Category Archive

firstly, i present you with the brand new portishead tune ‘machine gun‘ - from their upcoming album third. (hat tip to timo over at edited for television for posting the video first).

it’s not at all what i was expecting - but i’m seriously digging this tune. fucking dark and hard mixed with that voice. that amazing, wonderful voice. ummm… beth, geoff & adrian, why oh why did you have to wait 11 years since your last album? this is perfection.

now the bad news. portishead is playing berlin on april 3. that’s the day i arrive and i even have the night off. yay, right? no.

the. fucking. show. is. sold. out.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. i need a ticket for this show. the chances of them playing minneapolis are nil. i can’t go to coachella (ed. note, this in and of itself sucks. not only is portishead playing, but so are goldfrapp, m.i.a., mark ronson, love & rockets, metric and the breeders. double grrrr.) this year either. so this is my only shot.

i’m praying to the musical gods of the internet. somebody, anybody - get me a ticket to this show!!!!!!

“…don’t let this club membership change you john.  stay ornery, stay mean.  we need you to be pissed off, and restless, because no matter what they tell us - we know, this country is going to hell in a handcart.  this country’s been hijacked. you know it and i know it.  people are worried.  people are scared and people are angry.  people need to hear a voice like yours that’s out there to echo the discontent that’s out there in the heartland.  they need to hear stories about it.  they need to hear stories about frustration, alienation and desperation.  they need to know that somewhere out there somebody feels they way that they do.  in the small towns and in the big cities.  they need to hear it.  and it doesn’t matter if they hear it on a jukebox in the local gin mill, or in a goddamn truck commercial.  because they ain’t gonna hear it on the radio anymore.  they don’t care how they hear it, as long as they hear it good and loud and clear the way you’ve always been saying it all along.  you’re right john, this is still our country…”

- billy joel inducting john mellencamp into the rock n roll hall of fame.  3.10.08

madonna has announced that the name of her upcoming album (released 4.2 is “hard candy” and that the lead off single with be the justin timberlake co-write, “four minutes“.  hmmm wonder what happened to the wildly bootlegged “candy shop” - everyone assumed that would be the first single.  

source: nme. 

this was the view outside the window nearest my desk @ work on thursday… two fawns grazing at the banks of the frozen pond….there were about 40 of us standing at the windows watching them graze.  cute little buggers… kind fluffy looking in their winter coats…

nature is good people.

here’s the full shot:

in unrelated news, i think i have bronchitis… i’ve had this deep guttural wet painful cough for 4 days… yuck.  is it so bad that i will kill just to feel normal again?  it’s been weeks since i’ve been truly healthy.

in unrelated news pt 2 - i’ve been enjoying the new goldfrapp record ’seventh tree’ that is streaming for free on their myspace page.  it’s subtle and quite lovely.  nothing at all like their last ’supernature’.  it comes out on tuesday - i’m thinking i may have a new favorite saturday/sunday morning record.  nice and chill.   oh, and hey - that’s alison goldfrapp making a visit to my banner up above… she’s awesome.

if only ’cause i knew you were all waiting with baited breath for my thoughts on the siouxsie show, here you go.

3 words: shiny. happy. siouxsie.

i have never seen siouxsie so flipping happy at a show. where’s my tortured diva? apparently, gone the way her marriage to
budgie has gone. and i for one, loved every moment.

siouxsie was fun, playful and flirtatious. it was freaking awesome. at one point she said “tomorrow i’m flying to san francisco, i can’t wait to tell them that i left my heart in new york.” how weird is that? awesome!!!

the set list was heavy on material from her new mantaray album, but there were some awesome old banshee tunes thrown in like “hong kong garden”, “night shift” and “dear prudence”. conspicuously absent were anything from her creatures days with budgie or the hits such as “peek-a-boo” or “christine”. given the strength of the show, they were not missed. oh, and when she sang “hong kong garden” she introduced it by saying it was the song’s 30th birthday. 30! wow. time flies with brilliant songs.

