(;)

31\12\09

2010-01-01T14:32:00.001-08:00

31\12\09, originally uploaded by standard | grey.

Sayonara!

2009-09-16T12:14:00.001-07:00

, originally uploaded by ethanbuller.

.HAPPY CANADA DAY!

2009-07-01T20:11:00.001-07:00

., originally uploaded by ∆∆∆standardgrey∆∆∆.

revised TAXES cassette cover

2009-06-26T23:34:00.001-07:00

revised TAXES cassette cover, originally uploaded by ∆∆∆standardgrey∆∆∆.

Drawing/logo by me. Out soon.

www.myspace.com/taxesisnew

www.myspace.com/toothextraction

After all this time, I still feel more comfortable at rock shows than at art shows

2009-06-26T23:26:00.001-07:00

After all this time, I still feel more comfortable at rock shows than at art shows, originally uploaded by ∆∆∆standardgrey∆∆∆.

music waste:ish

2009-06-18T11:19:00.001-07:00

music waste: hard feelings at the cobalt, originally uploaded by distrait.

Music Waste: Point form hilites:

Hmmm. I actually went out on a couple nights. for starters. Would have rocked all night but the usual old man day job tired feet agaoraphobia excuses apply.

*HEALTHY STUDENTS---Ex Red Light Sting/WPP/Taxes doing 80's style hahd-koa. Pretty Dope.
*HARD FEELINGS- all drive, power trio, solid solid, tight bros. Al played drums with the above then moved into gitter/vocs duties. 2 sets in a row. Machine.
BCVCO- Killed it at the Anza. See previous post. 5 guys in white, a stage full of analogue synth/soundmaking gear older than you are, more patchcords than hairs on your head......wwwooooowowowowowowwwWOWOWOWowowowowowowWoooooooo
REVELSTOKE - Dead Meadow meets Hella doing Rush covers. Not shabby.
ART WASTE at Little Mountain - other than Julianne Clare's floor tile reno/intervention (interenovention?) and Robert Mearns huge portrait of Cam Reed, the rest was the usual trendy hipster mural/scribble style with obligatory blackmetal irony and surprisingly very little in the way of neon triangles. Whatever. Got tired of seeing it all over the internet last year, extra tired of seeing it now.

Pic: hard feelings at the cobalt by the ENORMOTALENTED Distrait/Noah

Thee Spring(ish) Mixtape

2009-06-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

Funny how time goes. You blink and a couple of months roll by and ... yeah. It's summer. Almost. A few days shy of the Solstice as I type, but all the same---some music for you hand picked from the blogosphere and yours truly's archives as the cold and wet weather gives way to the hot and sweaty.

Anyways, this is a big mix, 140mb or so, and should be enough to tide one over til later in July, as I'm getting on a jetplane soon for another stretch of rest and relaxation in Japan.
Lights camera, etc:
---------------> HIT IT.

Thee Spring(ish) Mixtape

Poobli -Jasper Van't Hof
Venus -Logic System
Love Without Sound -White Noise
Langsames Stuck und Rondo für Trautonium (1935) -Paul Hindemith
Windland -Hipnosis
Phantasized Persecutory Breast -Severed Heads
Mosem-E-Gol (The Time Of The Blossom) -Parva�
Little More Gauze -Nichols & May
Revolution Is The Main Trend In The World Today -Cornelius Cardew
Summer '68 -Pink Floyd
Komm und spiel mit mir -Manfred Krug
Together (Album Version) -The Intruders
I can't wait until i see my baby's face -Aretha Franklin
Theme De Celine -Art Ensemble Of Chicago
You've Got What I Want -The Sorrows
Have Love Will Travel -Sonics
Dancing Lonely Night -The Jaguars
Mella Mella -The Spiders
Le Canari Est Sur Le Balcon -Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg
Octopus -Syd Barrett
Tamlin -Fairport Convention

Notes:

Poobli is via dependable Lovefingers and marks the thaw with my winter-long kosmiche bender letting up to let in more sun. But not without a return performance from Japan's Logic System (see the last mixtape for details), classic White Noise, some Paul Hindemith who I heard at dawn on WFMU one day thinking it was Oskar Sala which led me Google-ways to the wonderful Porridge Legs, a new fave blog, who happened to be the source of the Cornelius Cardew track later on. Anyways, it's sourced from vinyl via the Avant Garde Project, a weekly torrent site specializing in old avant/electro-acoustic vinyl gems that have been relegated to the basements and eBay boxes of history. Solid and worth investigating.

