Went to see The Pee Wee Herman Show tonight at Club Nokia here in Los Angeles and it was so great seeing Pee Wee, Miss Yvonne, Chairy, Globey, Pterri, the Flowers, Conky 2000, Magic Screen, Jambi... What a treat!
Ed Roppo, a fellow urban explorer, shot this amazing video at an abandoned glass factory in Northern California.
The video for "Modern Drift" by one of my favorite bands in the entire world, Denmark's Efterklang. It's the first single from the new album "Magic Chairs" that is set to be released February 22nd.
I had not heard this incredibly chilled mix of one of my favorite trance songs from a few years ago, and now that I have I've fallen in love with it and Carrie Skipper all over again.
When I lived in San Francisco I spent a lot of time watching TV. When you're a nightowl it's an easy companion that's always awake when you are. It was also pretty much always on at my house with three roommates and either you joined in the viewing or it was joining you. Since moving to Los Angeles I haven't had the set on at all. For starters, none of the cable companies serve my area. It's a Los Angeles thing I've yet to understand - which left with me with my only option being going satellite. And I confess I tried ordering the Dish Network several times in my first few days here and the order kept failing. Eventually I took it as a sign and most of the time I haven't missed it at all. Then I found out that a new season of Burn Notice had started. And I wasn't happy about missing out on Jake's adventures on The Bachelor. Enter Hulu. Now I'm watching only my most favorite shows and doing it online - which feels incredibly modern. I've subscribed to Burn Notice, The Bachelor, Caprica, Lost, Brothers and Sisters and Ugly Betty. Thanks Hulu, not only for the service, but for saving me a few bucks too.
The new hooping soundtrack for 2010 is David Starfire's Bollyhood Bass (on iTunes). It just flows beautifully from song to song, from whompy up to spin out, all of it sure to get and keep your hoop spinning.
Pitchfork Review: "Twine's compositions sound like careful reconstructions of the decayed. A mix of twitching electronics, long, semi-coherent samples, and lapping melodic figures, Violets suggests painting a wall to peel or building stairs to creak."
2. Last Days: These Places Are Now Ruins (on iTunes)
Coke Machine Glow Review: If nostalgia is the playground of the defeated, then lamentation is the purview of the orator. And the orator is himself eulogized by absence and ambience -- spectral traces of what were once vivid declarations from the decks of aircraft carriers. These Places Are Now Ruins is gloomy, is beautiful...
3. Lights Out Asia: Eyes Like Brontide (on iTunes)
Sputnik Music Review: Lights Out Asia mesmerizes to the point of total submersion, as they envelop the listener in a cold, desolate atmosphere that, despite its obviously foreboding nature, is completely arresting. Eyes Like Brontide puts itself firmly in the throes of the Cold War (the obvious examples of that being song titles like "The Wrong Message Could End You" and "Radars Over the Ghosts of Chernobyl") and somehow makes the concept completely engaging.
Michael Mullen came to visit and it was fun showing off my life in Los Angeles to a friend from San Francisco. We went to Toi on Sunset (shown here) for some rockin' good Thai food, caught a show at Spaceland, had late night coffees with Maria Bustillos at The Alcove, then drove around the City of Angels late into the night listening to his yet-to-be-released new album, Pocket Shelley's "Glockenspiel and Other Love Songs." It's brilliant!
Movits! put on an awesome show here in Los Angeles and the entire audience was dancing. Seriously. Think Big Band Swing meets Hip Hop in Swedish. Love these guys.
