Saturday, January 20, 2007

under de-construction

I keep on sitting here, trying to collect my thoughts and recollections so I can blog about the entirely out-of-character ice storm adventure I had last long weekend...but my emotions are all over the place lately. Thurdsay found me sad and tired and having the worst working day of my young life. That night, a few free Dior shirts and a weed-deal later, I was feeling much better and went to go play psychiatrist with my favorite lesbian couple. Yesterday, I was pretty on top of the world and ended up having a great night downtown.

But today is cold and grey and captive to work. I'm cold, vaguely hungry, slightly over-caffeinated and largely hating everything. I'm tired of feeling like this. But I just feel like everything seems pointless and dissatisfying and nothing I can do will change that.

I sense an evening rife with movie marathons, chinese food and maryjuwanna.

Eventually, I will blogicize my adventure. Once I've figured out why its end has thrown me for such a fucking emotional loop.

I'll give you a hint...it involves the hottest boy I'll probably ever sleep with.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

all I want is having you and music, music, MUSIC

FALLING IN LOVE WITH AUSTIN MORE EVERY SECOND OVER HERE!

First, there was this. No big deal. Just David fucking Lynch, leaving his footsteps all over my destiny. Desperately hoping my dreamweaver shows up in tow, but it is doubtles an impossible dream.

But THIS?!

How much more can my heart take, Austin! What's scariest about this rumor-plagued lineup is that it will probably at least double. Oh. My. Fucking. God. Whatever happens, I have to not work during SXSW.

And my original best friend just sent me an email informing me that she and her mang are coming for the extravaganza! Hurrah!

Okay, so, some recent musical purchases I would like to plug are...

Beach House - S/T - This is the official music of driving home stoned at 3 am. It sounds like if Nico (who I'm finally not creeped out by anymore!) and Ladytron were trapped in a burning building together and afterwards their shit is all fused together. Um, sonically. As it were. It has a really beautiful blend of actual accoustic music and cheesy synth. When the girl isn't riffing on Nico, she almost sounds like Hope Sandoval - also not a bad thing!

Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther - These boys make me proud to be a Texan! Smart, low, classic-sounding (I've heard comparisons to Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, respectively - I'm staying out of that one) with rich, smooth arrangements. Though the opening song 'Roscoe' threatens to steal the album's spotlight with its classic rock redux and meandering allegory, I think the best songs are 'Van Occupanther' and 'Young Bride' are the album's best tracks. The first, a dreamy dram of heartbreak. The second has all the energy of the single, but the strings here add a lot to the sound and the lyrics recall any number of too-young-for-eyes-that-sad girls.

Beirut - The Gulag Orkest - I almost like this more than Devotchka, though the sound is strikingly similar - Zac Condon, the multi-instrumentlal group's ringleader commands all the charm and grace of Devotcha's Nick Urrata at the tender age of 20. He works with a glimmering mass of gorgeous brass, strings and accordians - but no mothafuckin' guitars! No, sir! I think the best song on here is 'Idle Days (Mount Wroclai)' but I'm a whore for the accordian, even if it is an instrument which damns the player to homelessness.

Stereolab - Whatever the Fuck Their New Compilation is Called- Hard to believe I went through so much of my life without Stereolab! But thanks to the helpful nudgings of Jenn Daly and Benj, I have now embraced it via this disc. Obviously, it's perfect for me - hot chick singing about weird shit, periodically in French, with a Portishead-meets-Smiths-esque sensibility. Me. Likey.

That's going to do it for me (again). I wanted to drop props to this music and also stretch out my critic's muscle as I want to try and get reviews written for the new Oblio Joes and Lights CDs, both of which were sent to me ages ago so I might review them. I suck!

finally!

It seems every single night I go to bed, I recall quite suddenly the phenomenon I have termed 'déjà rêvé.' I do not begin to recall my dream from the night before until I am slowly drifting toward slumber the following night. Strange indeed! And each half-unconscious eve, it strikes me as if for the first time. And each night I rather swear to blog about it, for I find it quite strange to say the least. I suppose it was telling of me feelings of rut-ishness.