Hipnosis provide some triumphant italo space-cruise, Severed Heads is an ooooollld fave (like way old- saw 'em with Skinny Puppy when I was 14 and still have a signed copy of Come Visit the Big Bigot somewhere in the archives).... Nichols and May provide an intermission, an ersatz "end of side 1" giving way to side 2's run of piano, psych, German soul, Motown, and the inimitable Art Ensemble of Chicago. A short garage rampage follows in English and Japanese. We then round things out with some mellow psych and an old fave by Fairport Convention, inserted partially as a spell to convince the Blogglebum to get back on the horse.

So. There you have it. An hour and a half to keep you amused. Enjoy.

Japan is go!

2009-06-15T22:23:00.001-07:00

, originally uploaded by ∆∆∆standardgrey∆∆∆.

That is all.

Co-Op Radio, CFRO Tonight!

2009-06-10T03:14:00.000-07:00

June 10, Wednesday

9-10pm, Soundscape Radio, doing a co-host thingy on phonography, field recording, souldtransit.nl and Seattle’s Phonographer’s Union

Listen online! Follow the headline/link.

Now streaming live in 128Kbps or 32Kbps stereo MP3.

MP3 audio archives: 128Kbps or 32Kbps.

Also, BCVCO at the Anza after. Music Waste FUCK YEAH!

Point Form

2009-05-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Point form #9638

Sleeping in til noon is glorious
Staying up til 3 am drinking pink gin & tonics & chainsmokin’ and talkin’ politics’n’books’n’North Korea’n’the death of common courtesy’n’shit with friends, even more so.
North Korea = Jerks
Gettin on a plane in July to visit my beloved now that H1N1 hysteria has died down a bit. (see 3)
Nara/Osaka rules.(see 4)
The Slate Culture Gabfest is unintentional high comedy when they talk about things like Eminem.
Herman Goerring would walk into the Louvre and cherry-pick art for his collection. Whoa.

2009-05-24T23:49:00.000-07:00

Hey folks.
So the blog got killed, and I thought better and resurrected it. A temporary reprieve, as I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. If anything, I feel like this project has done its job over the last few years, and it's time to start anew, or at least reformat it, beyond changing the template. 420-odd posts is a lot to sift through, though---I'd like to keep some old faves--- so stay tuned.

Quick update:
The piece I wrote on Jeremy Shaw's work in PHG's Moodyville exhibit is done and the co-publication with Capilano Review launches next week. Looking forward to it. After sending the final edit of the final edit of the final revised draft of the final edit, I decided to take the month of May off, and most importantly, some much-needed time away from taking on any new projects.

I've mentioned it before, but it's the freelancers curse: nevermind having a fulltime (crappy)day job, the fact that one has to make work- written, visual, etc- and deal with the constant looming guilt-spectre that tells you you're not pitching and submitting when you're not at the day job or writing or making work----damn, it can be exhausting. There's been a constant nagging feeling of "YOU'RE NOT DOING ENOUGH. EVER." for too long--- And that completely destroys your ability to relax.

You know, relaxing? Chilling out on the PS2, watching a whole season of a TV show in one afternoon, reading books, listening to records, doing nothing except for crosswords....yeah, I forgot about it too. And it's nice to be reminded.

Anyways. I'm back. For now.

The only other new update is that my trip to Japan got scuttled. Well it wasn't set in stone, but JAL had a sweet seat sale and it was all systems go and then Swine Flu/H1N1 hysteria broke out.

Nevermind dealing with that short blast of everyone in North America going
"ZOMG OH NOES I E-MAILED SOMEONE WHO KNOWS SOMEONE FROM COSTA RICO OR MEXICO OR WHERE-EVR AND NOW I'M'A CATCH TEH SWINE FLOOOOZ!!!1!!!", but Japan, the Island nation that is---how do I put it politely?-hmmmmm....a monoculture and, well an island with a siege mentality when it comes to things like respiratory illnesses (See Tuberculosis and the Spanish Flu back in the day) tied with lingering sakoku mentality as part of its heritage ----well, we'll just call it fair that they'd want to protect their interests.

M. and I both agreed that, thanks to older conservative folks in her neighbourhood grumbling about irresponsible people travelling abroad during Golden Week, Japan's national holiday time and possibly bringing back plague, that it would be best to put things off. It's one thing to deal with the "gaijin stare" but, following the H1N1 threat to Japan in the news, I realized that I didn't really want to deal with being scanned by someone in a hazmat suit at Narita Airport or wind up quarantined and twiddling my thumbs because someone two rows ahead of me sneezed. It was best to let the panic subside, let it arrive and become something tangible to deal with(and it has) and let things cool down a bit.

So, July it is, and another trip is on the horizon. Given my blogging record over the last while, expect no further posts til I start sending dispatches from there. Or who knows, I might actually feel like there's something to say.

