Random bits of Music News: Shows this weekend, Deastro's Parollelogram

Detroit's Deastro released the Parallelogram 7" today, on Ghostly International.

More info here: http://ghostly.com/releases/parallelogram

Next show: Thanksgiving Eve, 11/26 - Magic Stick

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This Friday at the Berkley Front:

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Saturday, 11/15 - it's Carjack and Champions of Breakfast at the Elbow Room in Ypsilanti

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and...in this week's Deep Cutz - an old favorite: The Esperantos

In the time spent covering Detroit, I’ve seen a lot of bands come and go. It’s always rough to see, at first, but you get used to it. Sometimes though, you’re able to see a band come ... back. Such is the case with The Esperantos, a still considerably young Bay City-born garage, punk, surf power-trio that, since forming in 2005 and releasing an album in late-2006, spent much of 2008 in purgatory. But they reformed at the end of the summer. Never fully on either side of the fence for garage (in the raw splattered grooves of The Stooges) or for pop (in that quirky, hook-filled Kinks style), The Esperantos are always great to see live. They play the Cadieux Café on 11/14 and Corktown Tavern on 11/15. More: myspace.com/theesperantos.

Scenes, be it bands, venues or energy in general, always go in circles, as Dan Kroha once told me three years ago (back in 2005, when there was no Deastro, no Crofoot), when garage-boom bitterness lingered and The Hard Lessons played the second slot Fridays at the Lager. It turned out to be prophetic — just look at The Go, or The Gories potential reunion. The energy is back … for a time, at least

Shows: Ladyhawk 11-17; The Acorn with Calexico 11-20; Wild Sweet Orange 11-21;

The Acorn Woodsy, rhythmic, crisp - you can smell the burnt leaves and feel the hum of the passing pavement under the station wagon as the illuminating acoustic balad "Crooked Legs" rolls on..."watching the road with two young eyes to guide me..." Crooked Legs - is the lead single from Ottawa Ontario based sextet The Acorn's Tin Fist EP (from 2006, now - recently released here in the states); the band recently won (or, was picked to be) the fill-in spot on tour with Calexico, after similarly angled Earthy-romantics the Bowerbirds had to...ahem, bow out, of the tour to take a much needed break. Equal parts syrupy golden goodness with a bit of stirring goth and characteristic chilly naturalistic vibes - what could else could you expect from Ottawa? The band is still riding the waves of 07's Glory Hope Mountain LP as well as having just finished a tour with Akron/Family through the UK. more info: myspace.com/theacorn http://www.paperbagrecords.com/ www.myspace.com/thecrofoot 11 / 20 - Pike Room (Pontiac) with Calexico ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wild Sweet Orange Birmingham Alabama-based quartet Wild Sweet Orange brings traditional folk and pop with a tender sunset viewing somberness and cloudy afternoon catharsis. Clanging, jangly guitars and bouncing bass and waving banjos and blurting harmonicas - southern boys showing their soft sides...and touring up through Michigan playing tunes from their latest We Have Cause To Be Uneasy...(which summed up my sentiments, certainly, of the last 8 years...but now, joyously, no longer.) See the band 11 / 21, at the Pike Room with Margot and the Nuclear So and So's ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ladyhawk "I Don't Always Know What You're Saying" More Canadians coming through...on their first visit to Detroit in support of the rough and blitzing Spring 08 release Shots, Vancouver's Ladyhawk has been understandably linked to some of the more fiery amp-exploding pummel-rock of Neil Young's darker mid-70's era as refracted through brief glimpses of druggy/slacker/folk from the 80's ala the Replacements. Frankly, it's hard to pin down, but it definitely has a growling, rousing energy to it. They play the Magic Stick on Monday 11/17 - so hopefully we can get some of the home crowd out to support... http://www.majesticdetroit.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ signing off for now....

