After having my interest piqued by a Tiny Mixtapes interview, I was happy to find her new album on Spotify. Despite intimidating song lengths (an 80+ minute album whose shortest track is exactly 20:00), this is very compelling music. Certainly an album I would like to own on vinyl, this is this kind of music I’d like to immerse myself in for an afternoon.
(Source: Spotify)
Just Friends, “Avalanche [Leonard Cohen cover]”
I wanted to buy one of these Clown & Sunset Prism cubes when I saw Nicolas Jaar in Chicago a few months ago, but unfortunately, they weren’t available (to my knowledge). This track, a lovely collaboration between Jaar and Steven Spielberg’s daughter [weird], was featured on the compilation, and on his recent (wonderful) BBC Radio 1 mix.
Julia Holter & Jib Kidder, “My Baby”
I love this. Twangy loops, ethereal synth pads, and Julia Holter’s distant vocals make for a surprisingly compelling listen.
Hundred Waters, “Boreal”
from Hundred Waters
I think the music scene in Tallahassee was pretty good, but I never felt a part of it. A whole lot of mediocre-to-bad punk bands, some decent folk-y stuff, and a few immensely talented and creative individuals (Dream Love comes to mind) were all that I was familiar with. Anyway — this post isn’t about Tallahassee, but Gainesville. Sure, Gainesville has its share of awful punk bands, but is also host to a whole lot of great experimental electronic artists and progressive pop (yeah, I don’t like that as a genre designation all that much either, but this is music that’s kind of difficult to label) groups like Hundred Waters, Levek, and Oh, Fortuna (I’m pretty certain that all of these groups share members, and I think Levek is the solo guise of Oh, Fortuna’s frontman, but I digress).
Anyway, the point of this post was to share this video. It’s probably my favorite track from their debut album, though the whole thing is pretty great! The transition from the preceding song into this one is just stunning.
A few days ago, “old people Facebook” came to my attention. I scrolled through several pages, had a good laugh, but then stopped and questioned why I was laughing, and felt kind of guilty. The site culls comments from the Facebook pages of chain restaurants by (presumably) real people, most of them (as the name implies) old. Some of them are really absurd (somebody posting “call me” on Jack in The Box’s page), but the majority of them are simply enthusiastic comments from well-intentioned people who aren’t particularly adept at using Facebook.
I think what really bothered me, though, was that we (the hip, young, superior tumblr users) were to find these people to possess inferior taste & intelligence because they enjoyed their meal at Applebee’s. Sure, I don’t know who any of these people are, and I probably never will, but the whole concept for the site just seems so exploitative and condescending after I stepped back and considered it. I’m not proposing a boycott or anything, because I really couldn’t care less what the anonymous mass of tumblr users do, but I guess because this is the internet and all, and my opinion here matters, I’m posting it. Thoughts?
(Source: oldpeoplefacebook)
Marissa Nadler, “The Wrecking Ball Company”
from The Sister
If you haven’t heard her self-titled record from last year, do yourself a favor and check that out immediately.
Burial + Four Tet :: “Nova”
Single (Text; 2012)
Great track; that descending chord progression (which sounds like a heavily processed/degraded guitar or piano sample?) is mesmerizing. These two really need to record an album together, and soon.
Keith Fullerton Whitman’s Generators LP cover (artwork by Graham Lambkin). I picked up this great LP today, and just gave it a full listen. I prefer his earlier, DSP-heavy work (the Playthroughs/Lisbon era) in terms of enjoyment and repeated listenability, but his compositional prowess is clearly demonstrated on Generators. He maintains a sense of propulsion and momentum even in his modular synthesizer work (an instrument that tends to stifle those qualities in many users) but not at the expense of some incredible, real-time sound manipulation. I know I said something very similar in the past regarding his modular synth work, but it bears repeating after listening to both versions of the piece presented on the LP.
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Hal Incandenza, in Infinite Jest [David Foster Wallace]
I’d say “spoiler alert,” but by the time you make it this far in the novel, you’ll likely have forgotten about ever reading this quote on some guy’s Tumblr, anyway. I feel ambivalence towards this passage — I think devotion to an entity, cause, or idea “greater than yourself” can be a wonderful thing, and I think that Wallace thought so, too (the narrator responsible for the quote is beyond-disillusioned, and questioning the integrity of his cognitive and mental faculties at this point). At least, that’s what other portions of this book (as well as his essay The View from Mrs. Thompson’s) seem to indicate. I hadn’t ever thought of passion/dedication/devotion in this way prior to reading this book, but I think it’s accurate (excepting the pathetic part, of course).
Also, this is just a beautifully written statement (as is so, so much of the novel). I rave about it a lot, because it’s profound, hilarious, and heartbreaking, and it contains some truly breathtaking, genuinely exhilarating prose; it’s literature that demands your attention and captivates you and NEEDS to be discussed (and I have nobody to discuss it with, so friends, if you’re up for a very rewarding challenge, read this book)!