Marprichril

2009-04-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

I'd like to note that Visa called to hassle me while I was making this post about my overdrawn balance and outstanding payment that I currently can't afford to pay off despite 50-hour workweeks at a Joe-job that pays half of what I used to make. If anyone wants to know about my blog silence as of late----I don't have the time nor inclination nor energy to keep this thing going. Matter of fact, after this mix, Updateable Mixtape may very well cease its operations entirely. We'll see, and I don't want to hear any snivelling out of you, my devoted public.

Sorry, I'm a little grouchy from being on my last 5 bucks for the last 2 months.

That said....

THE MARCH/APRIL MIXTAPE IS A GO.

...FINALLY.

HIT IT HIT IT HIT IT

High-Low -Haco
Shock City -Boredoms
ministry of voices -No-Neck Blues Band
∞^∞u™[™i—Ö‚f™j (aka iTunes can't read Japanese) -Masami Kawahara & Exotic Sounds
Der Regen Tropft -Der Plan
Crablogger -Chris Evans-Ironside
Automatic Collect Automatic Correct -Logic System
Le Parisien (Extended Version) -Danielle Deneuve
Time is Running Out -Doppler Effect
Angriff Auf´s Schlaraffenland -Die Radierer
Crabs -Burnel, J.J.
Theme From Gutterballs -Gianni Rossi
Oddball -Alan Hackshaw and Brian Bennett
Anabalina -Las Grecas
The Middle of the Night -Master Musicians of Jajouka�
Je N'avais Pas Qu'un Seul Mot A Lui Dire -Serge Gainsbourg
Para Lennon e McCartney -Milton Nascimento
Alfômega -Caetano Veloso
Dichoso -Willie Bobo
Via Con Me -Paolo Conte
Saint Germain Des Pres -Henri Salvador
Ou C'est Lui ou C'est Moi -Vincent Ahouandjnou

Program Notes:
Haco is an old fave, it appeared on the now out-of-print Improvised Music From Japan box set, followed by another old fave, rediscovered, by none other than the Boredoms whose work has aged incredibly well considering Chocolate Synthesizer came out 15 years ago, Crablogger, Oddball and Anabalina are lovefingers gems who rule as usual, Logic System is some shiny 80's synthpop by YMO's keyboard techie and it comes via Mutant Sounds, there's a few minimal synth bits from an overwhelming retrospective of the genre via Egg City Radio (my current fave) who's also responsible for the JJ Burnel track, he of the Stranglers.

What else....the Master Musicians of Jajouka comes via Dj/Rupture's Mudd UP blog and they're no doubt familiar to anyone who got into that brief Gysin/Burroughs/Brian Jones/Psychic TV phase back in the day...Gainsbourg and Caetano Veloso require no introduction, Paolo Conte is on my deep-internet dig list and thanks to Art Decade for turning me onto him, and lastly, everyone should go buy African Scream Contest, a fantastic mix of West African funk HEAVVVVY shit. Vincent Ahouandjnou track came on at Psych Night a while back and I have to thank Josh for pointing me in the direction of a comp that's been on repeat for the last three weeks.

So.
There you have it. It's a bit of a monster, and could have easily been heftier than its 145 megabytes/hour-and-a-half, but it rolls like a proper C-90 mixtape. I really should get around to doing a radio show one of these days....

BRB

2009-04-14T02:41:00.000-07:00

.... hella busy.

Stay tuned, new mixtape en route.

Tonight.

2009-04-04T08:42:00.001-07:00

Tonight., originally uploaded by ∆∆∆standardgrey∆∆∆.

Saturday, April 4, 2009 Time: 9:00pm - 11:00pm Location: 1067 Street: Granville (alley entrance) City/Town: Vancouver, BC

Please join us for LIVE 2009 off-season event. A group of participants includes Francisco-Fernando Granados, Christine Grimes, Christopher Olson, Joomi Seo, Ikbal Singh, and Debra Zhou. The event presents performances by musicians and/or non-musicians.

10000101011 2056 1067 42B is to question and work with the idea of “music” and the numbers in the title signify 1067 by different numeric systems. 1067 is known as the experimental music venue in downtown Vancouver actively participated in and presented by local and international musicians.
1067 www.myspace.com/1067granville

LIVE Biennale 2009 will be held from October 15 to October 31 this year, and its off-season program provides opportunities for artists and local arts/music venues to investigate and discuss performance art in various ways. Everyone is welcome.
Website www.livebiennale.ca
News livebiennale.blogspot.com/

Participants:

Francisco-Fernando Granados (Object improv)
Christine Grimes (Voice)
Christopher Olson (Object improv)
Joomi Seo (Piano & etc)
Ikbal Singh (Spoken word)
Debra Zhou (Spoken word)

BYOB

$5 by donation

My bit involves annoying musical Xmas cards.