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Ladyhawk photo:Steven Bedard

More Album Reviews: My Dear Disco; Farewell Republic; Fields of Industry; Vivian Girls

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My Dear Disco – DanceThink LP

www.myspace.com/mydeardisco

The first time I tried to get some words down about Ann Arbor's dance-pop-odyssey septet, My Dear Disco, it took immersing the ol' melon between a pair of headphones, with the volume up, before I was properly swooning, whirling and bobbing to these propulsive beats, shimmery electro cascades and anthemic ceiling rattling belted balladry. There's no scraping a spoonful off the top with this sound and style, you have to dive in, completely. Adroitly arranged structures allows each member space to strut: be it the dueling guitars or the complimenting synth storm/moog mingling aesthetic or those coaxing bass grooves or the Off-The-Wall drums. The philosophy behind this self-produced album is "DanceThink," – cerebral fun, pensive release, contemplative escapism – which may be asking much from the top 40 Pussycat Dolls crowd, but the healthy symptom of DanceThink is that it angles the house/rave lights-n-music, glitz-n-grind sensibility to more of a daring experimentalist realm, still having that fun embrace of dance but with less self-destructive excess. What shines here is their strength and chemistry as a unit. Some of the effects and kitschy accoutrements can ring close to (predictable by title) disco revivalism, and each being music school grads means the meticulous aim-for-an-A+ construction of each song is palpable. Still, filled to the brim with energy and great grooves.

Fields of Industry - Two Dogs, A Television (arts vs entertainment)

www.myspace.com/fieldsofindustry

This Lansing quintet shows a strong grasp of tone and aesthetic, utilizing long, lingering notes from soft fuzzy organs and surfy sunset guitars that wrap up the listener in lush cocoons and meditative sways…with such warm tones radiating through the speakers from their shimmery picks-ups, it's like that first time you toss the jacket off on Spring's first melting day. Many note the sparseness of their sound, but it feels like each song is blossoming, starting from just guitars and reserved percussion and growing, enveloping, rising…the tender nonchalance stripped r&b of late-Velvet Underground, with Brian Wilson's ear for pop construction and Spacemen 3 or Yo La Tengo's penchant for demure shoegaze-tinged folk.

Fields of Industry - Point of Contention

Farewell Republic – Bridges

www.myspace.com/farewellrepublic

Intense, theatrical, guitar shredding, visceral indie-rock blasting over the mountaintops and reigning down on the complacent suburbia below…Ann Arbor quartet Farewell Republic open things up with an intricate prog-rock jazz groove instrumental then quickly flex their muscles for explosive pedal pulsed atmospheric and fiery guitar-heavy rockers ("In the Night") with vocals equaling the pained cathartic burn of the guitars and rolling drums. Centerpieces "This Lie" and "Revival" flesh out their more neo-world post-rock arty-Eno leanings, with histrionic guitar whirls and intricate percussion – a hazy space-rock with undeniable flares of post-punk edge; each song averages 5 minutes, with rewardingly varying structures.

Farewell Republic - In The Night

Vivian Girls S /T IN THE RED

www.myspace.com/viviangirlsnyc

I wasted two mornings, pacing in front of my computer, pushing myself to finish the annual autumn mix compilation; overreaching with the awkward bumps and uneasy flow of too many new releases from bands I may never hear of or return to again…Then this record hits me and I think, why bother over-packing the mix with newness. Return! Return to what works! The Vivian Girls, an all-female trio from Brooklyn, know this all too well – guitars so fuzzed and clangy with feedback that you almost have to squint, riffs so steady and bristly you almost see the old coca-cola filled fridge in the gutted-out garage; this is the shimmery shoegaze and off-kilter romanticism of Jesus and Mary Chain, or the steady one-two-left-right inter-dimensional doo-wop beachside pop of Beat Happening. It reaches back not just to the roots of girl-groups or the simple driving rock thrills of garage rock, but also to the roots of indie and lo-fi styles born from the early and mid-80's…the genesis of those shaggy skater-looking, aloof K Records and Ecstatic Sunshine types…you can find even the more sugary sides of My Bloody Valentine or the sweet endearment of more obscure groups like Heavenly. The point is, it's done well – and that's what's winning people over…yes, it's full of heart and full of charm, but it takes you back, while still sounding fresh.

