FoeWeel !!! ???

Lloyd Dobler, Say Anything...

I understand for one’s progression in life, one should reflect back on the past, but to actually relive it is a different hallucinatory experience altogether. I know that with this blog I am constantly preaching the aspects of music that makes it so personal for the individual, especially me, without divulging too much personal information myself, but a series of strange coincidences that I did not tie together until this morning have left me feeling as if I have been somehow transported back in time, some 20 years. Where to start ?

I am currently studying for a standardized exam which is in 2 weeks. An exam similar to the required regurgitation of worthless information that one usually takes in the high school era of their life. Similar to any of my schooling years, I have tried to do everything to procrastinate from this inevitable brain drain of information, like write this blog entry. Do I truly need to know that “potable” means drinkable, or that Community Property Laws are based on Spanish law shaped by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ? I mean, thanks for that Scrabble word and that tour of history, but how is that information going to help me to become the Thumb Wrestling World Champion. Besides the schooling aspect of my mysterious time travels, my social life has reverted back to that transitional 80′s to 90′s period as well.

The mall. A place of undeniable fluorescent beauty that became the new town center of any suburban oasis. Apart from Skateland, this is where teenage relationships formed and dissolved, sometimes both, in a matter of hours. Vans, Jams, OP shorts, Parachute pants, Z cavarichi’s, Girbaud Jeans and Rolling up your jeans were just some of mistaken forms of identity during this era. The family wood paneled wagon was there to transport you to this neatly packaged digestable form of culture. The center of any mall was, and still is the food court. So, a few weeks back I went to a mall in the outskirts of San Francisco, as parking would be easier, to purchase a black tie for a wedding. I figure I needed a black tie anyway, and considering the fine line between a wedding and a funeral, the function fell in nicely with the form.

At the mall, after purchasing my symbol of life and death, I went into the Apple store which is another strange coincidence for other reasons, but also the fact that Apple, for me brings me back to my teenage years, because it’s always been the main computer of use in my life, even before email and the internet. At the Apple store, I met someone and after a brief tutorial on the Mac for the both of us, we had lunch in the food court. Maybe I should elaborate on how I got this person to actually have lunch with me, a stranger, but I can’t divulge everything, and it’s always up to the female to decide, for whatever reason. Maybe I just said the two magic words, “food court” and her eyes lit up like a newly plugged-in Lite-Brite. I don’t think she was as concerned for the fact that we live in SF and that we were having a meal in the food court, at the mall, but I just couldn’t get over it. Unfortunately, there was no Sbarro Pizza, or TCBY Frozen Yogurt, but I guess it just proves that you meet people in the most unlikely of places. What impact does this person hold in my life could make this story even stranger, but for now, I kind of do feel as if I was a rejuvenated senior in high school with all of the anticipation and energy to explore the many possibilities of life, and the world.

Here are two songs from that so-called critical period of my life and two songs from my period of life, now.

Bjork – Sun In My Mouth (Recomposed by Ensemble) – from an E.E. Cummings poem, on her, in my opinion, best album. subtle, delicate and full of incredibly textured emotional songs.

Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eyrum (With A Buzz In Our Ears) – this song has that sweeping soundscape Sigur Ros is known for, but with that tribal quality. One of the best albums I have heard in quite a long time.

The Replacements – Within Your Reach – the Mats’ Pleased To Meet Me was a fixture in my car radio senior year in high school. There was something ironic about driving my parent’s car, dressed in jacket and tie, going to a Jesuit prep school and blaring music that had just become part of a big corporatation, but was still somewhat rooted in ethos of punk rock. This song was on a previous release, but I had found it on the Say Anything… soundtrack, which is another seminal high school movie for me.

The Cure – Closedown – this song has a close rhythmic pattern to the Sigur Ros song above. Another moody piece from another album full of sweeping sounds from the late 80′s.

Corona Heights Park, 2008

Boris – Afterburner (Metal) – from the album Pink which has to be the best offering so far from this Japanese musical outfit. they cannot be pigeonholed into any one genre, especially metal. the album offers up shoegazed drones to ambient textures while also throwing in the heavy distorted guitar riffs that make this one of the best guitar based releases in a long time. think heavier Sonic Youth with more melody.

Noze – Ethiopo (House) – from Songs On The Rocks…, which is being released off of Get Physical, the humorous french duo keep going down the strange path of mixing in the brass with anything else to make them sound like no one else in the music. it feels like world music with a house shuffle, but in a domestic sort of way.