2009-03-29T09:49:00.001-07:00

, originally uploaded by 9 0 0 0.

9000 for the win. Check him out.

Hooooooooo boy copy-paste #835658

2009-03-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Rokuro Taniuchi 2 (via A Journey Round My Skull)

Hey folks.

Yup, blog silence.
You know the drill.
Busy.

Finished an essay for a Capilano Review/Presentation House Gallery co-publication, and chiselling away at the Helen Pitt web project, while working a grueling low-paying day job while trying to find a more lucrative 2nd gig so I can start saving money for the move to Japan. This is one of those rare days off....it's pissing rain out and I'm content to just drink a pot of coffee while tidying, organizing, and catch up on my podcasts. Bliss comes in rare moments like this, a weekday afternoon and I'm amazed that I've been out of school for a while but I still feel like I'm playing hooky in the afternoon.

As mentioned I spend my time on tumblr these days, while feeling guilty about the fact that I'm contributing to the whole TL:DR syndrome with every post. Someone else's post illustrates it perfectly:
snuh: jhnbrssndn:electronicalrattlebag:

Just removed the link to my blogspot from the side bar, because it is dead to me.

Takes too long.

Too difficult to use.

Can’t be arsed.

Just you an’ me now, tumblr.

How many of us have deserted long-form blogs, first wives to our sexy-as-hell Tumblrs?

as a friend said to me, “the best thing about tumblr, you don’t have to write!”

Ugh.....

Anyways. A few tidbits from the tumblr that I consider blogworthy, to keep my friends who follow this up-to-date....

Shikaotoko Aoniyoshi (The Incredible Deer-man)

Currently hooked: Masa got me into it. Silly drama about a scientist who gets dumped, has a nervous breakdown, gets sent off to Nara to be a schoolteacher and is then chosen by a local deer in Nara park to save Japan from a giant undersea catfish, and then grows a deer head and something about coaching for a kendo tournament ——or something. I’m only on episode 4.

The main pull for me was that it was shot in Nara, my soon-to-be (as in ASAP, need $$$$) next hometown. Then I got sucked into the story…there’s lots of history lessons in there as well, and it makes for good language/yojijukugo (idioms, slang) practice. M and I watch it together online and make fun of it in real-time via MSN. (cue: awwwww….<3> Anyways. Check mysoju.com. It's a handy streaming site with English fan-subs that specializes in Asian Movies and TV Drama: Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, etc. Lots of dross to sift through but gems can be found, like recent movies by Beat Takeshi, the mega-dorky otaku series Akihabara@Deep, and even a couple of films by my favourite, Tsai-Ming Liang including What Time is it There? and Goodbye Dragon Inn. No Wayward Cloud, though. Wonder why.

"Mangia! MANGIAA!!!!"

While I'm on the subject of (apparently) offensive movies, I finally sat through Pier paolo Pasolini's SALO: 120 Days of Sodom. It was one of those banned movies we kept hearing about while growing up, and wanted to see cuz it's all, like edgy and transgressive, but this was during the days of the underground VHS tape circuit, so you had to know someone who knew someone who had a dub of a dub of a dub. Well, Criterion finally released it and.....

Fail.

Or maybe just "meh". Not in a desensitized sort of way, but it was the same feeling I've gotten from other controversial movies- I felt like the director was trying to yank my chain and goad a response out of me. That said, the cinematography was luscious- I'm a sucker for that whole Renaissance one-point-perspective/vanishing point composition when applied to the moving or still image, but overall, the film fell flat and I find the response to/discourse surrounding it way more interesting.

Somebody online nailed it:

“It’s like a feature-length version of “Two Girls and a Cup” — and far more interesting to discuss in terms of the reactions it generates than to sit through.”

Good essay here: The Fearful Symmetry of Pier Paolo Pasolini's "Salò"

NIMBY Fuddy Duddys

Residents rally against nightclub

and this:

Condo owners push for Vancouver tow yard move

Ohhhh you silly Vancouverites, you bother me so much sometimes.

From the
Courier article:

“Georgette Jones and the members of her condo strata don’t want The Odyssey nightclub a block away from their West End homes.

“It’s a bedroom community and not an entertainment area,” she said.

Jones and her neighbours worry a nightclub would attract violence, including shootings. They say residents would suffer from the noise of patrons lining up and leaving the club in the early hours, extra litter from club goers smoking in the vicinity and parking congestion.”

Bold emphasis mine.