Carjack - aftermath from Halligan's

[recounting: Rabeah's Birthday and Carjack's 3rd anniversary...at Halligan's, at Warren and Rockdale in Detroit, near Dearborn

featuring Tony (from Friends of Dennis Wilson, DJ Mod Teepee)]

info: myspace.com/carjackband; myspace.com/electriclions

(words: jeff milo, photos: mike milo)

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I looked around at all the locals, broad shouldered toughs downing uncommonly cheap beers all rousting together in packs of 3's or 4's like scheming hyenas; and I'm thinking, in an hour I'll be jumping around in front of them wearing a creepy old-man rubber mask and shouting in their faces…

But then, I quickly realize that Bri will be up there before me, wearing a crinkled plastic E.T. mask, throwing robots around in disregard of any one's nearby table-set drinks and jogging in mock-boxer training hullabaloo theatrics to the theme of "Eye of the Tiger" and I'll be put at ease. The dude always blazes a trail for me.

Deeper than that, he ends up blazing a trail for the wild side of everyone in any room, particularly these gurgling hyenas, stomping and swaying ever more steadily and recklessly as the night went on...

As we walked into this doesn't-look-like-much-type o' joint in a long rectangular humble exterior along a dimly-lit stretch of nothing special road where Dearborn meets Detroit, we weren't sure what to expect…just that there was the potential for a bit of blue-collar stress-relievin' pummeling and that a one-man band with toys and avant-gard electro-noises and hard-shredded guitars may end up being the target of their bellicosity.

Quite the opposite…well, sort of…

Suffice it to say, it we did it up proper to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of live Carjack shows on that dark and ricocheting night at Halligan's. Rabeah and his Electric Lions were "out for blood," as they often are, stately, focused, driving psychedelic pop with now-characteristically mind-blowing solos and tight rhythmic chemistry – grand, golden, smoky flavor with lots of swing and gusto. A planned half-hour set welcomingly rolled into 45+ minutes, but the crowd was starting to really amp up in energetic waves toward the modest stage. Carjack and I shared a few glances of eye-contact and shouted exchanges over the impressively loud sound system…airing slight apprehensions of having to follow this…

But it all turned out great…great and crazy and nearly devastatingly brutal.

It had been a while, this being his 90th show, for Carjack, that we had the whole "crew" of the girls, my brother, Justin Audio and Miss N. all gathered together…let alone in foreign territory. But we all put each other at ease by slowly lubricating our own souls with the cheap drinks and steadily dancing into a nice grooving looseness to the closing songs of the Electric Lions.

(it should be noted Carjack's own penchant for seeking out new, more unconventional or less-treaded on venues like Mocad, White's Bar, Vesta House, LJ's, Scrummage...I mean, hell, his first show was at Mephisto's! Sometimes you have to go a bit underground, at weird times in weird places, to catch a great Carjack show - which adds to the singularity and uniqueness of certain shows. It's like Black Flag traipsing their way through the South, out of place--but that what makes it great.)

Anyway, midnight rolls around and the mantra becomes: Let's go for broke.

The set started off fairly normal and steady, Eye of the Tiger allowed Bri to explore the newly refurbished room, with it's recently redone wooden floors and tv's glowing from many different directions. All My Feelings Denied properly introduced the beat-heavy destructo-punk styling of Carjack to the more rock-ready crowd Things were going smoothly indeed, but it seemed to accelerate when Miss N. took the spot behind the skins and added her live on-point percussion to the Carjack theme song – which eventually led Bri to mounting the 4-foot-high bar, having to bend his neck right below the ceiling as he triumphantly wielded his guitar in a noisy tear over the heads of the now fully percolated brew-dudes.

Then the set went from the more electro-dance-ready flavor to the fiery punk setting as I scurried up there to grab a mic and sing on "Damaged." Having grown up on Black Flag and Minor Threat, it's no surprise Bri penned such a rampant and rousing kicker (with old ally Shane O'Mac) that had now been developed for the new Carjack project. At this point, the avalanche began – with Miss N. pounding away and myself jumping around in circles at the edge, literally inches from falling onto the heads and shoulders below me, I screaming "DAMAGED – IS WHAT I NEED!" and pumping my fists out into the air, jumping around as though I'd been set to self destruct and needed to get this last bit of grit and insanity out of me…which led to Justin jumping onto and off-of the stage repeatedly throughout the song. The crowd of a dozen or so bodies massing at the stage started to move as one, not entirely violent at first, not entirely like a mosh-pit but with the right conditions and with the same vibe.

