tune 1

Honestly? I don't think these guys would get away with this if they weren't French and Indie cool. However, it such a ridiculously groovy tune - sounds tight like a skin over a well tuned drum.

Coming soon to a soundsystem in General Pants/Urban Outfitters/Just Jeans near you. Listen and feel cool. Peut-être?

RASHIDA

I don't think I'm the biggest fan of Rufus Wainwright - I'm not too familiar with his stuff - but I bought his latest album "Out of The Game" after I checked out a few of the tracks on Spotify. Also, since I am a sucker for anything Mark Ronson and Dap Kings related (i.e. Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, Ronson's debut Version, and The Business INTL's Record Collection).


But damn, I love the slightly sophisticated, yacht-jazz-rock vibes of the whole album. It's pretty smooth, light and poppy - think Steely Dan.



p.s.  Barbara is probably the most Yacht-Rock moment on "Out of the Game"

Alan Hampton

He's a really awesome bass player from New York via Houston (like I'm talking A-Level Jazz Playing With Guys Like Herbie Hancock and Gretchen Wilson) and he does this on the side. (Or is it his main thing now? I'm not sure)

Regardless, he's a very talented dude who writes a lot of very sweet, down-to-earth, musically interesting songs. When I saw him live, he was the support act for M'Shell Ndgeocello at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco! It was only $20.

Things I have been reading

Aside from sporadically delving into textbooks for university, I haven't had that much time to read novels or magazines. I am terrible at managing my time, especially in portioning off that quiet, solitary time you need to devote to reading. So, to fix this, I've started reading a few things this month. The ones I've particularly enjoyed have stars put next to them.

Half Read/Started:
Mark Treddnick - The Little Red Book of Writing*
Christopher Hitchens - A Letter to the Young Contrarian
James Joyce - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings* (close to finishing this one, it's an amazing autobiography of her early life)
Emily Dickinson - Collected Poems*

Read:
Neil Gaiman - Sandman: The Dream Hunters (Graphic Novel)*
Sam Harris - Lying*

Online:
I've read a few things online, but I'd like to share a link to this great article on the New York Times about what people read on the subway.

Looking back, I've spent a disproportionate amount of time reading things on screens rather than reading things on paper or Kindle (e-ink doesn't count as a screen! Maybe it does. Damn). Looks like a trip to the bookstore or the library is in order.

ALPINE-SLOWCLUB-BLACKJOELEWIS

I like a lot of music and I recommend a lot of music. So without further adieu, here are the songs and artists that I have really liked this week.

First off, here's Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears. Pretty cool southern rock soul funk blues crazy band - super raw and heavy.



Imagine folk music, indie music and soul music got together and had some sexy, hyperactive babies (whilst hitting a lot of drums) you'd get something like Slow Club. Also, I really liked the lyrics.



Speaking of sexy, here's a new track from Melbourne dream-pop outfit Alpine. Warning, the videoclip does get a bit... well.... make-out? In a surrealist kind of way? Which is another reason why it's cool. These guys make music that is on another level, I have been listening to the album ("A is For Alpine") all evening and my ears are splitting diamonds.

Team Google

I'm pretty agnostic when it comes to technology, deciding to use things depending on what is available or convenient or pretty. It's a formula that has worked so far (albeit with a few notable exceptions) and come to think about it, it's a pretty arbitrary formula because it isn't rooted in reason or logic.

So, I met Dom today, and I showed him the really cool CRT switch off animation (see below) that happens everytime the phone gets switched off, or put into lock mode - he was unimpressed. He likes his iPhone better. And he has a point. To be completely honest? I'd like the iPhone a LOT if I had one. It has sexy industrial design; it has a sexy OS that glides under your fingers; and it has heaps of apps (much more than Google phone has). My Google phone? It's not that bad, it doesn't work as well or as seamlessly as an iPhone (but only by a little). It's pretty sexy though.


So, CRT animation aside, why Google?

It was available, convenient and pretty.

Plus, it was free. Kind of (I'm on a contract).



Like Professor Higgins (see above), I've grown accustomed to my phone (well, he grew accustomed to Eliza Doolittle, so that's a little different). I don't mind the fact that Google is storing all my information (see XKCD comic below) when, in exchange, they give me an email service without equal, an operating system without cost, and a document service that allows me to work without physical boundaries. Maybe if Apple had gotten in first and I had bought an iPhone (or if Vodafone would stop being such scrooges and offer the iPhone for free on the $29 cap), I'd be writing a completely different blog post today.

So there you have it. Reasons, and, if not, the biggest reason - Google got in first and I grew accustomed to its face/data mining/CRT Animation. Plus it's Google and since I am no longer a technology journalist I can finally admit what I have always felt - I love Google. Google is great to interview (unlike Apple's cold-as-hell PR people) and I genuinely believe it is doing great things (even though it is not the awesome developer of stuff it used to to be - I mean these are the guys and girls who made Chrome - they should make more stuff).

