TRMW Archives

* FYI, this stuff is old. The current TRMW is here.

November 30, 2004

In other PDX DIY news, Nate Preston of the infamous and ambiguously spelled Die Monitr Batss pointed me (and a couple hundred other people) towards this awesome webpage which allows you and me to receive FREE IPODS. I never do this kind of thing, but my lust for the iPod has been growing steadily, even as my income has steadily shrunk. Please take pity on me and click here, sign up for
Blockbuster’s new sub-Netfllix subscription service the eFax free trail offer, recieve credit the next day, and cancel (see 3rd comment below for details). PLUS!! you’ll also be doing your part to dismantle global capitalism. Mr. Preston explains:

“I need a free iPod. If anyone else was considering doing this, PLEASE!!! sign up using my link below. Know the drill? You sign up for one of those stupid offers, then cancel. Get five friends to do the same thing and they cancel. They repeat the process. Then their referrals repeat the process. It’s a pyramid style money generator. If done correctly you’ll get your free iPod in a few weeks. If everyone does it correctly? The infrastructure of our entire civilization will collapse because all available resources and manpower are suddenly diverted into producing and processing billions and billions of iPods. So it’s not just about me.”

Please. JOIN US.

PS: I promise my next post will not involve a pyramid scheme found on a mailing list. Really.

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November 19, 2004

I don’t know much about Rick Ele, save that he sends very long, informed emails about obscure noise bands to the pdxdiyshows mailing list, and hosts a radio show on KDVS in Davis, CA. When I was growing up in smalltown Auburn, KDVS was like a beacon in the darkness, beaming weird music into a land of seeming normalcy (exploding meth labs and violent, drug-crazed youth notwithstanding). It’s nice to see the freak flag still flying there, and Rick has a hand on the pole.

His radio show “Art for Spastics” broadcasts every Tuesday from midnight to 2AM (that’s dedication!). Styles include “garage/scuzz-punk ineptitude, knuckledragging thug-rock of the lesser primates, high-falutin jackoffnoise, glitched-out electro booyar jamz, art-damaged skronkrawk, mis- appropriation of ‘Neo-No-Wave’ & hella contrived subgenre names”, which I’d say describes most of what’s interesting in underground rawk right now – and, er, booyar jamz. I listened to Rick’s show today, and it’s great, and you can hear it here.

beacon

fig 8: this is way too appropriate

Speaking of good descriptions of nebulous movements in modern music, I found this one over at PostEverything.com‘s Sackbut Blues webzine:

“We usher towards the door the received wisdom of the Beatles/Stones/Hendrix/- Who/Bowie/Clash timeline of music and turn instead to one that runs from Edgard Varese, through Stockhausen, The Dream Syndicate artists, Reich and Riley, the Velvet Underground, garage rock (the first time round), Kraftwerk, the Krautrockers and – yes, some of them, really – the English prog rockers… Roxy, Bowie (ok, he can join in – but only until 1977), Miles Davis’s and Herbie Hancock’s jazz/rock/electronic fusions, Wire, The Fall, industrial, synth-pop, No-wave, Sonic Youth and the Blast First bands, hardcore, acid house, techno and the Warp Brit-bleep and ‘Artificial Intelligence’ series, and onward… to the future!”

That’s a geneology I’ve been vaguely aware fo for a while now, and it certianly connects the dots between a lot of the music I’ve sought out over the years. Seeing it spelled out explicitly like this, it makes sense. It also gets me thinking. The connection is real, if debatable, but where does it come from? The word “mindset” comes to mind, but feels a little vague.

Personally (he says to his e-diary), I’m reminded of when I first discovered the twin beacons of IDM and rave culture, around the same time I found KDVS, and the feeling of raw newness that music gave me. I’d never heard anything like it, and neither had anyone else. These people were creating culture anew, turning away from the past and present, looking towards a future of their own making. I’ve been parsing the above sentence ever since.

I suppose this ideal resonates best with those who feel a little uncomfortable in the present, who wouldn’t mind a little fantasy, a little float up up and away from reality. Ambiguously straight and dorky, I was definitely one of them then, and still am (awesome girlfriend notwithstanding!!). Without getting too emo here, maybe “alienation from mainstream society” is the tie that binds. I don’t know, but I do know most of my musical heroes have been relative weirdos. See figure 9. It’s not easy being green – so why not be “artsy”?