Then it started to blur. I just remember a lot of movement, a lot of jumping and bumping and yelling…and Bri's guitar shredding away and meatstick-jocks screaming choruses back at me and pushing by me to then jump onto Bri's shoulders shouting at him…but they were loving it. This wasn't the fist-clenched what-the-fuck-is-this reaction we'd expected…these burly dudes were digging it! Even if they were expressing it in a quasi-destructive manner…they still wouldn't let Carjack off the stage, demanding 2 encores – with Justin joining in on guitar for "Telegraph Road," sufficiently doing to his guitar what we had done to the crowd, revving it up, stirring it violently and letting the wayward fizz and fire fly where it may…!

Robots came out and started dancing around – Justin almost got into a fight over a stolen beer and I gave in and just started pulling anyone I could, with me, onto the stage to join in on the ceremonial arms-up/balls-out release!

The rest is a complete blur…

The next morning I run into Justin, cool and casual with his hands on his hips.

"We kinda tore that place down last night, huh…"

Hope to do it again soon.

ALBUM REVIEWS: Ratatat; Brightblack Morning Light; Anni Rossi; Tyler Devos

Ratatat – LP3 4 / 5 XL

The classification of "good walkman music" seems considerably under-discussed, at least in the shifty imprecision of the music-journo world – but Ratatat (spacey-electro/guitar-effects-focused/beat-heavy) the NY duo Mike Stroud and Evan Mast, here on their third aptly titled LP, continue (and excel-in) crafting beautiful, intriguing, hooky, dancey music with spindly video game bravado electronics and an overall tight groove that just makes you feel cool when you're walking down the street with it…Essentially, good walkman music is like soundtrack music, but never impersonal, with an addictive air to adopt these bobbing tunes and roundhouse dance ditties as personal theme songs to facilitate your travels. ("Shempi" sounds like it's made by Daft Punk's distinguished long-lost cousins). Well, anyway, let's go back to that phrase, soundtrack-music: with you sliding into some Tony Manero paint-can toting swagger – this music conjures cinematic magic and lends itself to readily wild imaginative montages of disco floor glory, spaceship dogfights or epic kung fu face offs – you almost create your own quick-cutting film edits in your mind as you listen – it only figures that you'd want to be moving, exploring, encountering different things every five steps to the beat of LP3, thus you put your headphones on and you head out…walkman music!

Tyler Devos – Post U 3 / 5 self

Post U is a bit rugged Americana with earnest solitary teardrop singer/songwriter reflections spread across rousing alt-country drives and boot-tapping last-call-at-the-saloon ballads that sway brokenhearted to the woozy pedal steels wafting over the orange-sunset-glowing horizons – Tyler Devos has brought this plaintive, earthy pop/rock closer to the rustbelt, having recently transplanted from Maine into the more folk-friendlier milieu of Ann Arbor. Drawing from early Wilco, Big Star and Neko Case, Devos captures nicely the blending of smooth glistening alt-pop, country twang and heart-shredding lovelorn troubadour inflections – the song structures fall into either a straight, steady pop rock bopper, or more acoustic/pedal-steel led waltz; be warned that lyrically it certainly does tug on those heartstrings…close to the breaking point.

Anni Rossi – Afton 3.5 / 5 4AD

All wishy washy topsy turvy, wavy whirling ker-plunkety snip-snap and smoooooooth, saw that viola down to a nice groove then trill that strange beautiful voice upwards and growl out a throaty expressive chorus – flavorful! This is quirky, arty, punchy, wild VIOLA pop and it's weird and maybe not so easy to take at first, but Anni Rossi, a 23-year-old classically trained multi-instrumentalist, is able to draw you in with aggressive viola leads and wild Joanna Newsome/Bjork recalling vocal styles that are flamboyant but stirring, showcasing mad plucking skills and simultaneously rapping her finger board or stomping her feet for percussion. Immmpulses! Recorded (and fleshed out) with Steve Albini, Afton heralds Rossi's arrival for 09.

Brightblack Morning Light - Motion to Rejoin 3 / 5 Matador

Autumn…in many ways an all too ideal time for a Brightblack Morning Light record -things are finally slowing down, nature reflects a collective descent, a retreat into warmer meditative states; the soggy splendors of rainy day window gazing lend themselves to the soothing somber tones of a Rhodes and the hazy, effected vocals drift around you, indeterminate but ever-present, like the wind. Cerebral and atmospheric, but at times to a fault, the brazen weight, length and sometimes uneventful hovering groove-ballads carve out a niche (or trap) that the more fidgety listeners will cast as background music. The listener is like a muddy bank as the album's songs waft and wash delicately upon you like the ripples of a small pond.