FREEESHHHH

I've had a pretty lazy Sunday in. Finished off a bit more writing (and hopefully it's a lot better now - I've got a lot of work to do) and to be honest I'd love to do a bit more reading. Studying law is not an ideal use of time for someone who enjoys reading  - the prose in the textbooks is often convoluted, limpid and uninspiring.

Anyway here's a really nice piece of hip-hop/beat/jazz/bom-bap/post-geometry/midnight for you.



Elaquent is a beat maker hailing from Ottowa, Canada. This one is a bit smokey - with a stickey sweet bassline.

Hermes

Oh man. Hermes submissions are due soon; I should probably get my act together.

There are some ideas floating around.

AMAZING

Metric. Canadian band. Electronic. More hooks than a boxing match (and as much punch, too).
Really gorgeous acoustic versions of their tune Synthetica and a cover of Always On My Mind. Emily Haynes' voice!

Let's call the whole thing off...

Ok. So the title is a bit misleading.

I have exams, so naturally I'm posting another blog entry. I've been making things recently and I thought it might be time again to do a bit more posting. (also I've been inspired by Dom to do a bit more writing) So rather than let my writing skills atrophy, blog posting will be a way for me to exercise my prose muscles and condition my clauses.

META
I recently toyed with the idea of dismantling this blog, purchasing a custom domain and then using wordpress to build a fresh blog with a hand-coded template. However, without money or skills, it's a bit hard - so that plan is on the back burner (at least for the duration of School.)*

I actually like Blogger, especially since it is very well integrated with Google (delicious) - I don't think I'll be shutting down this thing any time soon.

THINGS THAT ARE COOL
If you are in Sydney you should go to this:
http://www.au.timeout.com/sydney/art/events/29441/local-positioning-systems-dachshund-un#picture0

It's on during the 2nd of June. It's called the Dachshund UN and basically it involves a lot of very small, very much alive, sausage dogs and a model of the General Assemby, complete with miniature microphones, embossed country name plaques and the indignation that seems only capable of being expressed by sausage dogs. Art!

Another thing that is cool: Spotify. It's a music-on-demand gizmo that you download onto your computer. Make sure you get the apps (like Triple J, Guardian and Matador). I've been consuming full albums non-stop, for free. This is extraordinary. If you pay a bit, you can get it on your phone. (Hot album tips: P J Harvey's England Will Shake, The Shins - The Port of Morrow, Chairlift - Something) It's a brilliant way to sample albums and expand your musical tastes. I wonder if the social aspect of it will get expanded - there's a lot of potential there.

General Thoughts
I'm moving up in the bread-making world after being gifted with a sour-dough barm (or mother-dough) by Brecht. So I'll be using this as a starter to make some sourdough loaves. It should be an interesting experiment. If any one wants some funny shaped bread, let me know - because I'll making a crap-load of it in my non-commercial grade oven. The best thing about the sour-dough barm is that if I take care of it, it'll outlive me and potentially start breads hundreds of years from now - apparently there's a bakery in San Francisco which is using a barm that is over 150 years old.

I really like making things. Tactile, solid things. I guess it probably comes from my god Complex. Ok, I'm joking. I just like making things - especially bread, because I like to eat it (preferably piping hot, fresh and slathered in butter.)

While sourdough has been a bit challenging for me, here's a nice (non-sourdough) recipe to get started on if you are interested in baking your own bread: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html

I also have a tried and tested knead and leavening method, but I don't think it tasted as nice as the no-knead bread from the above recipe.

OK
So here's the deal. I'll post at least every Monday and Friday. Feel free to read and comment.

*Yes, I go to university, but I prefer to call it school. I don't know why.

Rite of the Ancients

The Budos Band! Staten Island Ten-Piece Funk outfit who are part of the legendary Daptones roster. Spooky grooves. Super tasteful.

Some tunes...

BONUS!BONUS!BONUS!

Thelonious

So atm, I've been reading a fair bit of music lit that I picked up while on a trip to the US, including an amazing biography of legendary jazz pianist Thelonious Monk by Robin D.G. Kelley. D.G Kelley is a professor of History and AMerican Studies at the University of Southern California - and he basically sets the record straight on who Monk was both as an artist and a human being - a loving family man, a loyal friend and one of America's greatest composers and improvisers.



 The book is great because it is an EXHAUSTIVELY researched bio of Thelonious Monk (cobbled together with interviews from publications at the time, interviews with family members and recordings of Monk in the studio or at home with his beloved wife Nellie - they had a tape recorder that was often on to record new compositions and sounds of domestic life). It is intertwined with a wider commentary and exploration on wider social and contextual issues of the time.

Kelley gives an insight into the civil rights movements, the underground jazz scene, the ill-treatment of mental illness at the time, and the socio cultural issues that some black people were both victims of and transcendent over during Monk's life time. Don't let the talk of history put you off though, it's elegantly (to take the blurb from the back of the book) written (very humorous and witty and compassionate) and there's a massive focus on the music and Monk's personal life - about a man  so in love with music and his wife that he'd get up in the middle of the bandstand and start dancing, about a man who wouldn't sleep for days while composing his magnum opus and a generous mentor who influenced figures like Sonny Rollins and Bud Powell and a guy who played a show for teenagers and then took them out for ice-creams afterwards. Life also wasn't easy for Monk, he was beset by a lack of recognition, mental illness, personal and financial troubles, but what is extraordinary was how he continued to make amazing music and give his time for others even when everything became difficult.