Ok. Former West End resident speaking here:

When I think of The Odyessy (you might as well lump Celebrities, the PumpJack, hell- Hamburger Mary’s in there as well) the first thing I think of is shootings, gangland violence, knife brawls and people getting stomped (well, there are the douchebags who drift up from Granville to get some gaybashing in…). I’m going to spell it out for you ladies:

G-A-Y.

B-A-R.

Just saying.

I’ve said this before : if you want to live in a quiet idyllic pastoral bedroom community, DON’T MOVE INTO A FUCKING CONDO DOWNTOWN. Same goes for people who got suckered into the “this is your edgy-stylish-boho- downtown lifestyle” crap by developers, bought a shoebox-size pod overlooking the Roxy (or the Cobalt) and then write rants in the Westender about all the noise and drunks and movie shoots and car alarms and dirty people and all the other NIMBYisms.

That’s the edgy urban lifestyle you bought into. Suck it up or move to Cloverdale.

Brotography

The New Photographers featuring:

Jody Rogac
Lila Bujold
Jeff Petry
Jeff Otto O’Brien
Cedric Bomford
Fiona Garden
curated by Gallery Atsui

opening reception April 3, 2009 - 8 pm

exhibition until April 25, 2009 (via The New Photographers)

Gallery Atsui
602 East Hastings
Vancouver

We love it when our friends become successful. Go.

Other stuff /on a musical note:

I'm stoked on the fact that on those night when I'm too broke/tired to make the long march to my regular Wednesday Haunt, Psych Night at the Anza, Josh is now livecasting from there, Wednesdays, 10pm - 2am. Ahh, technology.

Hit it: File under : CURRENTLY RULING

On the subject of the local front:

magneticring is the solo project of josh stevenson, member of staked plain (est. 1993), von bingen, b.c.v.c.o. and formerly jackie-o motherfucker. not to mention contributions to a kemialliset ystävät recording, touring as a member of samara lubelski’s live band, pink mountaintops, numerous mastering credits, and is currently working on recordings with montreal’s sam shalabi’s ‘land of kush orchestra’ and steven wray lobdell (faust, davis redford triad).
After a couple of cassette releases, we are pleased to present his first long playing lp. three tracks of hazy vintage synth pieces. this album is a one time pressing of 449 copies of clear 180 gram vinyl packaged in a tip-on style gatefold jacket with custom silk screened art.

Text and image via mimaroglu music sales ☞ new arrivals who, might I add, have a bunch of tasty looking hand-made vinyl packages in their distro:

hair police “totaled and stranded” one sided p (ltd. 500 copies)
Heard it on WFMU last week. Pretty harrowing.

Hnadmade pop-up 7" sleeve art? Sure.

olyvetty – im leeren 7”

Also ruling:

Just finished it.
After lots of hype and buzz and even an appearance on Colbert, well---yes. It's that good. Trust me, you need to read it. I'll get into it later, but I just finished writing a quasi-academic article on straightedge via an art installation by Jeremy Shaw, so my brain is fried.

Hit Wilson's blog. Highly intelligent, highly readable (points for having a "Make this blog less Toronto-centric" button), and check him in the Globe and Mail as well.

Spaghetti Love:
Recent highlights from the music tumblr, some of which are going to be on the upcoming March Mixtape....

Dariya Da Makiya - Umaru Sanda
A gem from Awesome Tapes from Africa, still holding it down. The quality of the stuff on this blog is still top-notch.

Je N’avais Pas Qu’un Seul Mot A Lui Dire - Serge Gainsbourg

Oh, Jane, je t'aime...OUI.

Lila Engel (Lilac Angel) - Neu!

Play loud, EQ properly.

First Hand Experience in Second Hand Love - Giorgio Moroder

Etc-------------

»5 Notable Pavilions«, 2003 - 2005 by Terence Gower. via VVORK

Langer - The Dubtec Mix // SRM06

via two old faves, the illectronic and Soliton Research.

Features some newer notables, including Andy Stott, Pan-Pot and Martyn. Minimal tech veers into deep dubstep. Mmmmm.

Quebecois Seperatist Prog-folk-rock sounds better on vinyl.

(via Progressive Rock On Stage)

Harmonium - Si on Avait Besoin d’une Cinquième Saison

Good blog post here. My roomie's friend used to hit the bong on the regular with this album. Fully understandable.

Lackadaisacal

Art Decade always:

Paolo Conte - Via Con Me, Dancing

Recent discovery. Digging for more.

Then again, I'm always digging....

Heavy shit

Playlists and Archives for Radio Freetown with DJ Franc O

Late arrival to the podcast/ show, but have been following his Voodoo Funk blog for a while:

Crate-digging in Africa, the (post-)(post-)colonial spoils brought home for our listening pleasure. West African funk, afro-beat and pop from the 70’s. Heavy heavy shit. And it's on WFMU. Nuff said.