Detroit Unplugged - Lager House - brought to you by Five Three Dial Tone and Web Vomit

Deep Cutz by Jeff Milo photo by Kristin Schroeder

One full year of PJ’s management of the Lager House (sidenote: also, one year of Deep Cutz columns) and part of their birthday celebration features a refreshing, acoustic show put together by JRC from Five Three Dial Tone (.com). and Jasper from Webvomit (jasper.webvomit.com)

Detroit Unplugged assembles Alicia & Matt (The Nice Device), John Nelson (New Grenada/Copper Thieves), Craig Brown (Terrible Twos/Mahonies), Dale & Jenna (Four Hour Friends) and also features Blair (Blair & The Boyfriends), an award-winning urban folk/afro-punk, singer/songwriter and national slam poetry champion whose work has been performed worldwide. More info: myspace.com/blairmusic.

Also, Zach Curd (Pop Project/Suburban Sprawl, myspace.com/zachcurdmusic) brings his flavorful solo soul pop. “I know a lot of people say that they start solo projects to work on ideas that can’t fit into the strict, horrible and suffocating confines of their regular band,” said Curd, “but for me, it is something less finite and more of a continuation of the practice of songwriting and recording … probably because the Pop Project is as comfortable playing disco as it is playing country.”

Don't let Hope be manipulated + (more reviews on the way)

more reviews, interviews and other various music ramblings on the way...

But, in the meantime, this is a worthwhile read that brings up some vital points to keep in mind as we all come down from the rolling high of an Obama victory.

Just because our guy won doesn't mean we just lay down in the backseat and drowsily watch Spongebob on the SUV's built-in mini-tv-screen while he drives...

Keep your wits about you. Climb up to the passenger seat this time with a map. Scrutinize every turn.

~

next...
Deerhunter, Ratatat, My Dear Disco & Deastro

thanks for reading
thanks for voting

New Video: Child Bite - Barracuda Mouth

link: "Child Bite - Barracuda Mouth - (from Manny Malone)"

I'll let Child Bite intro the video:
"You may or may not know Dan, but he's a major part of the Child Bite family. He started out by being one of our touring dancers that would strip down to his whitey tighties during shows while wearing a giant eyeball mask & doing the crab walk for 25 minutes.Next he applied his animation/video skills to doing a music video for the "Broach for Two" remix (from the Exquisite Luxury EP).
Then he was the guy responsible for hundreds of illustrations that were drawn specifically for use on Fantastic Gusts of Blood's CD packaging, t-shirts, buttons, stickers, posters, etc.Dancer, Animator, Illustrator.Pretty impressive, but as of today he has a few new titles to add to the resume:
Pudding Eater, Pudding Flinger, Pudding Puker"







(Child Bite - Nov. 29th at St. Andrew's Hall)

Back to Music: Girl Talk 11 / 11 Eagle Theatre (by Thomas Matich)

[editorial preface to return to music coverage]

It happened. History. And a storm of emotions.
And hopefully, inspiration.

Remember, that if you want change - you have to be apart of that change. As our new president said, we have a lot of work to do.

That said, let me just air out one final thought...The beastly ignorance that still festers in the corners of this country. As I was walking into work one day, a conversation behind me was spoken too loudly to be ignored. "I cried myself to sleep last night," they said...and I shrugged thinking, hmm...that could be because it was tears of happiness...

Alas, the person mumbled something about Hussein, and... "that's his brother," or some other kind of wretched reprehensible delusion. I'd like someone to explain to me, scientifically, how a white woman from Kansas having sex with a black man from Kenya somehow creates the brother of Saddam Hussein.

Better, explain to me how this person whom I will assume has at least graduated high school, could allow their mind to be so porous to nonsense. Can the next thing we "change" in this country be the lingering idiocy? If we're on a change-kick lately, let's really amp it up and start refusing to suffer the ignoramuses

Another point - there are also some out there ready to remind us that the world still sucks. People are still dying, the economy is still crumbling and...most importantly, I will agree to highlight that, racism still exists...

