Brian Greene: The universe on a string

Silversun Pickups Tickets on Sale now!

Tickets for the Silversun Pickups show at Greek on August 6th are now on sale (as of 6/15)

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE THEM

New BLACK KEYS

Here is the video for the song "Tighten up" off the new THE BLACK KEYS album. The album dropped May 18th and is pretty incredible. They have this ease with the music- it's essential playlist stuff... you know Black Rebel Motorcycle Club feel it- and Black Moutain it's this magical noir connections where you put it in your band name and your music is ironically golden. I saw them a few years back play with Jay Reatard (RIP) and am happy to have them back in my head.

TSLC

Musical theatre has been a beloved American pastime for decades and with movie musicals making a comeback and the TV take-over that is “Glee” it was only a matter of time before LA would find its voice.
The Silver Lake Chorus or the “Glee of Silver Lake” as they are being hailed performed their first gig Friday night at El Cid. The eclectic and energetic group, who formed just a few months ago, composes and performs renditions of indie favorites. On Thursday they appeared on Good Day LA- offering an exciting and intriguing teaser of their immense talent and the crowd that gathered to watch them on Friday was a testament to their skill.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the show was in fact that sheer enjoyment so blatant on the faces of the performers. They were indulging in the passion and it was clear to everyone in the audience that not only do the singers love what they are doing, but they are great at it!
The chorus is 25 people strong all of who come from different personal and professional backgrounds, but whose love of singing brings them together. They are in the process of recording an album and collaborating with some big-name musicians (Ben Lee was one of the guest performers on Friday). It seems it’s all happening for the Silver Lake Chorus and all success is well deserved. Their creativity, talent and unbridled happiness come together in a refreshing and highly enjoyable harmony that should be checked out if only to make your take a little brighter.

A great way to find new music...

I've found that a great way to find new music is to check out the lineups of summer festivals. I've been craving escape lately and checking out the AMAZING festivals which have begun their European take-over is an amusing distraction. By searching for some of my favorite bands and checking out their tour dates I've run across a series of more obscure and less known (to me, at least) festivals with bands I'd never heard of before, but who I'm really enjoying getting to know..
If i can't go to Europe this summer then at least I can explore some new European music and start some huge Euro dance party ... for me and my friends.

Check out
Two Door Cinema Club
Panama Kings
Beast
Chew Lips
2 Many DJ's yeah you've heard them, but listen some more...

If you're going please take me with you to the Rock en Seine Festival in Paris

CLICK HERE FOR THE SUMMER SONIC 2010 FESTIVAL.PLEASE NOTE HOW RANDOM THIS LINEUP IS... I DON'T KNOW IF I'M REALLY ANNOYED OR SUPER IMPRESSED...EITHER WAY INTRIGUE HAS BEEN SPARKED. who isn't surprised it's in tokyo...

Frightened Rabbit

I've felt like Alice recently...I had a rabbit following me around and I knew it meant something special. I kept hearing about the band Frightened Rabbit- I'd catch the end of a song or part of an interview and finally yesterday I got a full dose and I loved it.
Frightened Rabbit is a Scottish indie rock band that formed back in 2003 when front-man Scott began to play solo shows around town - he recorded a bit playing all the instruments himself, but finally found his sound when his brother joined in the music.
Over the past few years the band has grown and truly come into its own and has become a favorite fixture on the music circuit playing great venues and gathering quite a following.
It's music that makes me happy and that's hard to beat - They remind me of Neutral Milk Hotel or Wilco... They have heart and you can tell they are fully invested in their music - it's infectious passion and it's a great listen. They were delayed and couldn't make it to Coachella this year, but they are on tour now and their dates are on their Myspace Page so see how you can make this happen - i know I'm going to.

Click here to Listen on Rhapsody

Tribal Cafe

The Tribal Cafe in Echo park feels like a lot of places in the lower east side of NYC that you sort of stumble upon- like Cake Shop where the music is down in the basement. It's an unexpected venue that works so well because it’s so intimate and unpretentious. It makes sense I suppose that there is a Tribal cafe of similar personality in Paris (chicken..egg...chicken...egg) Either way, all these places are off the beaten track and you have to be looking around to find them and adventurous enough to stay, but when you do- the gamble definitely pays off.

Last Friday night felt relaxed; there was no pressure and so everything flowed well. Our friend was showing her photography and another girl had hung up her paintings. The art inspired from the walls and the musicians got up when the mood struck. All of the artists were so talented and everyone seemed to be having so much fun which made the evening all the more enjoyable.