NOTE: There’s a whole ‘nother discussion to be had here about the intertwining of identity and aesthetics (I define myself as “weirdo” hence “weirdo music” is the ideal), but that’s another day, or lifetime. In the meantime, I’m reading this and this.

kermitstar

fig 9: what's on the other side

PS: Also just found out that one of my favorite weirdos, Colin Newman, of Wire fame, has just released an EP with his new band Githead, and it sounds pretty rad. The album is released on swim~ records, Colin’s label. In keeping with the interconnectedness theme of this post, I remember checking up on that label’s website when I was first getting into electronic music, before I had any idea what Wire was/is. Trippy!

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November 11, 2004

This morning I dreamt I was in Brian Eno’s house. And Brian Eno had a really cool house. It was really big and modern, with high ceilings and wallpaper*-modern interior decorating.

Eno himself was a really nice guy. He didn’t seem studious or detached like you might expect (see: another Eno dream), but down-to-earth and warm.

He had this study area, littered with books and things, which he let me explore at will. I remember finding this little art/craft piece made of red construction paper, with other pieces of construction paper glued to it. Eno had folded it real clever, so that these long brown pieces which were supposed to look like wheat stalks (and, of course, did) stuck through a small opening that was supposed to symbolize the surface of the earth.

Brian Eno's House

fig 7: a modernist house, like brian eno's

He had some other books that looked kind of like my discreet math book from college, which I guess makes some sense. I suppose it also made sense that Eno had a study, and not a studio.

Eno then took me up to this diner he’d had built on one of the top floors of the house. On our way we passed through a series of small interlocking rooms, put together like some weird, futuristic spacecraft maintenance tunnel, or something weird and futuristic like that.

The diner itself was really cool. It was all beige and metallic, also looked like something out of wallpaper*, but, as Brian Eno explained to me, was actually modeled after an old-school diner he’d frequented in his youth. He told me this really funny story about that diner, but I can’t remember what it was about, just him laughing.

Brian Eno's Diner

fig 8: a diner, like brian eno's, but less modern

There were other people at this diner, some of whom looked like families on vacation. It was as if Brian Eno’s home had become some sort of tourist destination, like Graceland or something, which I seriously doubt is the case. I wanted to ask Brian Eno who these people were (there must by a perfectly logical explanation, right?), but he just kept on telling stories. I remember looking him square in the face, and his face being blurry, like a heat mirage.

This whole time the first track off Music for Airports is playing. This struck me as slightly vain, but understandable. After all, as Brian Eno explained in the liner notes to his ambient albums, and in interviews, he created this music to serve as a kind of aural wallpaper, so of course he’d be decorating his own home with it.

After a while I realized the music wasn’t coming from my dream at all, that my housemate had woken up and was playing it while he made breakfast. So Brian Eno’s not so vain, after all.

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November 10, 2004

Just got back from the show. The bands were good!

SUBTLE: Hadn’t heard these guys before, but I’m told they’re a conglomeration of Anticon and Mush people, including Dose One and Jel from Themselves. I expected something pretty low key, but this turned out to be a full-on band, with sax, flute, electric cello (!), glockenspeil, samplers, drums, synths, props, the whole 9. Really great music too, kind of space jazz hip hop hybrid something. Dose One was out front sing-rapping most of the time, emphasis on “performance”. He gesticulates with lazer-sharp precision and flamboyant(ly gay?) grace. His nasal delivery sort of grates, but he’s got rhythm and style and what I could make out of the lyrics sounded interesting. I want to hear more of this.

subtleposter

fig 5: subtle / frog eyes poster as it lies on my floor. designed by the very talented tyler stout.

FROG EYES: No fakers here. The lead guy is possessed of a manic energy which manifests in falsetto squeals and heavy breathing, and the band plays their instruments well. The songs are URGENT. Like watching someone in the midst of some life-changing insight, overpowered, before words like “inspiration” or “nervous breakdown” make sense. Good shit! But Greatest Band of All Time? The Anticon crowd seemed skeptical.

frog eyes

fig 6: frog-eyed cucarachas

ENTRANCE: Anybody who

(a) dresses like a hari krishna, but isn’t one, in 2004

(b) performs 1960′s-oriented rock music, in 2004

(c) sits cross-legged on stage at any point during set, in 2004 (only applies when (a) is present)

(d) throws tambourine off stage really hard nearly maiming innocent bystanders and generally acts like a spoiled brat, anytime

has to work pretty hard for my respect, in 2004. Somehow the dude in this band almost kindof did. He can play a mean guitar, and wails like he means it. But then he sulks like a baby between songs, and the drummer looks bored.

