Misc. March Albums

I've been listening to a mish mash of things these past few weeks. Nothing I'm terribly excited about, but some good tracks.

1. Gotta love Kid Creole and The Coconuts. Both Doppleganger and Wise Guy for only $1.99 at Amoeba Records. Total score. New romantic mutant disco that's all smiles. My favorite track has to be "I'm Corrupt" from Side A of Wise Guy.

2. Beck's deluxe reissue of Odelay was kind of an impulse buy. Unfortunately, it hasn't aged very well. There's at least two awesome bonus tracks on here: the ghetto glam throwback "Gold Chains," and "Burro," a mariachi interpretation of "Jack-Ass." Unlike most people who've lost interest in the post-Sea Change Beck, I really enjoyed The Information and am excited about his upcoming album.

3. Polysics' Polysics or Die!!! Vista was a gift from my brother. Fast-paced Japanese electro nerd punk. Great driving music for about a week, but then I got tired of it.

4. Hot Chip's Ready For The Floor has some of my favorite tracks this year, but the album as a whole is sort of a letdown. Things slow down so much in the second half, you forget you're listening to the same album. Their R. Kelly-meets-Jermaine Dupri production on "Wrestlers" is fun at first, but gets kind of annoying. I love "Shake A Fist," "Ready For The Floor" and "Don't Dance."

5. Kylie Minogue's Ultimate Kylie was a bit of an impulse buy as well. I started with disc 2, since it had the tracks I was most familiar with from the last decade. I was living in England when "Spinning Round" and "Kids" came out. Overall, this disc should have been Fever and "I Believe In You." I've been skipping everything else. Loved the fun synth pop from disc 1, songs I was mostly unfamiliar with.

6. Chromatics Night Drive is super awesome horror soundtrack italo disco. I think Johnny Jewel is one of the most creative, minimal electro disco producers today. Amazing that this stuff is coming from Portland/Seattle.

7. What can I say about Vampire Weekend's debut album that hasn't been said? I liked it instantly, but it hasn't been getting played very much after the initial saturation in my CD/iPod player. For a real treat, read this post from Momus, one of my favorite people in the world.

Dancing, Crying and Dying

Can this song be any more perfect? Bouncy, moody synthpop with a bombastic hook: "I can't get over you / Even if they're dying in Africa." Well, I think an American pop singer would probably get a lot of flack for that, but it's a really effective line. Most of us have been in some sort of a tumultuous emotional relationship that makes you forget there are greater sufferings in the world.

I don't know very much about this Nicolas Makelberge, except that he's Swedish, has a myspace page that won't load on my computer, and released "Dying in Africa" in 2006 on an album with the same name. Johan Agebjorn put him on his Crying On The Dancefloor mix, so he's kinda jumbled in that neo italo disco revival, or possibly a male Sally Shapiro.

Of course, "Dying in Africa" sounds more like classic British synthpop than italo disco. It's super addictive, too. I've been fast-forwarding to this song from Agebjorn's mix quite regularly. Listening to some other album cuts from Makelberge's artist page on Rico Records will probably make me shell out the cash to buy it on import.

Great album artwork too. A bit like The Strokes' Is This It with a European sensibility.

Bell X1, Qu'est-ce Que C'est ?

I love how Yep Roc Records artist's page for Bell X1 starts with "If you lived in Ireland, this bio wouldn't be necessary."

From what I understand, Bell X1 must be huge in Ireland. They came to my attention after listening to the Cut Copy mix So Cosmic, and hearing this incredible track very reminiscent of Speaking in Tongues period Talking Heads (which is my favorite TH album, btw).

The track is called "Flame" and apparently it's been out since early 2006! Fortunately (or strangely), the Flock album it was originally released on in Europe is finally being released this Tuesday on Yep Roc.

The rest of their music has a grand, sentimental pop sound a la Coldplay, U2 and early Radiohead. Not usually my cup of tea, but I'm digging the "Flame." They're on a U.S. tour right now, and I'm thinking about catching them at Cafe Du Nord in March.

If you want a real treat, go to Pitchfork's Forkast page to download "Flame (Chicken Lips Mix)," which is the remix that's on the So Cosmic mix. It completely maximizes the white funk of the original.

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I got a cyst on my lower back lanced on Friday, which is going to keep me from doing anything active for a few weeks. Sucks for me, because I really miss going out dancing and I hadn't been doing it in ages.