Radio Freetown homepage

February 9, 2009: See the playlist | Listen (RealAudio) | Listen (MP3 - 128K)

Hmmm....what else?
On art hiatus, so posts on the Altermodern and all of that'll come...whenever. PS2 time yo.

January meets February and they make a mixtape

2009-02-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

The tracklist.....

01 Криманчули -Orera
02 Le Claqueur De Doigts -Serge Gainsbourg
03 Jacques Dutronc - Et Moi Et Moi Et Moi
04 Monk's Dream (Take 8) -Thelonious Monk
05 Next -Scott Walker
06 古い日記 -和田アキ子 [Akiko Wada}
07 I´m a Man -The Spencer Davis Group
08 The Soul Drummers -Ray Barretto
09 Groovetime -Monguito Santamaria
10 Baile Simon -Tito Puente
11 Descarga Maracaibo -Pedro Miguel y sus Maracaibos
12 I'm Still In Love With You -Alton Ellis
13 Love in Space -McLane Explosion
14 Sweet Song of Summer -The Bee Gees
15 Plastic Bamboo -Ryuichi Sakamoto
16 Tomorrow -Infomation Society
17 How Much Are They? -Holger Czukay, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit
18 Nothin' on Me -Barack Obama

The link:
Whoomp. There it is.

The small details:
It's 98-odd megabee's of pure joy, zip file, yadda yadda. Could have been bigger but we're going with MediaFire as a trial run, so there's a 100mb limit to work around as opposed to DivShare's 200mb and bonus trade-off risk of malicious spyware fuckin' up yer shit.

Orera has already been discussed at YoS, we have some young Serge, Dutronc the dandy, an alternate take of a Monk tune that, as a friend mentioned in his book makes him more interesting to listen to- the imperfections and plink-plonks that he chose to leave in rather than put a perfect version on the initial releases....Scott Walker needs no intoduction, Akiko Wada has balls, we go on a Latin/Boogaloo tangent to bring forth Spring , a track to honor the late Alton Ellis, some analog synth'n'reverbed Bee Gees well before the leviathan disco comeback/re-branding, that Wobble/Liebzeit/Czukay track I rhapsodized about at YoS, and lastly, one of those Barack Obama soundbites from that audiobook he did that have been floating around the internet.

As always- thanks to the stellar music blogs out there (Lovefingers, ArtDecade, MuddUp! ---links to the right) where some of the tracks were culled from, and if you happen to be the artist, rsvp, and the offending track will be removed. It's for the love of the music, baby. Go buy some records

A day off, finally

2009-02-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

I only work at the day job 3 days a week. That leaves me 4 days to get everything else done, and with the closing of my show/residency at blim, I'm now left with the web project at Helen Pitt Gallery, and that's not due to launch til March. M's coming to town in a week (ehehehehehehehehehehe) and other than a press release that I should be working on...and laundry...and scrolling thru craigslist---this is the first proper day off in what feels like a year.

It's the freelancer's curse, I guess. Moreso if you're an artist/writer/self-employed- you may have a few days off in the week, but really- all of that free time is spent hustling. Pitching, pitching, pitching- to magazines, to galleries, and I haven't even started on grant & residency applications yet. And then looking for job #2 because you're rolling dimes two days before payday---that's pitching too. It really is a full time desk job.

That's it, really.

Oh yeah, Obama smokes. Who knew? It kind of makes sense, given the campaign pressure- we all have our pressure valves, but still. Wow. He's a bad influence on smokers like me.

2009-01-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

So it's been blog silence for the last few weeks----what can I say, folks. When I get busy ---like realllly busy, some things- like hygiene, social life,etc go out the window. Which is funny since when I'm busy- this is my first go-to spot for what I call "productive procrastination": I'm not working on the project, but I'm writing. Such has been my intense and all-consuming focus that even the blog has fallen to the wayside.

Well, ok there's tumblr.

I had a chat with Sam (he of the now laid-to-rest Blogglebum Cage --*sniff*)about that at the vernissage for my solo show at blim, how tumblr is an odd thing since it's more about shotgun blurbs and visual content---eye-candy, and believe me: there is too much out there on the interwebs. For those of you who have a tumblr blog, you'll know what I mean: some days you can't see anything interesting or worthwhile or relevant from someone you actually know personally on the dashboard until page 7. Too many recycled links, too many old memes and I won't even get into all the fffound and DeviantArt nonsense. I'm guilty of tumbling the crap out of flickr some days but the question Sam was aking: What of actual content? Well-thought out writing, essay-length extrapolation, taking positions and explaining them? Blogs as discourse?

