Archive for the ‘music’ Category

Who let me hang out with rappers?

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

These were recorded last month when Astronautalis and P.O.S. were in Portland for a show. I guess this site Absoulte Punk is crazy about those guys so they arranged a “backstage session”. I met Andy (Astronautalis) through some mutual friends in Seattle a few years back. We were on the same team in Capture the Flag. The rest is pretty much history. Back then I just thought he was a really great guy- I didn’t know that he was also an incredible musician and performer. P.O.S., it turns out, is great too. That was one of the most invigorating shows I’d been to in a long while.

Anyway, why am I standing in the background of this video with three kinda big-deal indie hip-hop dudes playing guitar? I’m still not entirely sure, but I now know that sometimes it’s just who you know. If I have any advice to give it’s to make excellent friends.

Link to the Page and other videos

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The Breast of your Wife

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

This is going to be a show.

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Our band could be your Wife

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Wife show at the Fox Hole. Photo credits due Jon Donnell

Wife is: Doug Milliken, Mike Dix Thomas, Andy Lyman (and sometimes: Ed Knisely, Emily Dix Thomas, Eric Schwann, Kate Digby Skinner)

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Sounds from the Swamp

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Drum Swamp 02.04.2010 FULL AUDIO>>

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Different places, different complaints

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Here is a video of the Complaints Choir Chicago back from in 2007 I just discovered today. Not particularly relevant to anything, but worthy of a post. That was a fun time doing all that complaining.

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Dinner, Africa, MENSK, Hatreds, and Ye

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

A general info dump, since I haven’t had a chance to trickle this out, and likely will not until everything is upon me:

The Dinner Table is wrapping up and should be available Friday (May 22nd) through it’s own site, NaDA Publishing, or its MagCloud Page.

Tuesday May 26th, I will be outbound to Johannesburg, South Africa. Staying over a night there, and then on to Llongwe, Malawi. I will be traveling over there for the entire month of June, landing stateside (according to plan) July 1st. I will attempt to keep this site saturated with photos and stories for the duration.

I of course will be away, but MENSK will continue on with TruckShows and RoofTop Films for the month of June.

I also have two shows coming up before I jet off next Tuesday. First up, at Space on Sunday the 24th: Hatreds (our new untested black metal duo), with A Primitive and Savage Land (thinking man’s power violence), and Book of the Dead (polite man’s death metal).

Then Monday the 25th at Bubba’s Sulky Lounge: Ye! With Rattlesnakes, and Shellshag (wonderful rock n’ roll garbage) from Brooklyn. Should be a fantastic show. If you are intercepting this transmission anywhere near Portland, ME, you should come check out the twitching carnage.

Until the future.

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iPod swap Faces legitimacy

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Now it can be officially called a half-assed attempt. Up from the original eigth-assed attempt at the formalization of iPod swap.

A Facebook Group! Gasp!

If connected systems exist, use them.

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End: The results

Friday, March 6th, 2009

The great iPod experiment was a huge success. I will definitely continue the practice. The randomness of someone elses’ unknown music is disarming. I found myself occasionally quite enjoying music I wasn’t “supposed” to like. Some religious beliefs were reconfirmed however, for instance, I still really really hate James Taylor. I also cannot pallet Ani Di Franco, not one bit, although curiously and disastrously didn’t use any of my 5 allotted skips on her.

Here are the results as I documented them (which is not very extensively at all):

Tracks I dug:
Wilson Phillips
Juanez
JJ Cale
Justin Timberlake

Tracks I skipped:
Some completely unignorable fiddle-pop jam-fest.
Alanis Morissette
Coldplay
Tori Amos
James Taylor

No huge revelations to be had, but it was totally worthwhile and fun. I’ve had some positive feedback from the other camp as well, which only used one of their skips (but apparently considered it on a couple other tracks). Leave what we know. Even if just for a day.

Live different.

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Experiment: Music

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Today begins a grand experiment: iPod swap! My good friend and I have profoundly different tastes in music, but fearing stagnation, and possessing in us both the tendency towards self-torture, we have agreed to switch iPods for the duration of the day. They must be kept on random, and we are only allowed 5 skips each, so we must be conservative in case we encounter a 20 minute long live Phish jam, or a 35 minute Merzbow track and be left with no other option but hurling ourselves off a bridge (self-termination is not outside of the rules).

Despite the risk of Barenaked Ladies (a constant threat) and jam bands, I think this should be a very worthwhile exercise. I hope to implement it with more formality in the near future. We get very easily stuck in our own worlds. I think it is important to venture out from time to time and open ourselves up to thoughts, sounds, and images that we would never explore on our own. For instance, already I have learned that Wilson Phillips rules, and that I still do not care at all for Ani Di Franco. Other realities are so close by. We have the ability to explore them every day and yet we rarely do.

..It is only great restraint the keeps me from skipping the Alanis Morisette song which has just come one. …Oh but then Tuvan Throat singing is the reward! Endless surprises abound, if we only take the minimal risk to venture out.

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Mission of Burma in Space

Monday, February 16th, 2009

The Mission of Burma Interview from last month is alive and kicking. Check out the Space Blog and read on young adventurer. Burma has long been of of my favorite bands. It was a pleasure to get to meet them.

AL: At what point did that terror fade where you were thought, “alright, maybe we have a chance at not sucking.”

CC: I guess after the first round of gigs. They went really well.

PP: And also after a year or two when we got a concentrated batch of shows, at the end of it, it was actually like a machine, and like you’re supposed to feel in a band.

Burma Interview

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