This afternoon, I found this awesome video of people dancing to Kano's "I'm Ready" on a Soul Train style Detroit TV show in the 80's. It cheered me up quite a bit.

Harvey Milk Candelight Vigil

Photo by boo d.

I made my silver screen debut last night in Milk, when I joined thousands of people for the reenactment of the 1978 candelight vigil following the murder of San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk.

The film is directed by Gus Van Sant, with Sean Penn playing Harvey Milk and James Franco playing his lover Scott Smith.

The experience was totally amazing. Holding up candles and walking back and forth on Market Street between Van Ness and Gough with thousands of people in total silence was very surreal. It really felt like a true memorial, and people were incredibly respectful and contemplative.

It started at 10:30 and lasted until 1 a.m. Gus was there, and I think James Franco was there with a very 70's mustache and red jacket, but I couldn't completely tell.

When the film comes out in September, I hope I can recognize myself as a speck in the background. My outfit was awesome.

Third World Bling Bling

Kali Arulpragasam is M.I.A.'s very talented sister who designs jewelry under her brand Super Fertile.

Her summer collection depicts the cultural bright spots of countries currently affected by war and terrorism.

The New York Times did a brief about her jewelry this past weekend. You can see more of her excellent work at the Super Fertile website, including better close ups and more countries.

I was hoping for a necklace of Iran, but didn't see one. I totally dig the Iraqi muscle men earrings.

These pieces are so lovely. They remind me of vintage children's encyclopedias. They're priced from $800.

Outta This World

It kinda seems like everyone's most anticipated albums came out last year. So what's there to look forward to? Here's a couple ..

Glass Candy is my favorite band of the past few weeks. I got into them after reading Fluxblog's great write up on "Beatific," which is one of the best electro tracks I've heard in a while. It's a little bit of "Into The Groove," a bit of Blondie's "Rapture" and a dash of PJ Harvey's "Down By The Water."

Ida No has an amazing vocal presence. She takes you back to a different time. Johnny Jewel works those vintage synthesizers like you wouldn't believe. This is glam electro at its best. And to think they're from Portland!

I purchased their B/E/A/T/B/O/X album and the After Dark compilation at Amoeba Records two weeks ago, which was kind of miraculous because I thought these albums were both available on their tour only.

All these great tracks from Glass Candy, and their official album is still to be released this year.

Also, Cut Copy, the Australian electro rock band which released one of my favorite tracks from last year, "Hearts on Fire," is set to release their new album In Ghost Colours. They have a video for their new single "Lights and Music" which is wonderfully produced by DFA and just as addictive as "Hearts on Fire."

I think Cut Copy foreshadowed the revival of 90's house from last year. They sound a bit like New Order and Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr's Electronic project. You can download Cut Copy's free new mixtape So Cosmic, which includes a bunch of their new tracks, at their website.

I've also been listening to DFA Record's reissue of Pylon's Gyrate Plus, which has left a bad note in my ears since I got into a minor car accident on the freeway while it was playing.

There's a great Britney Spears bonus track called "Outta This World" which is much better in its demo version than the official Target special edition version of Blackout.

Did you know Britney Spears did a track with DFA? It's not bad .. but it's not good either. In case you're wondering, cowbells are included.

Fitter, Happier, (Older), More Productive

I turned 28 today. I spent it wandering around the Ferry Plaza with my mom and sister. I got a 12" record from my brother, Bloc Party's "Flux" single with a remix of "Where Is Home?" by Burial. I'm not a fan of dub step, but definitely curious to hear what it sounds like.

The photo is of me and my cousin's dog Mooshie on Christmas Day a few weeks ago. Mooshie means 'like a mouse' in Farsi. Yikes! My eyebrows look pretty sinister.



I've been really into El Perro Del Mar's debut album from over a year ago. It's melancholic yet hopeful. Lines like "God knows, I've been taken a lot without giving back" and "You've got to give to get" are so simple and beautiful. It doesn't drive me nuts that she repeats them for a good 3+ minutes. There's a sense of catharsis when you repeat phrases that you should follow, but somehow still neglect.

She has a new album coming out at the end of February, and I'm glad I had time to catch up on her debut. It's the perfect soundtrack for these crazy January storms we're getting in California.