the absolute highlight for me was her hard as nails version of mantaray’s “into a swan” - it rocked harder and heavier than the album version - let me just state for the record this needs to be released on cd - pronto!

she was stunning in a silver catsuit with funky/punky 70’s shag (radar called it: “emma peel-meets-wonder woman spacey silver catsuit”). she danced and twirled and interacted with the audience - and her voice was in spectacular form. i’ve never heard her sound this strong.

the venue was incredible as well. the fillmore at irving plaza only holds 1000 people - landry and i got a primo spot right on the balcony with an unobstructed view of the stage. doesn’t get much better than that. oh, and i’m 98.53% positive that johnny rotten from the sex pistol’s walked by me on his way into the vip area - there’s nobody that quite looks like that man. (i’m choosing to forget the moment when i was too busy texting ray to notice siouxsie herself walk right by me. grrrr)

i did sneak my camera into the joint - the above pic is from me as is the lil’ you tube video down below. i’m pleased that it’s a fairly stable shot - it’s short (i thought that was best), if you want some longer vid’s - just search you tube…they’re out there. but i like mine best. it’s part of her tune “if it doesn’t kill you”. check it out:

i promise i’m done with siouxsie for a bit…(do i hear sigh’s of relief?)….. but i do have the upcoming gutter twins show to get psyched for…

note, there will be a photo essay documenting the forthcoming points following said points.

a) i’m on a plane to new york tomorrow morning at 7am minneapolis time.  this will be my first proper vacation in over two years (oh, if your wondering, i don’t consider vacations tagged onto the end of shows or aids rides as “proper” - so therefore, this is my first proper vacation in over two years).  i really really really am ready for this vacation.  and i am not bringing my computer with so unless i use landry’s computer, you won’t get any updates from me until next monday <gasp!>.

b) i voted.  i’m part of the machine.  dammit people, it’s time for change!

c) it’s finally for real (i.e., plane tickets are booked) i’m off to berlin (work) & prague (vacation) in april.  very happy/excited.

d) fucktards who drive escalades with eco-plates need to be anally abused until they realize that spending the extra $30 a year for “natural habitat” license plates does not negate the detrimental effects their vehicles are doing to the planet.  oh, and to anyone driving any varient of an suv - when was the last time you actually took it off road?  oh, and the safety thing?  it’s a myth.  least you can do if you own one of these monstrosities is to offset your carbon footprint.

e) oh, did i mention that landry and i are seeing siouxsie sioux on saturday night in ny?  mabye i forgot to tell ya’ll that.

f) j made me very happy last night.  dopey grin on my face all day (no photo essay for this one).

so last night, james and i went to see the new punk-rock musical/play “god save gertrude” (a modern take on hamlet). 

i had zero expectation for this (hell, until i walked in i had no idea what play we were seeing - we were there to support some of his co-workers who were doing makeup and playing in the band).  very much in a “hedwig and the angry inch” mode of modern musical theater - the story (let’s use that word loosely) is that of an aging punk rock poet-ess (think pattie smith) who is, as it turns out the queen of some country (assuming central europe/post soviet union, tho’ it’s never spelled out) on the verge of civil war.  she rehashes her punk past while juggling a second husband dictator and a son (wannabe rock star in the vein of his long gone father).  

the story and performances were quite good - as was the music.  it needs some fixing in the book department… like how did she become queen?  what happened to daddy #1?  how did dictator/daddy #2 come into the picture?  but all in all an fun night of experimental theater.

—

10.5 days until i’m in new york city.

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star trek xi: 

as brought to life by jj abrams.  i’m beyond giddy-excited for this.  the cast looks spectacular & this trailer gave me chills.  time to get my sci-fi geek on.

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paula abdul has a new song (written and produced by randy jackson).

come to your own conclusion.

