Slow with Horns

Dan Deacon shakes things up in my world a little bit. I go between thinking he is a genius to being slightly weirded out, to wondering if he’s just a crazy. But give his music a chance before making the same decision I’m toying with.

I wanted to share this song though. It came on at work when I had forgotten it was in my Evolving Favorites playlist. How smart and ahead of yourself you are, Chelsey. I found myself lost in it, being almost awed by the majestic tones and dramatic layers, little surprises. I do love the quirk.

[ Slow With Horns/Run for Your Life ]

In mentioning just one song, I think you should give the entire album, Bromst which is his newest a listen. And watch [ this ], it will blow and boggle your mind. Simultaneously, I hope.

As always, thanks for reading and giving my opinion, however insignificant it may be to you, a consideration.

froooooooooots.

Be wary, you must click on these spreads for them to look better than the piece of pixelated crud you see below.

My redesign of [ fROOTS ] magazine. These are the better spreads. The magazine included 24 editorial pages plus ads and a cd insert.

die Bücher

the books

I went with a few dear school friends to see them the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful & horrible time for a concert in that we are currently up to our ears and beyond in work to be done for finals & yet so stressed that an inspiring reprieve like this was much much much needed.

The set was short with no openers, which was lovely but the brevity was a little sad. I believe, in part it was because they were playing two shows that night in a row, the next being a 21+.

I sat practically riveted at the edge of that swanky bench seat in that fancy booth (which we got for being overcharged due to internet problems) the entire time, not wanting it to end. The thing about this performance was that it was not so much inventive in the way the music was presented (though it was, ha), their more constant musical parts being performed live over mp3s of the pieces that could not so easily be reproduced live. But behind their heads was a projection of all of these strange, beautiful, random, intriguing, and at times disturbing film clips, all of which were timed to the music, adding visual crescendos, staccatos, and accents. It was entrancing and I had a particularly difficult time choosing which to watch. The nimble & uncannily smooth fingers of Nick Zammuto (left above) or the subtly expressive movements & bowings of cellist, Paul de Jong (right). He had an electric cello, oh man. And because Nick was blocked by someone’s head unless I craned to the left into my sister’s view, I sat watching Paul, wishing so badly that I had my cello as well. It was the inspiration I needed and though I haven’t the time to venture into that realm of my creativity at the moment, I certainly have ideas that will be implemented.

Whether you’re into innovations in music & sampling or not, I encourage you to give this group a listen. In my mind, they defy any sort of profile I would’ve given them unconsciously by just listening to them. I love that about them. I won’t say to much about their style, so just listen & I’ll recommend a few tunes:

Tokyo
It Never Changes to Stop
Take Time
An Owl with Knees
That Right Ain’t Shit

You can hear them all, albeit low quality here | the books

I do hope that by having read this you will remember & jump at the opportunity to see them should it arise.

p.s. I love books.

10.16.2009 [ seattle.wa.us.earth.solarsystem ]

[ these are the two best shots I got, impressive for film, the amount of light & lack of a tripod ]

Grizzly Bear—as promised though quite late.

The show began with the Morning Benders. I was pleasantly surprised, expecting little and they were so very young. From California, this group got a positively smashing Seattle welcome with a practically monsoon scale downpour. Anyway I think they enjoyed themselves. Interested to see where these ones go.
At one point, frontman Christopher lost his glasses.

I must mention because I am a nerd, that at one point I noticed a few bears, Daniel Rossen & Chris Bear in particular strolling the isle next to me during the opener. Of course I also couldn’t help noticing the fact that Daniel was standing for a few minutes behind my seat waiting for Robin Pecknold at the back door.

After the wrap, the set began with Southern Point from GB’s newest album Veckatimest which, in my observations has been very well received. I cannot list song for song their set nor would it benefit you in any great way but I remember being pleasantly surprised by a few tunes I hadn’t heard from Yellow House. They’ve grown to be two of my favorites: On a Neck, On a Spit and Lullabye. Oh man, I could’ve watched Mr. Taylor (also band producer) work his magic with that loop pedal for eternity. Were all of his instruments to have been kept in a bag, I imagine it would’ve been akin to that of Mary Poppins. He managed to pick up one wind after another brass after another reed instrument, working them all beautifully in to a richly layered mélange of twinkling sound, especially on Lullabye.