But what good is it to just point at it...We've taken one step - and elected the first black president of a country that dealt in the slave trade for more than 200 years.

So, the horrors of the world don't magically go away, just as the ignorance of that person at my work doesn't go away...We work toward it. One step is over. Now, go beyond voting for change. Be apart of it.

Okay... the great redemption of a generation occurred, so now we, here at Deep Cutz, can get back to MUSIC!!! and lots of it.

~

Here's an Un-Cut version of a Girl Talk interview by music writer (and stalwart Cutz-contributor) Thomas Matich, regarding cyborgs, lab-top use and classic Detroit Techno

Girl Talk Just Wants to Have Fun
by Thomas Matich

A Girl Talk concert is like a sweaty can of sardines going berserk to the hip-hop powered mash-ups of the last 40 odd years of pop music. Hailing from Pittsburgh, former bio-medical engineer Greg Gillis has redefined the art of sampling music with his trusty duct-tape bandaged laptop, releasing acclaimed albums like Night Ripper and Feed The Animals that are more 21st century concerto than CD. Real Detroit chatted with Gillis in anticipation of his upcoming sold out show in Pontiac, where last November he left no wallflowers untouched.

TM: What is the last movie you watched?
GG: I have a tour bus and we jammed out on Terminator today.

TM: They’re making a new Terminator with Christian Bale.
GG: That’s what I heard. We started talking about Terminator 3, which I liked, I was feeling it, I didn't think it was garbage or anything. The extension of them chronicling how machines could actually start to become self-conscious, I thought that was cool.

TM: Speaking of cyborgs, I feel like my laptop is an extension of my body. Do you feel that way?
GG: It’s definitely for me. I think for a lot of people, it’s your little buddy, especially I always have the laptop with me, when I'm alone and chillin' out that’s what I go to for entertainment and that’s what I also go to for work and performing live. It's hard to even articulate what it means at this point; it’s something beyond a piece of electronics.

TM: People watch porn on their computer. You perform with your laptop and take care of personal business, but do you also take care of some OTHER personal business?
GG: The laptop I use for music, I try to isolate that as much as possible and stay offline with it. I have some other computers just cause the worst thing you can ever do as a performer is get a bunch of crap on your computer you don’t want.

TM: I’m guessing you get a lot of the same questions in interviews, so what do you want to talk about, what’s on Girl Talk’s mind?
GG: I’m cool with talking bout whatever, if you wanna talk about the Detroit Lions, Detroit techno, Pittsburgh sandwiches, Pittsburgh Steelers, I don’t care; I'm here for you.

TM: So the Steelers? Are you a fan?
GG: Yeah, I always follow the Steelers. The Steelers run the city and if you’re not into football, you probably don’t have a soul. It’s funny there, even people in bands and underground music, people you wouldn’t expect to be football fans, like you’ll never see a show on a Steelers Sunday and you’ll see people wearing jerseys on the weekend of games and it kinda ties the city together.

TM: So you brought up Detroit techno, is that something you spent time listening to growing up? GG: I listened to more of the ghettotech stuff, but my background in electronic music is more from the experimental end. I really got into electronic music in the late ‘90s when kids in my high school were going to raves and stuff like that. Back then, I was more interested in people using electronic music as a tool of punk rock, pushing the limits and not needing any traditional musical talent and just breaking down the barriers and getting wild with it.

TM: How was playing at this year’s Movement Festival for you?
GG: I had a great time. Everything was very interesting; it was almost too much to wrap your head around.

TM: I got into a few discussions about the idea of you being booked for the festival in terms of how the purists would view it.
GG: I was pumped at that opportunity, because this project in the early days, I was always in my mind an outcast figure. I would show up at venues and play with rock and rap groups and get up there doing Top 40 remixes and getting in people’s face, it didn’t really fit in any niche. Sometimes I’d win the crowd over and other times I would piss everyone off and someone would try to punch me in the face and break my computer. That was the background of this project and I think a lot of people don’t understand that, I think people just see the shows now and think it’s this guy who remixes pop music and jumps around and everyone likes it. So I don’t think people understand the confrontational nature that this project is rooted in. So being asked to play this festival got me really pumped, not necessarily to piss everyone off, just as being acknowledged. But the festival was great, I had a blast.