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i’m off to spend some time with mom - still no word on the job situation.. but she does have an interview on tuesday - so do me a favor, send some good karma my mom’s way on tuesday.

this the harley davidson night rod vrscd.

this is sex on two wheels.

i want this bike so much i can taste it.

all matte black on black with just the slightest hint of chrome. 

that said, let me illustrate why i will never have such a work of beauty.

i would kill myself on a bike.

seriously.

but boy do i want one.

—-unrelated—-

as a follow up to my post about my day from hell yesterday, things went better today.  thank you for your private email’s and well wishes.  but none of you bitches commented on my day or my oscar pick’s in comments.  what up with that?  boo hiss. 

—-unrelated pt 2—-

as a follow up to my post about needing a copy of prince’s horny pony (which until this point was only released on vinyl and cassette), jeff over at jeff’s fancy blog came through with flying colors with a killer copy.  yay jeff.

needed.

a mp3/cd version of the rare prince b-side “horny pony”

if anyone can help me out, shoot me an email; atomicpop2007@gmail.com

…i do have some good news; just found the gutter twins (i’ve posted about them here and here) are coming to minneapolis on march 8!  this is tremendous news…. 2008 is shaping up to be a fun year for me musically…. siouxsie live in february and now the gutter twins in my home town.  happy happy kyle.

ooh, and they’re playing first ave.  one of my most favorite venue’s for live music.  it doesn’t get much better than first ave.

oohhh… you find the best stuff when your sleep deprived.  in my best oprah fashion, here are a few of my favorite things.  however, none of you are getting cars.  just deal.

the gutter twins myspace page.

yup, it’s like herpes, but you can’t argue with the power of myspace when it comes to new music.  my boy greg (and his boy mark) are finally ready to drop ‘saturnalia‘ - their debut as the gutter twins and as such they have two spankin’ new killer tracks on their myspace…. ‘the station’ (featuring my current favorite lyric: “i hear the rapture’s coming, they say he’ll be here soon, right now there’s demons crawling all over my room”) and ‘idle hands’ which is also available for download (thanks boy’s).

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i’m completely addicted to the website ‘overheard in minneapolis’ - i check it like a hundred times a day.  it’s pure brilliance.  i’ve already posted one or two things and will continue to do so to prove the stupidity of people around me

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a. i love eddie izzard

b. i love star wars

c. i love lego’s

put them together and you get one very happy kyle:

been in the middle of an event this week; hence the dirth of posts (coupled with the lil’ fact that i haven’t slept in 4 days - serious! so my mind is not working very well)…

anyway the other day at work madonna’s ‘everybody’ came on the xfm satellite radio we were using to provide music for the event & one-by-one everyone at the table i was sitting at began to slowly groove to tune.  head’s bobbing, fingers tapping - it was surreal, but oh so cool. 

what amazed me was how fresh the song still sounds today - 25 years later.  some of this sort of production can still be heard on the radio; justin, britney - pop & hip hop in general - all of them are using beats and production similar to this song & owe a debt to the tune…. these sounds are standing up to the test of time.

killer tune!

cause i know you’ve been waiting for baited breath to find out about my favorite music from 2007, i won’t keep you waiting.   i will give you a surprise or two (such as, no britney on this list - she’s fun, but she ain’t great) i hope.  coming up with a fav’s list for ‘07 proved to be a bit of a challenge - not a ton of great music released this year (and a lot of what was released that i loved turned out to be covers of older tunes… sigh)…. here goes:

siouxsie - mantaray (album)

no surprise here i think, the woman is fuckin’ awesome and this record was woefully overlooked in the states.  i rather like how the village voice put it: “…mantaray, siouxsie’s blazing solo debut earns (those) accolades with no trace of fatigue, padding, or confusion, as on-it and of-the-moment as justin timberlake…”   the record itself is urgent and hard and sharp all at once.  equal parts pop/punk/rock and big band.  here’s to siouxsie’s solo career!  cheers.