The point in the night where my excitement and happiness levels peaked was when I recognized that blissful strum pattern so unique to Daniel’s sea shanty Deep Blue Sea and when it was then dedicated to Seattle. It is a beautiful song, demystified a bit by Rossen:

I had a weird phase of being into sea shanty songs. In some way, it has a little bit to do with my father, because he talked a lot about how he really wanted to go to sea at the end of his life, and he could never go because he couldn’t get up. That was why I did “Deep Blue Sea” originally; I did it for him to hear.

Listen to [ it ].

[ This ] is good too.

The set was brilliant, I was mainly fascinated by their supernatural ability to produce their songs on stage with the same quality and life—if not more—presented in their recordings. Live performance is a strange, challenging and yet important beast. I’m tempted to swear by the modus operandi that you should never record anything that can’t be reproduced live but guiltily I think, where’s the fun in that? I suppose achieving it makes you a more worthy recipient of the praise for good musicianship and brilliance.

I have just realized that I did not describe the lighting. There were several stands, T structured poles with glass jars hanging
from them at various heights at the back of the stage. These jars had bulbs of some sort in them, programmed to light up in time and different patterns for each song. There were some placed in a line out front of the stage, also programmed. Various other cool looking lights would flash around the stage as well. Oh also, smoke machine. Fantastic. And changing colors. Sounds a bit epic and showy, but it was completely appropriate.

If you have not had much exposure to this group and/or are considering getting the newest album please (one) do it and (two) do not illegally download it for the risk of getting a lo-fi leak. You most certainly want the high quality version in this case. I think you should buy it anyways, it is well worth it.

Cheers,

the eloquent queer, queerly eloquent

This is so strange. Yet also beautiful. I’m on the fence leaning heavily toward, but a word of warning: do not watch it without sound.

more about “New Grizzly Bear Video – “Ready, Able…“, posted with vodpod

 

 

too little too late

Listen [ please ]. And before you harbor terrible feelings towards me for making you listen to this, read on. Or watch :

This has most definitely been in my head for the past three weeks. Never ceases to give me a chuckle, but so good, yes? Give the recording a [ listen ].

for : you & me

REdesign

Magazine Design has us doing a redesign of
a local magazine of our choosing. London is local, right?
On a technicality, I win. It covers the London local music scene.
The only main specification was that we could not choose somebody well established such as National Geographic, Vogue, or Communication Arts. Perhaps you catch my drift.

fROOTS (read f roots, not froots) :

Isn’t it great? *
Clarification, this is the CURRENT design, not mine.

fRoots (previously Folk Roots) is the world’s leading magazine covering modern and traditional music with roots from around the globe, from Anglo-trad to Zanzibar pop via the great mixing desk in the sky.

It will be a while before you see the final product but I thought I’d give you a heads up.

Here’s my logotype in progress :

* I didn’t really mean that.

ON THE COMPOSITION OF THINGS :

writing [ the symbiotic relationship between lyrics & notes ] has always been an ambiguous, mystical, baffling process where the words & chords can’t decide who comes first & sometimes they both do & nothing works or everything does
I then wonder what took so long, why it was difficult, how on earth I was
going to write the next and how long will that take
why does my brain not communicate with least of all my mouth

there exists a sense of lost direction, of utter dependence on the influence
which soon becomes an inhibitor & an idol, unintentionally soaking the sponge rather than assuming the position of that which enhances, nurtures & relishes its own, giving a new existence & a touch of itself to the one
being created alongside, in fervor

but then at one point, this new creation breathes a sigh, takes a respite & finds new direction, finds itself and comes into what it should have been
though not possible without exposure to the obvious,
what was sought after & the model serving

a certain addendum comes with being a musician, being self psychoanalysis on the process of things, the production & the outcome all affecting

this is what you are reading, hope you don’t mind

it was written to be disorienting & befuddling because that
is precisely what it is

what is your process?

by the way, exciting letterpress
& musical collaborations on the way.
ask me again later, if I’m being lazy in posting.

Composed :

| | | | | click it | | | | |

And the orchestra is working on this arrangement.