Booka Shade – Comacabana (Electro) – speaking of the Get Physical label, here is one of the founding groups to offer up their new full release. it’s a new path which sees the duo straying away from the groove based electro which i think made them a standout, but it’s still an interesting direction as you can tell by this track.

The Replacements – You’re Getting Married (Solo Home Demo) - Rhino will finally release all of the Twin/Tone releases from the Mats which is one of my favorite bands, and probably the greatest american rock band ever. Westerberg was? so good with words i think he could have worked for hallmark or better yet, an ad agency (NOT). this track is from the Stink era and it was supposedly the first introspective mid/slow tempo song that Westerberg wrote, and when he presented it to the band, they told him to save it for his solo album.

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“take a moment and ponder your surroundings, think about all the TIME that has passed under this roof” -unknown

commitment is such an abstract thing in my world. i understand that it is part loyalty and partly the individual needs of a person. if it is in the form of a person then it goes beyond any tangible understanding and i, at this time don’t have the credentials to talk on that matter. i am talking about commitment to a place, to a job, to a standard of living. this past monday, i found out that my parent company closed the doors on the company i have spent the majority of my waking hours for the past 5 years. the actual job was not important. i didn’t create anything or help anyone directly. i basically helped to move massive amounts of money through the american financial markets. something that helped the left side of my brain stay active while the right side had fun. it did not define me as a person, and for once i was able to separate my work life and personal life successfully. it also supported my life in one of the most expensive areas in the country.

i have about 6 months left to figure things out, so i can enjoy one last snowboarding season in tahoe and then move on to my next adventure. some extensive traveling and although i have said that i would never go back to the institution of so-called higher learning, it looks like that may be the best thing for both sides of my brain. and with slightest of hopes that i may call barcelona home one day. it might have been a sign when the 2 companies i have worked for during my 7 year stay in san francisco when out of business. it was a series of strange circumstances that brought me to the bay area, and it’s even stranger circumstances that are making me re-evaluate and move on, but this area is truly one of the greatest areas for culture and life that i’ve ever had the pleasure to call home.

Detroit Grand Pubahs – Sandwiches (Techno) – it always comes down to sandwiches.

The Beastie Boys – Freaky Hijiki (Downtempo) – thanks to superflav we got to sit front row on the balcony at the warfield last night to witness the gala event from the bboys. what a great show. we even had mixmaster mike’s wife sit next to us and take a pic.

The Replacements – Beer For Breakfast (Rock) – simple and straightforward. a lifestyle the mats once embraced. the greatest rock band, ever.

Spank Rock – Bump (Switch Remix) (Hip Hop) – switch is the hot producer of the moment. high synth stabs are a trademark which blends the old with the new especially on m.i.a.’s new album.

ocean beach series.2007

what am i listening to these days? i make these mp3 cd’s for friends and generally tailor it towards what i know they like, and then add some new stuff that they might get into, sorta like what i do here on this site. so, it’s hard when people ask me what i’ve been listening to because with my daily eroding memory and the fact that i get a ton of new music every week, i can never remember, so here’s a somewhat disjointed list:

betty davis – betty davis – funky and reissued. see below for a track.

battles – mirrored – for fans of beats/elctronics and hard rock.

mikkel metal – brone and wait – the best ting to listen to when flying.

richie hawtin – live min2max @ inferno, madison wisconsin – a great soundboard recording and it shows perfectly the style of piecing together so many different elements and then throwing in the low bottom to make you go to another planet.

feist – the reminder – an engaging mix of stories from this songstress.

modeselektor – boogybytes vol3 mix – everything is here and it all works perfectly.

famous when dead V – a playhouse compilation of electro/techno.

spank rock – yoyoyoyo – i keep putting this one back in the player. what a great album.

Lopazz – Migracion (Fujiya & Miyagi Remix) – this track as part of the 5 Years Get Physical Compilation shows how this label has melded house and electro with an indie rock tinge as well as introducing us to artists such as Booka Shade and M.A.N.D.Y..

Longstone – Kabuki (Edit) (Abstract Beats) – this reminds me a lot of the Mikkel Metal’s ‘Brone and Wait’ which is another fractalled mind numbing masterpiece.

Betty Davis – Anti Love Song (Funk) – the former mrs. miles davis, has her first self-titled album remastered and re-released and with the backing of the sly and family stone band, it shows once again that funk and bass playing hit it’s peak in the 70′s.

The Replacements – I Don’t Know (Alternate Version) (Rock) – the greatest american rock band EVER. supposedly nirvana named their most popular release after the mats’ song from ‘pleased to meet me’. they have 3, maybe 4 classic albums in their catalog. raw emotive energy.