mark ronson - version (album)

again, no real surprise (if you spent anytime reading this blog this fall) - but just the same, i’m still in love with this album.  it’s consistantly blasting from my car’s cd deck (which you could hear if it weren’t winter and i had the windows down).  mark deftly makes modern songs such as ‘toxic’ (britney), ‘the only one i know’, and ’stop me’ sound vintage and warm and old school.   retro never sounded so fresh.  and this is a great disk to spin at a party.

robbie williams - lovelight (song)

while the track is from this year’s (us) ’rudebox’ release (not his best - but there are a couple of really choice cuts from it) - “lovelight”is cover of the lewis taylor track from 2004.  robbie & co., turn this slick r&b number into a funky disco classic circa 1978 bee-jees.  sweet.

damien rice & lisa hannigan - 9 crimes (song) 

ok, ya got me - this one came out in ‘06… but in my defense i didn’t discover it till this year.  i remember giving rice’s ‘9′ album a cursory listen in a record store back when it came out and was getting all manner of buzz…. it just didn’t do anything to me that night.  i humbly admit i was wrong.  this song kills me.  this song just rattles me to my core.  it just might be my favorite song of the year.  ”is that alright, yea.” 

amazing - johnette napolitano (song)

ok, this one really is my favorite for the year.  johnette has been a constant companion this year.  while the album it’s from (scarred) is f’ing brilliant, this single makes me remember why i love music.  it’s beautiful and violent and passionate all at the same time.  a lullaby (?!) to love - love in the real world with all it’s agony intact.  nothing is quite like johnette’s voice when she opens up and lets loose.  ”angels among us, they’re not so far above us”

hold my hand - unkle (song)

hell wall of sound.  i loves me some wall of sound and since curve broke up and recoil’s latest is all blues and crap; unkle will have to fit the bill nicely.  which isn’t a slam at all.  ‘hold my hand’ is just bursting with power and noise and melody.  i love it.  and they got all buddhist and shit (hehehe) with their lyrics:  “are you really living / or do you seek loving / are you happy being / or do you search for meaning”.  if i could ever really do music, this is what i would like to do.

crazy - prince & shelby j (live track)

i wrote about this at length here, and here, so i won’t go on much more.  except to say, prince needs to release this funk (instead of his semi-interesting planet earth).  this is the shit & would blow radio and mtv away.

me’shell ndegeo’cello (live show)

tie

prince with wendy (live show)

these were my favorite shows this year - meshell & co. were insanely tight - nearly boiling over they were so hot.   and then there was prince reuniting with wendy at the target center & first ave shows last.  dreams really do come true

—

ooh, another surprise - kate bush’s track for the golden compass isn’t here either… if only cause i refuse to buy the score in order to own it… i’m sure i’ll find it on ebay soon and can give it the real proper listens it deserves

2008 - expectations:

i’m looking forward to a couple of interesting things next year including:

• the new madonna record (title tbd)
• the debut of the gutter twins (aka greg dulli from twilight singers & mark lanegan from screaming trees)
• big blue ball project from peter gabriel & karl wallinger (the first single ‘whole thing’ is excellent (additionally rumor has it pg will release a proper follow up to the killer ‘up’ - not holding breath)
• seeing siouxsie in new york in february
• the new goldfrapp disk ’seventh tree’
• new basement jaxx (title tbd)
• new franz ferdinand (title tbd)
• new ladytrone (title tbd)
• new portishead - finally!!!!!  (title tbd)

ok, maybe not genius… but certainly, i kicked some musical ass tonight! 

very spur-of-the-moment, i popped over to my friends amy’s house tonight to watch a dvd with her and her girlfriend - now, amy is a musician/song-writer (and own’s a great little studio to boot) - and she’s been trying for eon’s to get me in the studio to record some stuff with her.

it’s been about a billion years since i’ve actively been behind a recording desk and as such, i’ve been a bit cautious to jump back in the recording game (especially with amy, she’s hella-talented).  so before the dvd, amy and i popped down to the studio to listen to a killer new track from peter gabriel (words don’t come close to describing how much i love this new song) - anywho, amy wanted my opinion on a track she wrote and in the process, about 3 hour’s went by and all of a sudden she’s insisting i take producer credit for her new track ‘beg crawl bleed’. 

how f’ing cool eh’?  it was so awesome working on new music tonight. 

looks like i might be spending more time in her studio working on some of her other tracks in the coming months.

very happy me.