TM: Detroit has a reputation as not being a dancing crowd. But people go crazy when you play here. Is that intrinsic to you or does it vary by city?
GG: I think Pittsburgh is on a similar level. Some nights, people lose it, depending on the setting. But in general I think Pittsburgh is kinda known for being a standstill crowd. But the shows I'm playing now in Pittsburgh, it gets buckwild. I think part of the reason people are going crazy is the anticipation of the event and presentation of it. People are familiar with this music as party music and because of that people know there's going to be a distinct beginning and end. I have an hour of insanity and the way people come out to the concerts ready in their mind, “we have one hour to lose it.” You have to drop your guard to be into this project, drop that too cool for school style, your attending a concert by a guy named Girl Talk and he samples all forms of pop music.

TM: When I met you at the last Eagle Theatre show, you were all sweaty and drank some of my beer. I’m guessing you’re always meeting interesting people and have tons of stories.
GG: Dude, I could write a book. I often times wind up at lots of parties. It can be a very surreal experience walking into a party where people will cheer for you like it’s a concert. It's completely bizarre. So often times I'll end up sleeping in a dorm room or on the floor of some squat house because that’s where the evening has taken me. Every night I like to take it over the top and have an adventurous party.

TM: People familiar with your back-story know that you were a bio-medical engineer before Girl Talk took off. Will you ever go back to that?
GG: I don’t really want to go back to it but I’m loosely planning on doing that. For music, there’s no way I could’ve predicted it would’ve become like this, it’s truly a fluke in my mind. I’m really happy about it and think it’s awesome, but it’s just really bizarre. But I can’t imagine this lasting forever. I think doing any form of dance related music is a bit more functional than a traditional band where as if you’re a band and write an album that everybody loves, people come out to the shows and if your next album doesn’t do as well, the shows can immediately stop selling. But if you’re doing dance music or DJing, it’s more long-term because of the functionality of it. But I just can’t imagine sustaining this as a career for a long time, if I do that be awesome. I’m more excited about creating music for right now and if I decide to do a noise album and everyone hates it than that be cool. I’d rather work with people’s minds than money and get people to think about music in different ways than milk this for as long as possible.

Girl Talk · 11/11 · The Eagle Theatre

Girl Talk · 11/11 · The Eagle Theatre

President Barack Obama

to the passing of a generational torch...

...this is our time!!!!




President Barack Obama
The 44th President of the United States




Our time
let us get started...
together

On the precipice...what lies ahead...hope or fear... "we'll see what happens"...taking solace in the First Globals generation

You can scream and you can shout

It is (hopefully not) too late now

Because

You have not been

Paying attention

radiohead - 2+2=5

Deep Cutz State of the Union:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

~~~~~

This is encouraging:

"...the generation widely projected to be the game-changers Tuesday, the 18- to 29-year-olds who do not historically vote as much as their elders, but this year could comprise almost 20% of the electorate. Zogby calls them First Globals, reflective of their round-the-world reach through the Internet, travel, worldwide education and business opportunities.

He describes them as "the most outward looking and accepting generation in American history ... far more likely than their elders to accept gays and lesbians. For all practical purposes, they're the first color-blind Americans and the first to bring a consistently global perspective ... a quarter of them think they'll end up living for some significant period in a country other than America." (We already know they're bailing out of Michigan.)

...Today's young adults -- growing up amid the Panic of '08 or however it will be known -- will get used to living with less after decades marked by America's conspicuous consumption. The country, Zogby says, will by 2020 have "embraced the Zen of more minimal lifestyles" and will "expect our leaders to talk straight: Hype, hokum and hooey, in politics, in advertising, wherever it appears, will be punished. So will those who tell us to sacrifice then refuse to make sacrifices of their own. Of that, Congress and presidents must be aware.

"A new American consensus is being born," Zogby says, and its core values will include authenticity and, dare we even imagine -- competence.

from RON DZWONKOWSKI 's editorial, in Sunday's Detroit Free Press.

~

"When anybody enters into this mode of expression...you want to see that you do have an effect in ‘changing the world’ but,...I just try to express my thoughts about things; I try to make sense of what's going on for myself and by extension...other people, and hopefully help somebody else make sense of something or just make it through a day - thanks to music…"

-Ted Leo

whatever happens, we're all in this together...