Exhausted & The Oblique Strategies

Nothing really to talk about today because to be honest I’m tired as shit. The wife is sick as a dog and I’m pretty sure that I am as well. Damn you flu. All I have to do now is chill and watch some family get murdered brutally in Funny Games.

I did recently rediscover The Oblique Strategies that were created back in 1975 by Brian Eno (can you believe he’s producing Coldplay now?) and Peter Schmidt. Their meant to be these guides to breaking some creative blocks that you might have during the day. I’m finding their great for when you hit a road block when producing music in general but can be applied to a huge amount of things.

I stumbled onto a site thought that gives you a random Strategy whenever you click the button so now everyone can experience the magic.

http://tools.blackhat-seo.com/strategies/

Try it out. See what things it helps you with.

Excerpts From My Work Day & Selling Out

Today I think I had the most pointless conversation that I’ve ever had. With that said, a simple question.

If you were a celebrity would you try to borrow stuff from your fans?

Lets phrase it differently.

A knock at the door, you go and answer it and there she is. Camron Diaz. The first thing she says is “Hey, I know this may sound weird but my alarm clock broke and I was wondering if I could borrow yours?”

What do you do! WHAT DO YOU DO?!?

Would you let Justin Timberlake borrow some socks?

What about Jessica Alba borrowing your weedwacker?

If I were a celebrity I’d be borrowing all of your shit.

Now as for selling out. About a month ago I DJed a friend’s retirement. I played nothing but 80s rock, synth pop, and 90s Rap (That girl is poisooooonnnn). The venue I played at offered me a job playing the same type of music for about a hundred a night, which in the scheme of it all isn’t really much but it is a little bit of money to go toward paying for all the crazy about of records that I’ve bought over the years.

This is the first time that I’ve ever compromised the music I enjoy playing though and deep down this kinda bothers me. It’s also the first time I’ve had to put myself out there as a musical jukebox. Just playing the obvious tunes to make people happy. Normally when you play as a electronic music or club music dj you get looked at as a performer. An artist. This steady gig makes me feel like a employee.

The real reason this manages to get to me is because of a certain DJ that I knew in Virginia who had sold his soul to the music devils to basically play top 40. He despised his audience, hated the music he played, hated the bar, and before you knew it he was just a bitter old man who completely lost shit playing crap music for crap people and it’s a road that I don’t even want to head down.

But here I am, tomorrow playing the first sell out gig of my life. Fuck.

CD Review Metro Station & Santogold

So I’ve really got nothing new to write about. Slow to update my blog like normal.

First up is Metro Station’s self titled album. The only reason that I’m aware of this band to begin with is due to seeing them in concert at an all ages show at Nuemos in Seattle. A friend invited me because he had a extra ticket so the wife and I went out to see them play along with a few other bands. The band was alright, the women (girls) were enjoying them enough though. Last week though I picked up their album for the wife and gave it a listen myself.

Honestly, this album is like a pop music overdose. Song after song of teen pop garbage. Their going to be huge. If I’m being really specific, this album is way too clean sounding. The electronic beats that sound like a poor man’s Panic! At The Disco could be improved with just a little bit of grime added to them. But without it, the album fails to pull it’s self out of it’s boring teen pop hole. Lyrically, the tracks read like a 14 year old trying to be sexy for the first time. It’s not going to stop songs like Shake It & Disco from being blasted out of your kid sisters bedroom though.

3/10 – When all is said and done, there’s nothing original, innovative, or particularly interesting being done here. Still, if you are a sucker for pop music there might be something for you in here, just know there’s much better synth pop out there.

Now as for Santogold’s latest, this album is a joy to listen to. I’ve been keeping a eye on her since first hearing her on Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge a year or so ago. Hilarious. This album is fun and perfect for jamming out to on a summer day. Productions come from Diplo, Switch, and one from the late Disco D. as well. The works M.I.A. spring to mind but this album feels more focused and a little less bound for the club. The sole weak point comes from a remix of You’ll Find A Way by Switch and Sinden which closes out the album and is quite frankly the worst thing I’ve ever heard Switch do.

8/10 – Great album, easy to digest, and fun to listen to. Pop album of the summer.

The Googly – Live From Broken Disco (05/09/08)

For your listening pleasure. My set from Broken Disco last month.

thegooglybrokendisco

Tracklisting

1) Whatever track of Jake J’s I Mixed Out Of
2) Glimpse & Matt Tolfrey – Misunderstood [Glimpse]
3) Laurie Anderson – Oh Superman (M.A.N.D.Y. Remix) [White]
4) Canvas – The Cat [Rebelone]
5) Force Of Nature – Sequencer (Stefan Goldmann Macro Version) [Mule Musiq]
6) Fred Everything – Friday (Trentemoller Mix) [Lazy Days Recordings]
7) Claude Vonstroke – Beware Of The Bird [Dirty Bird]
Trulz & Robin – Rubber Love [Snick Snack Music]
9) Djinxx & Xpansul – Spanish Kebab [Ovum Recordings]
10) Friendly People – Cap’N Can’t Get Right [Cyclical Tracks]
11) Wighnomy Brothers – Pele Bloss [Freude Am Tanzen]
12) Danton Eeprom – Confessions Of An English Opium Eater [Infine]
13) Adultnapper – Maxwell’s Demon (Alexi Delano Remix) [Ransom Note US]

Thanks for listening.

Obsession – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Ok, so I have to admit that I really don’t know much about Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds except that for the better part of this week I’ve been pretty obsessed. Between the guitars of his Grinderman album and the overwhelming greatness of Dig! Lazarus, DIg! Both of these albums are worth checking out. I’m really feeling the Grinderman album in particular with songs like No Pussy Blues. Rock N Roll muthafuckas!

I wish I could say that I’ve known him from something cooler, but the first time I heard him was on Johnny Cash’s cover of Hank William’s I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. I’ve moved on since, becoming obsessed with the song Straight To You In Particular.

I personally think that if I could have any artists career than I would have to choose his. Being able to make relevant and important songs for 2 decades, look like a fucking pimp, and have woken up next to PJ Harvey in the morning. Nice.