Ricotta Park

Oh, hey.

 

 

Magic Moments

Haven't posted in a couple months. Leaving Friday for a two-week trip to Argentina. This is what I've been doing with a buddy when I haven't been "conversation marketing":

Moranis Moments

One day, real soon, we'll crack open a bottle of slivovitz, sit around the fire and talk about the old days. Then we'll stumble into the backyard, maybe bring a couple of bb guns and try not to shoot each other in the face.

There's a storm out there, friends, and it's bringing good times.

Augustus Tunage

I've been posting so infrequently these days that an old-fashioned "what we've been listening to" post isn't really that out of order. The following tracks, listed in no particular order, are available for your previewing / downloading pleasure:

 

Harry Nilsson - I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City

Nilsson originally wrote this tune to be the theme of Midnight Cowboy but the film's director preferred his cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'. The two songs are nearly identical in structure, melody and the wah-wah vocal flourishes, though "I Guess The Lord..." has a much more direct contextual connection to the film.

 

Neon Indian - Terminally Chill

Love wordplay in song titles (see !!!). Love synth-effected hot licks (see Daft Punk's "Digital Love"). Love "when the fuck was this recorded" compression in production (see Royal Trux's Accelerator).

I'll take that combo any day. Thankfully, these cats upsized it.

 

Lupe Fiasco - Kick, Push

I went shopping for a new board today, so, you know.

Desolation Wilderness - No Tomorrow (Version)

For fans of Galaxie 500, JAMC and stoned couch naps.

 

YACHT - Psychic City

"Psychic City"'s lyrical sentiments are simple and true, summoning memories of good times and great friends and pumping you up for whatever's coming around the corner. You can also hear "Trapped In the Closet"-esque drips in the verses, so it's got that going for it.

Extra Golden - "Thank You Very Quickly"

(photo by kirstiecat)

Picked up Extra Golden's latest LP, Thank You Very Quickly, down at Park Ave CDs yesterday. Dedicated to fans who donated to the Kenyan band members' families following last year's post-election violence, the title track features Alex Minoff's and Ian Eagleson's nimble, melodic guitar work, virtuosic percussion from Onyango Wuod Omari and appreciative verses that unexpectedly recall the melody and delivery of The Human League's "Don't You Want Me." Great stuff. The album rips from start to end and you can pick it up from Thrill Jockey.

Extra Golden - Thank You Very Quickly

Cass McCombs - "Dreams Come True Girl"

from Catacombs.

Don't You Wonder Sometimes?

When I was 20, my girlfriend printed me about a hundred black and white profile images of Bowie from Nic Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth. Can't really remember why now, but it was a radical gift.

The album Low Profile (the sleeve cover of which is an image from the Roeg film) is one of Bowie's most successful attempts at textured and adventurous pop music. Most of side A's  jams are punchy, three minute-long affairs, with guitar taking a backseat to pounding piano, guttural saxophones, industrial noises and synthesizers. Lyrically, it's a lonely and lovelorn, with a cynical sort of introspection.

Side B is comprised of four instrumental tracks that vary from bleak and foreboding to the sort of curious, unemotional music that became New Age.

Bowie - Low Profile: http://www.sendspace.com/file/v67x7y

Fiery Furnaces - "The End Is Near"

"Keep Me In Dark" brings a warm wind near the end of the Friedbergers' mostly plaintive, piano-driven new joint, I'm Going Away. It's got double octave, quasi-Brian May hammer-ons and offs (doubled by a tack piano, natch!), fingers snapping a cool no you din't!, woodwinds and synths staggering through a solo like half-drunk day laborers, and some particularly pleading choruses ("please don't tell me nothin' / I'd rather ya tell me nothin' / keep me in the dark with the opposite of anything") butted against the typically worldly references to international travel and intrigue. It's some of their best work yet.

***Update***

Thrill Jockey wanted me to replace this jam with the official single, "The End Is Near." No probs. They're an awesome label and it's a sweet jam.

Fiery Furnaces - The End Is Near

(I'm Going Away is out 7.21.09 on Thrill Jockey)

You Are So Beautiful

Thanks to Speck for ruining an otherwise perfect Thursday.

Dirty Projectors - "Two Doves"

(photo of angel deradoorian by cat connell)

dirty projectors - "two doves"

buy bitte orca on cassette now.

Grassfitti

(via Good)