Is tumblr adding to the whole TL/DR syndrome? It depends. For me, tumblr functions as an archive (when I'm too lazy to sign into del.icio.us) but with an audience, and is basically a scrapbook/visual essay that I do first thing in the morning and then late at night. Similar to doing a few pages of stream-of-consciousness writing in the morning while the coffee kicks in, I still see tumblr as a creative outlet. Maybe not all the time, but sometimes.

But the issue remains: no posts for 3 weeks up in here, tons on the other: All I can say from my end is that in the last few weeks I've written an article, put together, installed and then opened a solo show at blim, record reviews, pitching stuff to magazines, and been working on the group show opening at Shudder this weekend, plus I have a workshop the next day, plus watching my brain turn to lego and fall apart while trying to crunch code in Dreamweaver for a web project that I'm doing thru Helen Pitt Gallery due to launch in March. Add 11-hour workdays and hustling to find a 2nd gig, and, well ---yeah. I'm more prone to hit the "Share on tumblr/Facebook" bookmarklets I have installed on my Firefox toolbar if I find something interesting.

Plus I'm going thru a period where I really have nothing to say.

What?

Well, yeah, verbose ole me-as always- but I haven't had the energy or inclination to pontificate in full on, say, the nature of the photograph and the aura of the photographer and how it informs the image, based in part on an argument I had with a post-feminist friend on Araki's photography, which turned into a debate on my annoyance towards Western academically-trained people who feel the need to "defend" Asian culture from being Orientalized and if that's just the same Orientalism in a different form---that is to say: it is inferior, incapable of defending itself or existing on its own terms and therefore needs to fixed so its representation pleases us Westerners---which segued into the minefield of being a white guy with an Japanese girlfriend and the assumptions and steroetypes that comes along with it.

Or a response to a recent post on click opera about the change in Japanese-Western pop-cultural exchange and how it really seems to have been a 90's thing, especially since a more conservative, isolationist cultural shift has happened especially since the island nation is going through some rough economic times. If you look at it, though---Takeshi Murakami, Buffalo Daughter, Cibo Matto, Cornelius, Pizzicat 5, Relax Magazine, BaPe...alot of it came filtered thru magazines, Mike Mills, Sofia Coppola and Mo' Wax, and informed alot of our "Cool Japan" idealizations which are part of an old zeitgeist that peaked at Lost in Translation and have since come and gone. The anime nerds will always be there, but perhaps Japan isn't all that hip anymore.
Know what? Neojaponisme would say it better than me. Post link. It's easier.

Perhaps its busy-ness and Winter--- an overall "Meh, I dont want to go into detail, it's unimportant anyways" kind of thing. One has to remember that this is just a blog.

That said, I'm glad that on the day of the Inauguration that I'm glad to see Bush go, and have some sense of hope for the Obama Administration, but we'll see. He's not the second coming and has inherited a mountain of crap in terms of the Bush legacy, and with the economy tanking, don't be surprised if some disappointments- or at least a sense of deflation sinks in after today. Still. Bush & co- good riddance.

I have, however, been laughing my ass off lately. Anyone with an interest in Japanese culture can't avoid the comedy institution that is Downtown and their variety show Gaki no Tsukai. Or more specifically, the batsu games. Roughly translated as "punishment" or "penalty", a bet and competition takes place, and the loser has to endure some sort of punishment. Sweet hilarious punishment. Ever watch Kenny vs Spenny? That's a batsu game, Canadian-style.

Sure, the Silent Library bits are fun ("Nose Fishing" and "Remote-Control Car Forehead Stop" made my root beer come out my nose...nevermind "Party Nose"...watch and you'll see)- and they've made the rounds on the internet (usually in the form of the usual "oh those kooky Japanese and their wacky TV shows" thing on Fark) but It wasn't until M introduced me to the New Year's 24-hour-Batsu Game DVDs while I was in Japan...I am now a new convert.

It's become a bit of a national institution now, a new TV special airing every New Year's Eve....In short: spend 24 hours in one place, and despite numerous traps of increasing ridiculousness, you are not allowed to laugh, or punishment will ensue. Simple enough.

Anyways, the Spa one here is in playlist form, and with subtitles (thank the God of Geeks for things like fansubs) so click through if you want to watch the rest. Its alot of in-jokey Japanese humour and obscure celebrity cameos for us, but it's the simplicity of it and of course, the fact that they can't laugh for fear of a hard whack on the ass that makes it funny.

2008-12-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

But what exactly does it do? What does it sound like? Does it vibrate? Or hum? Or get warm? Does air come out of it? Or perfume? Do I put stuff in it? On it? Under it? Does stuff come out of it? Does it make stuff disappear? How do I clean it? Is the plug merely decoration? Or the point?