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November 9, 2004

Just realized I’ve been linked over at the wonderful 20 Jazz Funk Greats mp3 blog. Thanks guys/dude! Seriously 20JFG is possibly my favorite of these newfangled mp3 blogs (blogs where people post mp3s and write about them), because it is most in line with my tastes (weird shit with energy to it, roughly).

I’ve been reading too many blogs lately, kind of going out of my mind with all the excess information they present. The others I’m digging are Fluxblog, probably the most famous of the bunch, focussed generally on Euro pop and catchy stuff, and the new Sticker Shock, a sort of blog supergroup (like Genesis!) curated by some mighty high profile critics. I also enjoy lacunae, the project of Douglas Wolk, a very talented music writer and fellow Portland resident (also one of the nicest people you will ever meet). Douglas selects music originally released on 7-inch vinyl in the ’80s and ’90s, and adds some endearing this-is-what-I-did-today commentary.

TipOfIceberg

fig 3: new music

I love these things, because they help me sort through the constantly expanding mass that is new music, but sometimes they give me a kind of info vertigo. I realize I am struggling to keep up with what is actually just the tip of a very big iceberg, and I can’t keep up, and I’m the kind of obsessive person that gets upset about these things. Every now and then I’ll find something that completely blows my mind, and I’m like “YES! This is why I read these things!” But then I get to thinking about how for each of these obscure wonderful things I find, there are many more that I’ll never hear, not too mention the many mediocre things I will hear along the way. It’s too much.

Still, better this than porn, right?

I’d also like to post the flyer for the Halloween show, which I am so proud of.

halloween04flyer

fig 4: the REAL cum lazer

When Steve and I first came up with the name CUM LAZER, it was supposed to be our band, mostly because more than anything we wanted this wonderful name to infiltrate the local culture (remember, we are dorks). The band didn’t happen (yet) but we have managed to get these words into the consciousness. Seriously, here it is, CUM LAZER, next to two bona fide real bands, and good ones too! And we’re also DJing the Rogue Wave show this Friday, a truly amazing, VERY REAL, band. VIVA CUM LAZER!! Next up: MATT WRIGHT.

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November 1, 2004

A while ago I posted about these so-called “obscure English post punk bands” I’ve been listening to, and one of them was Desperate Bycycles, which it seems are also sometimes spelled correctly, like Desperate Bicycles. Anyway, just so happens that I’ve stumbled upon their entire discography, available for free, here. As the man who put it there, Derek Erdman, says: “Man, I sure am awesome to people who spend a lot of time on the internet.” Thanks Derek.

ALSO: Dude, this is rad!

HALLOWEEN: Was insanely fun. The house was decorated to the nines, complete with an entire front room dedicated to this elaborate demented doctor’s table display thing. Two bands played, Wet Confetti and Knock it Closer. I heard a little bit of Knock it Closer, featuring Liam from the Snuggle-Ups, whose CD release show with the Thermals was completely awesome the night before. Knock it Closer if a little more rocky, less PLUR and more angst, sort of like a faster Cure. I was upstairs DJing when Wet Confetti came on, so I heard their set as a loud grind beneath my feet, which was kind of surreal.

matt_halloween_small

Figure 2: Everything goes pink. Figure 1 is below.

After that the CUM LAZER (that’s me and my friend Steve’s DJ “collective”) was in full effect. The house was packed to the gills, with people spilling out onto the street. We had a fog machine and many many technical mishaps. For a while the speakers were making loud fart sounds, the kind that eat up all other frequencies when they hit and make the crowd go whiney. Once we cut the bass it was all good for a while, then mysterious electrical/wiring problems started popping up, whereby the sound would just inexplicably cease. Happily, shaking the speaker wires like voodoo sticks seemed to please these evil sonic demons.

Despite these setbacks we managed two of our better sets ever, one uptempo for before the cops came, and one blunted-but-funky for the post-cop late crowd, before the cops came again. Hits of the first set included Freak Nasty’s “Da Dip”, Salt n Peppa’s “Push It”, and that perenial hipster favorite “Hey Ya”. There was some rock too , but I only remember the Cars. Hits of the second set included “Spill the Wine” by War (one of my favorite songs ever), “When Doves Cry” by Prince, and “Galang” by M.I.A. (one my favorite songs right now, which really belonged in the first set).

I’ve never deejayed a vibe as unique and perfect as that during the second set. People drunk and beaming, in great costumes, finally able to talk and move without fear of being crushed. Low lights and very low volume. People conversing and dancing, at the same time. A delicate crescendo from near nonexistence to near exuberance, interrupted by the cops at just the right moment (again). Dude, it was rad!

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Blast from the present!