Lindsey Troy is a singer/songwriter who played a set that night that was illuminating. Her voice is sultry and though her songs have a sense of sadness about them she seems so at peace whilst performing. Her personality is both relaxed and effervescent- she is a happy mix of cool and comfortable. Troy is such an intriguing character and though she says she's taking some time to focus on her other passion, acting, I hope she keeps singing because she brings something special when she does.
CHeck out her tunes at MYSPACE

XX

The XX self-titled album came out last year in August and it's nestled into my playlist quite perfectly- never ceasing to provide that je ne sais pas when I need my music fix. Traffic today was terrible, but the XX kept me sane.

a moment's inspiration

THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS
"The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.
If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. According to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the profession of highwayman. I see no contradiction in this. Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld. To begin with, he is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets. Egina, the daughter of Esopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, who knew of the abduction, offered to tell about it on condition that Esopus would give water to the citadel of Corinth. To the celestial thunderbolts he preferred the benediction of water. He was punished for this in the underworld. Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Pluto could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror.

It is said that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife's love. He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife. But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth. A decree of the gods was necessary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, lead him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him.

You have already grasped that Sisyphus is the absurd hero. He is, as much through his passions as through his torture. His scorn of the gods, his hatred of death, and his passion for life won him that unspeakable penalty in which the whole being is exerted toward accomplishing nothing. This is the price that must be paid for the passions of this earth. Nothing is told us about Sisyphus in the underworld. Myths are made for the imagination to breathe life into them. As for this myth, one sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone, to roll it, and push it up a slope a hundred times over; one sees the face screwed up, the cheek tight against the stone, the shoulder bracing the clay-covered mass, the foot wedging it, the fresh start with arms outstretched, the wholly human security of two earth-clotted hands. At the very end of his long effort measured by skyless space and time without depth, the purpose is achieved. Then Sisyphus watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward that lower world whence he will have to push it up again toward the summit. He goes back down to the plain.

It is during that return, that pause, that Sisyphus interests me. A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured step toward the torment of which he will never know the end. That hour like a breathing-space which returns as surely as his suffering, that is the hour of consciousness. At each of those moments when he leaves the heights and gradually sinks toward the lairs of the gods, he is superior to his fate. He is stronger than his rock.

If this myth is tragic, that is because its hero is conscious. Where would his torture be, indeed, if at every step the hope of succeeding upheld him? The workman of today works everyday in his life at the same tasks, and his fate is no less absurd. But it is tragic only at the rare moments when it becomes conscious. Sisyphus, proletarian of the gods, powerless and rebellious, knows the whole extent of his wretched condition: it is what he thinks of during his descent. The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory. There is no fate that can not be surmounted by scorn.

If the descent is thus sometimes performed in sorrow, it can also take place in joy. This word is not too much. Again I fancy Sisyphus returning toward his rock, and the sorrow was in the beginning. When the images of earth cling too tightly to memory, when the call of happiness becomes too insistent, it happens that melancholy arises in man's heart: this is the rock's victory, this is the rock itself. The boundless grief is too heavy to bear. These are our nights of Gethsemane. But crushing truths perish from being acknowledged. Thus, Edipus at the outset obeys fate without knowing it. But from the moment he knows, his tragedy begins. Yet at the same moment, blind and desperate, he realizes that the only bond linking him to the world is the cool hand of a girl. Then a tremendous remark rings out: "Despite so many ordeals, my advanced age and the nobility of my soul make me conclude that all is well." Sophocles' Edipus, like Dostoevsky's Kirilov, thus gives the recipe for the absurd victory. Ancient wisdom confirms modern heroism.

One does not discover the absurd without being tempted to write a manual of happiness. "What!---by such narrow ways--?" There is but one world, however. Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth. They are inseparable. It would be a mistake to say that happiness necessarily springs from the absurd. discovery. It happens as well that the felling of the absurd springs from happiness. "I conclude that all is well," says Edipus, and that remark is sacred. It echoes in the wild and limited universe of man. It teaches that all is not, has not been, exhausted. It drives out of this world a god who had come into it with dissatisfaction and a preference for futile suffering. It makes of fate a human matter, which must be settled among men.

All Sisyphus' silent joy is contained therein. His fate belongs to him. His rock is a thing Likewise, the absurd man, when he contemplates his torment, silences all the idols. In the universe suddenly restored to its silence, the myriad wondering little voices of the earth rise up. Unconscious, secret calls, invitations from all the faces, they are the necessary reverse and price of victory. There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night. The absurd man says yes and his efforts will henceforth be unceasing. If there is a personal fate, there is no higher destiny, or at least there is, but one which he concludes is inevitable and despicable. For the rest, he knows himself to be the master of his days. At that subtle moment when man glances backward over his life, Sisyphus returning toward his rock, in that slight pivoting he contemplates that series of unrelated actions which become his fate, created by him, combined under his memory's eye and soon sealed by his death. Thus, convinced of the wholly human origin of all that is human, a blind man eager to see who knows that the night has no end, he is still on the go. The rock is still rolling.

