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vibrant guitar-cloud-pych-rock

There is no sleep to be had over at the Deerhunter/Lotus Plaza/Atlas Sound camp! I can relate but they are slightly more productive.

Atlas Sound (Bradford Cox) is set to release his second full length LP Logos October 20th. It's turning into quite a chore to archive all of his demos and projects but I am not complaining. He is set to do a small tour of the states with The Broadcast and The Selmanaries. I'm going to try and plan out a trip to see him in LA.


LOTUS PLAZA: Live @ Eyedrum, ATL Sept 22, 2009
DOWNLOAD
43:00 min 59.3 G

MS 150 BIKE RIDE

I am entering in the MS 150 ride in November. It's a charity bike ride and I need to raise money to ride. I would be truly grateful for any sort of donation! It's a 150+ mile bike ride over 2 days (Mesquite,NV and back) I am raising money for The Multiple Sclerosis Organization.

Donate HERE

calm...

Interbike Week is over. breathe.

My heart was at full capacity all week long. It was wonderful seeing old friends and making new ones. Nick and his friends rode from Boise, ID to Vegas in 6 days!! Bryan Novelo flew down from SF to play a show, ride bikes, drink margaritas, and warm my heart. At times, I wish I could be at two, or three places at once. Interbike is always a whirlwind of smiles and bikes.

All my training really paid off last Wednesday. I took 1st overall in this year's MASH DRAG RACE! This year was a series of three races: Sprint/Drag race, Alleycat, and Roller race. I did well in all three, but was completely surprised when Garrett announced my name out for first. Drea and I tied in points for first, so and I had to race once more for the title. I spun as hard as I could and came out on top. It was wonderful having all my friend's around me, cheering me on! I was on top of the world.

I plan on buying a road bike with my winnings. Time to step my game up...again.

Ohh Dharma virtualmixtape03

Been blogging like I'm trying to save the world with every post. This playlist is for a girl. The hard copy of this mixtape is wonderful. and creative. and wonderfully creative.

01 Nite Jewel "What Did She Say"
02 School of Seven Bells "Half Asleep"
03 Au Revoir Simone "Another Likely Story (Neon Indian Remix)"
04 Life Aquatic "Ping Island/Lightning"
05 Friendly Fires "Paris (Aeroplane Remix feat. Au Revoir Simone)"
06 AmpLive "Weird Fishez"
07 Miami Horror "Make You Mine"
08 Friendly Fires "Skeleton Boy (Air France Remix)"
09 Small Black "Despicable Dogs (Washed Out Remix)"
10 Cold Cave "The Trees Grew Emotions and Died"
11 Volcano "Africa Just Wants to have Fun"

mad photo cred to Aaron Garcia per usual. Miss you dear friend!

INTERBIKE WEEK 2009

Interbike Expo/Convention...Wed-Fri...races...parties...friends...bikes...bikes. Legs, don't fail me now!

Wednesday....

Thursday....

Friday....

Saturday...

OMFG PAVEMENT to Reunite!

Influential indie-rock ensemble Pavement will reunite early next year. According to a source close to the band, Pavement is planning a reunion show in New York City's Central Park SummerStage on September 21, 2010. Pavement originally announced its decision to split up in 2000.

Time to mark my calender and take Stephany up on her offer to visit NYC.

Thank you Pitchfork.com

Sunny Day Sunday

I decided to bail early Saturday night and wake up early for a long bike ride.

When I got up to Summerlin I ran into Ian. We were both pretty stoked to run into each other and cruise around. We both tackled the Red Rock Loop and the surrounding Summerlin area.

I was pretty tired on the way back and I was letting my mind bounce from thought to thought, as I often do my best thinking while I ride. The quick thought of getting a flat came to mind: how I havent had one in weeks and weeks. And then BAM, flat tire! No worries, but...I grabbed the wrong size tube, bummer. I got a flat about three or four blocks away from my house so I just walked the rest of it. As I passed the Convention Center I guy in a white pickup walked out toward me.

"Clincher or tubular?" he asks.

I was completely taken aback from this stranger's knowledge of bicycle wheels. After the shock I answered,"Clincher."

