November 13th, 2006 r8e8rcom
I went to central park yesterday just to get out of my apartment. It was one of those Wes Anderson days, overcast and grey. The perfect day to spend walking around the park by yourself wondering what the hell your doing with your life. When I got off the train it had started raining a bit. I don’t know what it is, but lately a rainy day puts me in the most ardent of moods. Melancholy and welcoming at the same time. It was a comforting feeling to go traipsing through the park, umbrella in hand. That’s it, just thought it was weird how inviting a rainy day can be.
Couple of french speaking canadian kids. It took a while for me to get past the french lyrics (why does it seem like there’s just something inherently arrogent about anything french), but these guys rocked the CMJ Fader party this year. These tracks are from their debut, Trompe-L’Oeil, which came out this year on Ninja Tune.
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/10%20%c9tienne%20D’ao%fbt.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/05%20La%20Monogamie.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/04%20Le%20Crabe.mp3http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/11%20St-Fortunat.mp3
-mark
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November 10th, 2006 r8e8rcom
I’m sitting in the 14th St. train station last night reading a book and I look up to find this girl staring at me. As our eyes meet they linger for a moment, and then she shifts her stare a bit and focuses on the advertisement next to me. I continue to hold my stare, if anything just to see what she does. At first it was a defiant stare (yeah bitch, I saw you lookin’ at me, what?), then intrigue (wait, you’re kind of cute), then despair (why won’t you look back at me?). I broke my stare and tried to return to my book, my pride lost to a fucking subway advertisement in a matter of less than 3 minutes.
I was going to send the new shins today, but I honestly think it kind of blows. If you guys REALLY want to check it out let me know and I’ll send it tomorrow.
These tracks came out in 2005-06, but I don’t feel like these guys got the attention they deserved. Released on Anticon, home to Sole, Alias, and 13 and God. It’s another one of those ‘awkward’ albums, but more in that stupid awkward way. I think pop matters summed it up by saying “In an era where the increasing commercial viability of indie has all too many artists playing it safe, Yoni Wolf and his backing band continue to take risks….that uncommon combination of audacity and delight.” Ok, its not great, but its kind of fun.
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/02%20Cold%20Lunch.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Why_Rubber%20Traits_01_Rubber%20Traits.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/29%20Darla.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/02%20Cold%20Lunch.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/22%20Bad%20Entropy.mp3
-mark
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November 9th, 2006 r8e8rcom
I got to hear a sneak preview of the new clap your hands say yeah record yesterday. so, its me, matt - our president (remember him from my cold war kids blunder), the director of insound, and the CYHSY manager, in a small office. We were suppose to be talking about doing some exclusive promotions with XXXX for the new record, but as soon as nick gets there he threw out the unmastered CD and made us listen to the record. We sat there in that office awkwardly staring at the ground, for like 30 minutes, not saying a word as the album just played. trying not to look each other in the eye. talk about awkward. there was no conversation between songs, only feeble attempts to deter nick and get him to turn it off so we could talk. every once in a while my eye would catch our directors as he smirked and we both held back a laugh. its not at all that the record was bad or anything like that, it was just a very strange awkward way of presenting it to us. while I was excited to hear the new CYHSY record, I want my 30 minutes back, that shit was weird.
lo-fi-fnk (pronounced: LO-FI-FUNK) are from sweden and are signed to, indie label, la vida locash. they consist of vocals/instruments by leo and rap/drums by august. they are now also part of moshi moshi records, with their album “boylife” anticipated for release in the UK this fall. what really sucks is that you can’t get this album in the US unless you pay like $30 for an import on amazon and I dont know anyone that has it. i heard these guys rocked it at CMJ, but sadly i missed all of their shows (and there were 3 of em).
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Lo-Fi-FNK-Kitsun%e9%20Maison-0%20-%20Change%20Channel.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Lo-Fi-FNK-Boylife-03%20-%20Adore.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Lo-Fi-FNK-Fi-Fnk%20-%20Boylife-02%20-%20City.mp3
-mark
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November 8th, 2006 r8e8rcom
Did I ever tell you guys about the time I fell off the face of the earth? It wasn’t so much of a fall as much as it was a leap. I’d love to tell you about it, but I can’t. But I would like to apologize for my absence.
I can, however, tell you about CMJ. As much shit as I talked about seeing Tokyo Police Club at our party, turned out I didn’t even watch them. I was def. there but def. not paying attention to TPC. Other disappointments included Snowden (who were great the last time I saw them), Annuals (lots of unnecessary rock star muggin’ going on), French Kicks, and Harlem Shakes. All of which were rather boring live. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltson played fuckin’ everyday, at least 2 shows a day. As did 120 days. WTF. Pleasant surprises included Shout Out Out Out Out (canadian kids playing electro rock DFA style with vocoders), Apples In Stereo (now on yep rock), Apes and Androids, Georgie James, Justice, and Crystal Castles. All of which rocked.
Kickball are from Olympia, WA. That’s pretty much all I know about them. Except that they are super emo in the really awkward sense. like really awkward. I’ve heard that when they play they set up in front of the stage but turn their backs to the audience. ok, that’s kind of strange. but I really like the way they sound like all the good parts of old school joan of arc, american football, and owen without any of the stupid 10 minute chirpy noise tracks that made no sense to me. These tracks came from 2 self released records that certainly aren’t new, but I’m pretty sure no one on the list has heard of them anyway.
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Kickball-Huckleberry%20Eater-04%20-%20Stop%20Infinity.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Kickball-Huckleberry%20Eater-12%20-%20Imaginary%20People.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Kickball-Huckleberry%20Eater-03%20-%20Sauvie%20Island.mp3
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Kickball-AbCEFGHIJKickball-03%20-%20Shoulders.m4a
http://www.r8e8r.com/mp3r/Kickball-AbCEFGHIJKickball-06%20-%20Party.m4a
I have a feeling a lot of you guys are going to rip them apart, but I’m totally in love with this band right now. If anyone wants more tracks let me know and I’ll get them to you. There are more great tracks on these albums and I want to spread the word. sorry, 2 of em are m4a. didn’t have time to convert them. you guys all use itunes right?
-mark
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