I still kinda want it. Then I can find out. I don’t need an instruction manual.

Hertzfeldt Blues

2008-12-27T12:03:00.001-08:00

Hertzfeldt Blues, originally uploaded by 9 0 0 0.

Brilliant.

The December Mixtape....finally.

2008-12-26T14:56:00.001-08:00

There you go. Merry whatevs, and stuff. You know the deal:

HIT IT

01 Brown Rice -Don Cherry
02 Oscillations -Silver Apples
03 Theme du Premiere Salon de l'Homme -Jean-Yves Labat
04 Strength Of Strings -Gene Clark
05 Sevmek Istiyorum -Erkut Tackin
06 This Day -Peter Baumann
07 Calypso -Wanderléa
08 Firebird -White Noise
09 Violence Grows '-Fatal' Microbes
10 Cool -Pylon
11 Lee Remick -The Go-Betweens
12 NobodyButYou -Dee Clark
13 Sukiyaki -Kyu Sakamoto
14 Solar Flares -Sven Libaek
15 Mirror -Batteaux
16 Beauty And The Beast -David Bowie
17T heme For Great Cities -Simple Minds
18 Synchro -Charles De Goal
19 Slippery People -Talking Heads

You know the drill- Enjoy, put that new external HD Santa gave you to good use. And if yer the artist, RSVP and the offending song will be removed. It's for the love, baby....

Ferry Mucking Ho Ho etc

2008-12-24T10:41:00.000-08:00

X-Mas Eve day...wake up, look out the window. Another dump out there.

Oh jeezus.

It’s pretty out but man, this is silly. 20+ cm of snow and it’s Vancouver, which means complete lunacy out there.

Have to walk 20 blocks to the SkyTrain (buses? yeah right! same with yesterday morning getting to work) and get picked up at Coquitlam and then go to Delta for the family stuff. Dad and Mar are in from the island….then time spent humoring Aunts and uncles that I haven’t seen in 20 years. Yee haw.

My best friend from out of town just left, has to do the same thing with her fams in Cloverdale. Her mom’s sick, so there’s no way to get out of that one.

If it wasn’t the holidays, I have a feeling the whole city would breathe a big sigh of relief and take a collective day off. I could see it in people’s faces on the streets yesterday, that thousand-yard-stare while lugging festive shopping bags, Xmas consumer stress while bracing for another big dump of snow in a city that isn’t equipped to deal with it.

We both agreed: let’s just hang out here, get snowed in, down a few bottles of Cotes du Rhone and watch movies. Would be best Xmas EVAR.

Oh well.

Have I mentioned recently that I'd rather be in Japan?

ma34 says: (10:34:50)
you should just come to nara where christmas is not that big and people line up for KFC because they don"t know the difference between chicken and turkey
ma34 says: (10:35:45)
we'll get cake after 5pm tomorrow so we can get it 50% off
ma34 says: (10:38:17)
and if not KFC, we'll order pizza so you can take a pic of a japanese santa on scooter

I wish.
Anyways.

Happy Xmas and all that crap.

Neigey

2008-12-21T16:21:00.001-08:00

English Bay, originally uploaded by thedarkerside.to.

It’s been snowing since 10 last night and it’s ridiculous out there.

Nice to watch from the big window that my desk is next to, but man, everytime I go down to the laundromat to do another load, its funny to see Vancouver drivers deal with the snow. Buses gnarled up, unplowed streets, running/skidding through red lights at major intersections……plus boilers freezing, burst pipes (including my work), power outages…good times.

I find it all fascinating because I grew up in this kind of weather (add another -15Cº) back east but its interesting how Vancouver isn’t equipped to deal with anything less than -5 or more than two centimeters of snow. It’s looking vaguely apocalyptic out there. Or thats how people seem to be treating it.

All we need is another boil water advisory like 2006 so we can watch everyone freak out and punch old ladies at costco over cases of Evian.

I'll just stick with looking at the flickr-flood instead as everyone with a camera runs outside and almost crashes our fave photo-sharing site with their "zOMG SNOW!!1!!" pics.

2008-12-17T14:07:00.001-08:00

Hey ho
Been busy and forgot to mention that I'm doing a talk with my friend Joomi on sound art tonight at Centre A.

Initially, the focus was going to be on Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carsten Nicolai's visual work and Ryoji Ikeda. Raster-Noton fanboy? ME? Of course not.
There'll be stuff about phonography and soundtransit.nl as well.
I'm leaning more towards Keith Rowe and onkyo, personally, so I might throw them in at the last minute. We'll see.

Anyways, while doing research, I assembled a playlist of vids that I'll probably be using to flesh out the presentation.

Enjoy.