He pulled out a few tubes from his back seat. I said thanks but they wouldn't work. The valves were too small. When he noticed this he smiled and said sorry.

"Well do you need a ride home?" he asked.
"Huh, I'm okay." I responded.
"C'mon. Let me help out a fellow cyclist."
"Right on! Thanks!"

As it turns out he is an avid cyclist/triathlete who rides around Red Rock and races often. We talked about bikes for a few blocks and he turned out to be a really cool guy. I thanked him for the ride and told him maybe we will ride together soon.

few daily snaps...

The Cat Piano

Nick Cave (The Bad Seeds) narrates the latest short film from The People's Republic of Animation. I'm happy art is life.

Destroyer 'Bay of Pigs EP'

Listen, I've been drinking...

As if you would expect anything less than superb from Dan Bejar. There's a special place in my heart for Destroyer. When Bejar is not fronting Canadian indie rock supergroup The New Pornographers he is diligently working on his solo work.

When I first discovered 'Trouble In Dreams' last year, it became the soundtrack to many happy and not-so-happy months. Artists never know when they truly move someone, a certain experience or person can make the most mediocre music seem mind-blowing and inspiring. But when you mix fantastic music with wonderful memories, it's magic.

This two track EP is a sneak peek at the sound (...hopefully) to come from future Destroyer records. The first track is certainly new ground for Bajar, he dabbles in a sort of electronic...dare I say...disco feel on this one. Nearly five minutes go by the first track with minimalistic bleeps, Dejar's voice, and ambient fuzz, but once the band kicks in, everything clicks. The record is twenty minutes of ambient-drone-pop, filled with his usual alcoholism, girl-name-calling, and sarcastic-bouncy bop-chorus lines.

mp3_ Destroyer 'Bay of Pigs'

Ohh Dharma virtualmixtape02

excessive cloudwatching/daydreaming/studying/discovering/

01 Boards of Canada "Chromakey Dreamcoat"
02 Jonsi & Alex "Boy 1904"
03 Air "Alone in Kyoto"
04 Album Leaf "Vermillion"
05 Cinematic Orchestra "The Child Song"
06 Thom Yorke "All For the Best"
07 Air "Do The Joy"
08 Antony and the Johnsons "Crazy In Love (Beyonce cover)"
09 Feist "One Evening (Piano Version)"
10 Sun Kil Moon "Lost Verses"
11 David Bazan Priest and Paramedics (live)"
12 Asobi Seksu "Taiyo"
13 Burial/Four Tet "Wolf Cub"
14 Nujabes "Final View"

mad photo props to Aaron Garcia

not-so-weekly-update post

Summer is coming to a close. It's about time. I can't handle the non-stop pace, and I sure did try to hang on. Time to get back to reality...back to selfishness, back to myself, back to the grind. It's going to be a rocky transitional period but I'm going to keep that 'boy of summer' smile alive!

Atlas Sound (Bradford Cox of Deerhunter) and Noah Lennox (Panda Bear/Animal Collective) did a track together, it's better than good.

download/listen/share/enjoy/breathe.


few daily snaps that haven't surfaces yet...

Intergalactic Bike Ride

Record of the Week.

I found this record in the basement of a Seattle record shop, Bop Records. America's link between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal.

Vanilla Fudge [1967]
In a debut consisting of covers, nobody could accuse Vanilla Fudge of bad taste in their repertoire; with stoned-out, slowed-down versions of such then-recent classics as "Ticket to Ride," "Eleanor Rigby," and "People Get Ready," they were setting the bar rather high for themselves. Even the one suspect choice -- Sonny Bono's "Bang Bang" -- turns out to be rivaled only by Mott the Hoople's version of "Laugh at Me" in putting Bono's songwriting in the kindest possible light. Most of the tracks here share a common structure of a disjointed warm-up jam, a Hammond-heavy dirge of harmonized vocals at the center, and a final flat-out jam. Still, some succeed better than others: "You Keep Me Hanging On" has a wonderfully hammered-out drum part, and "She's Not There" boasts some truly groovy organ jams. While the pattern can sound repetitive today, each song still works as a time capsule of American psychedelia.

things to be excited about...

there are many but here is one...