Another thing I loved was the cool anecdotes peppered throughout the book written about figures like saxophonist John Coltrane, Monk's clashes with trumpeter Miles Davis, drummer Art Blakey... reads like a who's-who of jazz really!

 I'm about halfway through, but it's a MUST read if you're a fan of Thelonious Monk (but you've probably already read it) - and if you're not, you'll become a fan after reading it because you'll see his music in a completely new light.

D'Angelo is RnB Jesus

So.

D'Angelo is back.

^they are, reputedly and in my humble opinion from crappy youtube videos, one of the greatest live acts . The Soultronics. D'Angelo is in the centre. Also worth noting, Drummer ?uestlove of the Roots (dude with big fro) and Bassist Pino Palladino (tall, italian chap - from Cardiff - in the back row). Spanky Alford on guitar.... a young Anthony Hamilton on backing vox, and some seriously bad jazz cats on horns/accompaniment. yeah.

Hm. *clears throat*. This guy. He's one of my favourite all-time artists. And he's coming back. For sure. He's just played a few shows in Europe - and uhh... it has been what? nearly a decade? since ... well he became a recluse ... he's putting finishing touches on his album (which is guaranteed to be ace and will OUT HYPE all the hype building around him), he sounds good (and apparently he is now a pretty good guitar player - like think Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic good - he is a pretty accomplished blues/jazz/funk pianist already)

Shit. I am going all fanboy on this (more so than usual!). I am losing my cool. I cannot believe it. I have listened to his sophomore album Voodoo almost... well I've lost count of how many times I've listened to it... he has had a profound influence on the way I play keyboards... he is a master artist of soul and black music out there along with guys n girls like Erykah Badu, Grace Jones, Prince and Stevie Wonder (maybe not quite there, but only history will tell) who, spearheading the neo-soul/experimental-funk-groove soul movement, saved RnB from self-parody (at least for a short while).

Shit.

 I'm not scared that I'll over hype his new album - I know it will be good because it is made by D'Angelo. Anyway here's some D'Angelo flavoured goodies (courtesy of my fav music site OKAYPLAYER.COM and a cool little site called FUNKIT)

http://soundcloud.com/funk-it-blog/dangelo-solo-medley-january-29 (While you ideally want to see him live in a band, undeniably that man is DANGEROUS when he is playing solo piano and singing)

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/mixtape-mondays-sam-champ-x-okayplayer-dangelo-live-mixtape.html (awesome OFFICIAL pretty high quality mix of LIVE tracks from D'Angelo's voodoo tour in the 00's - I stopped what I was doing for an hour and a half, put on some good headphones and vibed out to it)

Just add milk...

Some crunchy cereal for your wednesday morning :). Put it on loop and enjoyyy!

NEW

Back home from the Golden State! Did a bit of the west coast, and spent a week in San Francisco. Enroute home spent a month in Hong Kong - it's been fun!

Anyway! Here's some new stuff that I've been liking muchly:

Sharon Van Etten. Awesome singer/songwriter who has a bit of a rock-ish vibe - apparently she's quite amazing live.

Stream her latest album here: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/29/145731033/first-listen-sharon-van-etten-tramp?ps=mh_frhdl1

I've also recently started reading David Foster Wallace, more particularly, his collection of essays - Consider the Lobster. I love his naturalistic, intelligent and compassionate writing style. It's pretty good on kindle because I can jump to the explanatory footnotes and asides, which are a hallmark of his work. The research is exhaustive and sometimes he makes certain observations or critical judgments which are just like... woah! what a genius! (especially in his article about being a participant-observer for Rolling Stone documenting the McCain2000 campaign and his essay about tennis legend Tracey Austin).

Also, I quite like this TED talk by Mark Bittman - it's about changing the way we eat because how we eat is not only going to destroy ourselves, but also the environment.(short story: more plants, less meats and processed food)



Along with Jamie Oliver, New Yorker columnist, author and cook Mark Bittman is one of my favourite "food" people (if that makes any sense) - his books Kitchen Express and the Food Matters Cookbook are awesome, no-frills books about cooking and eating well. It's really simple - a lot of the food is quick and easy and delicious.

I'm not into crazy technical recipes and haute cuisine - it's not my thing - so if you're like me and you enjoy cooking intuitively, you'd dig this book. I definitely recommend reading Food Matters if you're looking at ways of improving your eating - it's not so much about eating expensive organic foods or becoming hardcore vegan, but some common sense wisdom about eating less meat (and endangered fish species), more whole foods (i.e. less processed stuff), eating more local foods and vegetables in season. Sounds pretty reasonable, no?