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

---Albert Camus

"SKINS" (and the clothes that cover them)

"SKINS" - three seasons in and I'm just finding out about this?!?! Curses to not having access to BBC America, but netflix is my savior. This irreverent, clever and biting black comedy exposes the trials and trippy tribulations of being an almost adult in Bristol. The show follows a group of friends as they try to balance relationships, school and all the drug induced dance parties in-between.
The show reaffirms a conviction I've long since held that English kids are vastly more mature and though they face and fuck up all the same things we do in America and surely world-wide, their sense of humor and understanding of the world into which they've been thrust is highly intriguing and the show's characters and story-lines are real and complex and so very enjoyable.

Hannah Murray's character Cassie is of course my obsession- adorably insane and a walking english enigma her style is so appropriate and her awkward demeanor is so endearing. My new style icon:

Nitin Sawhney's conFUSION

While I take many moments to indulge in this new and well overdue discovery, I suggest you do the same. I heard theNPR piece/interview today as I drove home and am now quite smitten. His words and rhythm represent a unity for Britain and an awesomely genuine and authentic hope in humanity- at the risk of sounding trite, which he is anything but.
' "What he's trying to say is that we should be colorblind in terms of our sort of cultural understanding of Britain and London," says Laura Barnett, an arts editor who profiled Sawhney for the British newspaper The Guardian. "We're all Londoners. We're all British. We're not British-Asians, we're not white, we're not black; we're just people. And I think that's what he does musically: By drawing all these influences together into one organic whole — which is more successful on some occasions than others — he's creating something greater than the sum of its parts. And that's kind of who we are: We're a mongrel mix. And he celebrates that." '
As I now wait eagerly for my cd to arrive and listen to this free download- do the same and let these intriguing words, which are the tail-end to another great NPR piece, inspire you as you listen - "What Sawhney does is often called "fusion." He prefers confusion."

Tacheles art refuge in E. Berlin faces closure

BBC is reporting today:
"When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Tacheles, a ruined building in East Berlin, was taken over by artists. It became a centre of artistic subculture. It has been put up for sale and the artists served with an eviction order, so they have begun a campaign to buy it.
Until the end of 2008, the building's owners had allowed the artists to stay. Now, the owners are in debt and the bank has repossessed it with the aim of raising at least 3.5m euros. The artists say they have invested 300,000 euros so far and that the price is inflated.
Hundreds of artists and musicians from all over the world have worked at Tacheles, which will celebrate its 19th anniversary on 13 February with an exhibition of some of their best work. Visitors can wander in to watch the artists at work, and purchase artwork on sale.
The building's hallways are open to the public 24 hours a day and visitors are encouraged to leave their mark with graffiti on the wall. Linda Cerna, a spokeswoman, says Tacheles "is like a constantly changing art project" and estimates 300,000 people visit every year.
One of the most famous artists working in Tacheles is Alexandr Rodin, from Belarus. Located in Berlin’s commercial art gallery district, Mitte, Tacheles is the last remnant of its avant-garde past. Berlin’s alternative subculture now happens where rents are cheaper.
The five-storey building has around 30 studios, which can be rented cheaply, but artists can also use Tacheles to exhibit and sell their work. This exhibition combines paintings by Alexandr Rodin and installations by Mitrich, also from Belarus.
The building, which was constructed in 1909 as a luxury department store, also contains a theatre which can be used for plays or concerts. Here, members of the German Symphony Orchestra are performing.
A dress by Astrid Hanka. There are divisions between the artists about the future of the Tacheles and how commercial it should become. But on one thing they are united: that Tacheles should not be sold off to developers. Photos by sumi-b, text by Damien McGuinness."

a link to the article and photos

Caution!

.incredible.

gifts gifts gifts

HAPPY XMAS EVE from BROOKLYN VEGAN CLICK HERE

free mp3s from DEATH CAB, RILO KILEY, WHITE STRIPES, SMASHING PUMPKINS, MMJ, DEERHOOF, WEEZER, AND THEN SOME.... GO GO GO!

prop 8 - The Musical

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... by Jack Black

Waltz with Bashir

Waltz with Bashir is an animated film about one man's resolve to try remember what happened during the Israeli army mission in the first Lebanon War in the 80s and what his involvement was.



It showed and received high acclaim at many festivals this year- being released first in June.

New Dior commercial - c'est parfait, non?

Charity xmas ornaments from Bright Eyes, Black lips, Iron & Wine & more

"Tis the season for giving and hall-decking and so forth, and in the spirit of both, Oregon's Glass Casters Union is back with another round of indie rock-themed charity ornaments. Last year, the GCU offered up decorations designed by the likes of Wolf Parade, Band of Horses, Of Montreal, Deerhunter, and, for those bad-ass little boys and girls, Xiu Xiu and Sunn O))). In the '08, Bright Eyes, the Thermals, and Built to Spill are once again primed to get tangled in the tinsel, where they'll be joined by the Black Lips and Iron & Wine." (Pitchfork)

BLIP Festival 2008

THE BLIP FESTIVAL which showcases 8-bit or chipmusic (the genre of electronic music that manipulates coding from old game consoles like Nintendo) is coming up in a few days. It takes place December 4-7 at the Bell House in Brooklyn.

Click HERE for ticket info/music schedule.