At last, I rather feel that things are on the upswing. Yesterday proved to be a rather exceptional day. In spite of semi-crazy allergies (which I have finally admitted to the existence of - I've been allergy-free my entire non-TX life!) I decided to hit up a few drinks at the Elephant Room after work last night. I used to go there constantly, in my early days of Jenn Daly worship. I miss the dank, cellar-ian ambiance - the 'who gives a fuck if you smoke in here' of it all. The scads of be-written-upon dolla bills all up above the bar, sailors swearing to their return.

Perhaps my nostalgia was warmed up by the deeeelightful Lisa B serving me up a freebie from the get-go. Perhaps.

Saw a friend I haven't seen in a bit play a happy hour intermission - in some ways, she reminds me of Tori Amos, but with a much deeper, raw-er voice. The imagery, the darkness and the originality of her text was really awesome though, in a completely different way from Tori. You can just kind of see the influence - they are only strictly comparable by being women singing and playing the piano.

Anyway, it was a nice start to the evening off there, catching up with the various members of Jenndaly's entourage (for she had her hand in the turnout for this event, assuredly) with whom I have shared many fond memories, dinners and holidays. Yay!

A few cocktails later, it was off to my new herbalist's house - and after a few moments of conversation, it was revealed that he knows my dear friend Beth and worked with her for quite a while at three different coffee shops! Lord those kids get around. It was awesome to stumble across this total 'Austin is the biggest little city since Reno' moment, as they truly define this place. He agreed with me on that, as well. And he even showed me scenes from Lost and the Al Gore doc respectively (whatta gamut to run!)! Yay for liking your herbalist!

Then it was over to Josh and Jared's, where the drinking scene definitely got a little out of hand waaaay before I got there. I wished a young ex-Coloradan a happy 19th (gods, were any of us ever that young?!) and set sail shortly after. I did, however, find out that Sam, the drummer for the band I manage is being ousted! Que escandalo! I must pick up the slack and become a drum prodigy at once, as their successful future lies in my wildly capable hands! And by wildly capable, I mean musically retarded and eerily irresponsible.

Then it was a latelate viewing of Princess Mononoke with Beth (yep, that one!) and Stacey. My love for that movie is wildly reaffirmed, as is my desire to become Ashitaka. What a badass! What a beautiful, strange and parable-ic world! If I could live inside the movies of Miyazaki, I fucking would. I would also have to be living off of pay-otee (deliberately misspelled to damn the google) and liquid acid, I imagine.

It was good for my old soul to have a super-late night - I so long to return to the days when to sleep during daylight was the norm.

Well, that should do me now. If the heavens are with me, I will re-blog some love over recent musical acquisitions later today.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

well, that was interesting

I hate the feeling of being overtaken by an evil little notion or fear that you believed you had finally evaded - one that has plagued and nagged and drained to excess already. The accidental freedom you didn't even know you were enjoying because for some reason you weren't clapping your hands or spinning in circles over this victory, this escape or distraction.

I spent what could be described as a supernatural amount of time, energy and even surplus thought trying to slipslide away from the machinations of my own mind.

Be it this fella or that foible, they have a nasty little way of jumping back to their spots in my mind (perhaps left still-warm in the painfully brief absence).

It's hard to not view life, the universe and everything as a battlefield. At least a lot of the time, I think.

Why is this relevant right now?

Because it's raining. I just took my marvy British flag umbrella out for a walk in it. To drop a wonderful book off to a rather magical girl whom I even more magically known through a variety of connections.

But...

It made me wish that the feelings of wonder could outpace feelings of dread. I don't really know how to do that. But I'm trying.

I think the books I'm reading are sharpening my mind to a fine and hopefully fantastical point - Angela Carter and a beautiful book called 'The Book of Embraces.'

I would like these pesky thought buggers to bugger off.

In more officially catchy-up-y news, Montana was awesome. My birthday was bloody awesome. Christmas was a textbook illustration of awesomeness. Let me re-assert that I am much more in favor of the vacationing life rather than the working life.

New Year's Eve was fun, but it's hard to put a dent in the glorious and record-setting NYEs of the years that became 2003-2005 (New Orleans, Berlin and Amsterdam sequentially). There was a barrage of champagne, dancing and poor decisions and de-wigging. Friends and staying up late and all the good shit that comes with these times in our lives.

Anyway. That'll do for now. More magic pending, mehopes.