, say hi to Elias for me. Things are good here, the usual very busy. I think we finished the new film script, and we’re going to show it to some trusted people now for reactions. Doing early grunt work promo blah stuff re: our film’s premiere, which I’ve been ordered not to talk about until it’s official. Starting on the script for Gisele’s puppet TV show that Zac and I are writing. Other stuff. Things are good. Well, we should definitely eat Indian food together, of course! Mater paneer is amazing. The two main ingredients are mater (peas) and (paneer) Indian cheese. It’s all thick soupy and spicy and orange colored. Here’s a picture. You eat it with rice on the side and, in my case, cheese naan, which is, as you can imagine, seriously yum. When you visit Paris, Zac and I will take you to our favorite vegetarian Indian restaurant, and we will feast ourselves sick, or at least faux-sick. Hugs galore! ** _Black_Acrylic, Thank you so, so much again, Ben! It was supreme. And thank you even more than ever so much for the Belgian New Beat Day (!) which I will set up very soon and then let you know the launch date of. You’re the best, Ben!  ** Thomas Moronic, Morning, T. Have you gotten that new charger yet? Wait, it’s 9 am. Soon? Almost? Yep, agreed about sci-fi fantasy, although I don’t mind it and even am kind of drawn to that stuff sometimes in movies for some reason. Hm.  ** Chris Dankland, Hi, Chris. Loved the book reviews. I noted and will soon be all over the books there that I didn’t know and/or haven’t read yet. Zachary G. is rather private about stuff, yeah, so who knows? I was reading stuff about that new Drake thing yesterday. I don’t think I’ve ever even heard Drake, which is pretty weird, I guess. Maybe it’s his name. The name seems so wholesome or something. My day yesterday wasn’t bad. Work, a bit of a coffee and walk, more work, not bad. How was yours, man? ** Misanthrope, ‘Americans don’t like soccer’: generalizing much, ha ha? Maybe you’re right, in the grand scheme of things, but everybody I know in the States other than you who’s into sports at all is mostly only into soccer. And a bit of basketball. And a little baseball. Well, or I at least manage to fake knowing when you’re joking. But, no, I think I do know. In person, it’s easy ‘cos you put on your ‘joke’ face when you joke. You do. It’s subtle, but it’s there like the light in a lighthouse. ** James, Awesome about your excellent cover! I’m excited to see it! I am excited for the film’s premiere, but there’s a bunch of shit-work we have to do now to get ready for that vis-à-vis promo materials and blah, but so it goes. ** Cal Graves, Hi, Cal. Yeah, sure, that makes sense totally. I don’t know why my imagination isn’t very tweaked by sci-fi lit. It’s weird. I was quite into Cyberpunk, or the best of those books, back when it was happening, though. The literary canon makers are boring and anal in the bad way and as conservative as the bad justices on the Supreme Court. Their imaginations suck. They will die lonely and forgotten, ha ha. Way yum Indian food there. I want some.
But today will be all about hunting down scrumptious French pasties with and for visiting pal/d.l. Bernard Welt. I have an itinerary. I-bought-this-really-cool-and-ugly-cigarette-lighter-yesterday-that-looks-like-it’s-covered-in-snake-skin-but-isn’t-ly, Dennis. ** Okay. Today I am devoting a gig post to the very, very, very great Buffy Sainte-Marie whose work seems to be really weirdly undervalued these days for reasons that I simply can not understand. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. See you tomorrow.