A story about a pigeon…a review where I go off on web 2.0

My husband, Bill, has just started a blog where he is serializing some of his fiction. He’s got one of my favorites going up now, a story about a New Yorker who turns into a pigeon. You can check it out here.


Also, I have a bit of a rant up at Dusted today, ostensibly about Small Black’s New Chain, but really, I was so unaffected by the record itself that I ended up writing about other stuff…sorry. I do hate it when other people do this, but sometimes it happens. You can read it here, if you like.


The best song on the record, which is still kind of forgettable, is “Photojournalist”

I am a bead on the thread connecting my father and daughter

My friend Michael sent me some rough mixes of his second album with Bendle (Crow) last summer, and I’ve been meaning to write about them ever since. The album, which is now finished and mixed and available via Michael’s blog, is called While Speaking Softly You can Hear the Insects Sing. It’s really beautiful, like the first one, with a sort of dreamy layer of murmured spoken word (that’s Bendle, I think) over a mesh of incandescent guitar and drums (Michael, I assume). Last time, I said it reminded me of Current 93, and I think that’s still a fair reference point, though I am also hearing bits that remind me of the Incredible String Band this time around, and other auras that sound like Belong and William Basinski, and as someone else mentioned last time, later, more experimental John Fahey. My favorite piece is something called “Zebra Mix 12feb,” which starts in a sort of monk’s chant and weaves through a hallucinatory landscape of echoey, interleaved vocals, eastern tinged guitar and hand drums. I am also quite taken with “Breathing In Mix 19 June”, which has a circling, almost round-like quality, three voices this time, one a woman, in overlapping layers, whose delicacy is not at all undermined by some very distorted guitar and battering drums. But anyway, why take my word for it, when you can have the whole thing?

My Neu! interview is up!

I’m really kind of psyched about it…have a look.



In other news, poor Ari Up, RIP…remember when I interviewed her last year and we talked about period cramps and UTIs?



Also, on a personal note, kind of a bummer, Sean (my son) dislocated his shoulder playing football on Monday and will probably not be able to play again, ever, for risk of re-injury. He’s also going to miss some of the lead-up to X-C ski season, which is even more of a downer, because he’s quite good at that, but success is all about conditioning. He’s real sad, refuses to play Madden NFL on Xbox even, poor guy.

Black Angels

I’ve got a review of Black Angels Phosphene Dream up today at Dusted. I enjoyed it, but with some reservations, liking especially the handful of tracks where the disc “diverges from VU-ish drone into brighter, janglier territories.”

The whole review is here.
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/6041

Here they are playing “Telephone” on Letterman.


Hey, I might be interviewing Jon Spencer today, if he has time. (He’s calling me…weird.)

Intriguing stuff that’s come in recently:
Exrays…new project from Tim Cohen
Reissue of T. Rex’s The Slider
New Giant Sand
Live Ex

Stay tuned.

The Heavy

I’ve been really enjoying a new EP by the funk-soul band the Heavy, who are just off a tour with Sharon Jones and a Dap Kings and ready to embark on another one with Mayer Hawthorne. As the name implies, they have a very hard-hitting, rock-oriented sound, but the singer reminds me a little of James Brown, a little of Curtis Mayfield.

Here’s:
“That Kind of Man 1.1" (mp3)

They’re touring all over the place, just missed them in Boston.

October 20, 2010 | Albany, NY The Heavy @ Jillian's^
October 21, 2010 | Washington, DC The Heavy @ The Black Cat*
October 22, 2010 | Atlanta, GA The Heavy @ The Masquerade*
October 23, 2010 | Birmingham, AL The Heavy @ The Bottletree*
October 24, 2010 | Nashville, TN The Heavy @ Mercy Lounge*
October 25, 2010 | Asheville, NC The Heavy @ The Orange Peel*
October 27, 2010 | New Orleans, LA The Heavy @ One Eyed Jack's^
October 28, 2010 | Houston, TX @ Fitzgeralds^#
October 29, 2010 | Austin, TX The Heavy @ The Mohawk^
October 30, 2010 | Scottsdale, AZ The Heavy @ Martini Ranch^
October 31, 2010 | Las Vegas, NV The Heavy @ Hard Rock Cafe^
November 3, 2010 | Seattle, WA The Heavy @ The Showbox at The Market^
November 4, 2010 | Portland, OR The Heavy @ Wonder Ballroom^
November 6, 2010 | Los Angeles, CA The Heavy @ El Rey Theatre^
November 7, 2010 | San Diego, CA The Heavy @ The Casbah^
November 8, 2010 | San Francisco, CA The Heavy @ The Independent^
November 9, 2010 | Salt Lake City, UT The Heavy @ Club Sound^
November 10, 2010 | Denver, CO The Heavy @ The Bluebird Theater^
November 11, 2010 | Lawrence, KS The Heavy @ The Bottleneck^
November 12, 2010 | Minneapolis, MN The Heavy @ Fine Line Music Cafe^
November 13, 2010 | Chicago, IL The Heavy @ Double Door^
November 14, 2010 | Milwaukee, WI The Heavy @ Turner Hall^

Ninja Tune XX

I hardly ever get excited about promos anymore, but I got excited about this one, a four-disc retrospective (the non-press version is six discs plus a bunch of singles) of experimental electronic and hip hop label Ninja Tune, which is now 20 yeqars old.

I reviewed it for Blurt, observing: A sprawling compilation documents Ninja Tune's double decade of slice and dice innovation, its nearly 100 cuts dizzyingly diverse, yet united by a common commitment to relentless juxtaposition, unexpected repurposing and the art of re-imagination and remixing.

The rest


Toddla T’s “Want U Now Featuring Miss Dynamite”

Eskmo’s “12-Minute Mini Mix”

Extra Lens

I’ve got a review of the new Extra Lens album – a collaboration between John Darnielle and Franklin Bruno, by the way – up now at Blurt, which the publicist said was her favorite thing anybody had written so far about Undercard. It’s not always a good thing to make publicists happy, but I think, in this case, with someone this nice who reps such good records (she’s does PR for Merge), it’s probably okay.

Anyway, on with the show…here’s a link


“Only Existing Footage”