(this is part of amy’s studio; studio 8)

hmmm, we never did get around to that movie… lol

the end of the year is nearing and as one is wont to do - it becomes a time of reflection.  so over the next couple of weeks i may be chiming in here and there with some ruminations on the year that’s been….

the first iteration of this is ‘things i will not be ashamed of’. 

i am the first to admit, i’m kinda a snob when it comes to pop culture / art / things.  but, at the same time, i’m a complete glutton for things that are not - and this is painful to admit- not.that.great.  ugg.

but, i have pretty good taste (if i do say so myself) in most things, so i choose to believe that i am simply out-of-sync with the world at large.  and truth be told, i’m kinda ok with that.  of course, this also means that the world is wrong and i am right.  case closed.

the first thing i refuse to be ashamed of is my complete and total love of the film ‘stardust‘.

sure the film did not set the box office world on fire (shame too), the movie is a lush, beautifully filmed, well acted and charming little flick.  to refresh my memory, i did a quickie search on metacritic to see what the film cognoscenti thought of the movie -and  i was a bit surprised at the mostly positive views of it.  i quite like wha the charlotte observer had to say about it: “heroic, wryly funny, but bloodthirsty as great fairy tales can often be.”

this is afterall a fairy tale.  and the best modern fairy tales are wonderful little escapes into another world.  i loved the world that makes up stardust.  i loved robert de niro’s quirky fey turn as a pirate that’s light in his loafers.  i loved charlie cox’s everyman.  and i loved michelle…. oh how i loved michelle being all wicked and sexy and cool. 

it’s a perfectly lovely little gem of a movie.  and i can’t wait for it to come out on dvd on tuesday. 

another thing i’m not ashamed of liking?  well, that would be everyone’s favorite disaster.  britney spears.  more to the point, it’s not that i dig her, it’s that i dig her latest album ‘blackout’. 

now, i’ve already chimed in with a review of the album here, but i just gotta say, i still f’ing love it.  it’s pure trash.  but trash can be good.  the album is urgent and hot and sexy (thank god for producers right?).  lord knows the girl can’t make a video anymore (’piece of me’ is horrible), but the tunes are strong and fun and really fun to just sing along with.  oh, and the above image - such a better cover than the one that ended up on the thing… blech. 

then there is sarah brightman.  sarah brightman is my barbara streisand.  i’ve never been the typical gay guy in love with bab’s, but i love my diva sarah. 

yes, this is probably the hardest thing to admit.  hi, my name is kyle and i like sarah brightman.  and yes, she’s not the greatest singer in the world (but she certainly isn’t britney, see below).  and yes, she’s kinda like white bread in the classical/opera world - but there’s just something about her that clicks with me.

now, that said - i do wish she’d dump more of her pop oeuvre and go back and focus on her opera.  after all the woman does have a three-octave vocal range that extends to an e natural above soprano c.  no easy feat.  it’s also been said that she has both a pop voice and a classical voice.  take away all of the synths and spacey sound effects that have grounded her eden / la luna / harem disks and you are left with the quiet, lush moments that show a woman that can really truly sing.  take a way all the distractions. 

on a slight side-bar, i’m really wanting to explore more opera; anyone with any suggestions?  let me know.  i just bought cecilia bartoli’s latest disk ‘maria‘ - really beautiful stuff. 

so there you have it - three things i’m no longer going to be ashamed of.  after all for all the stardusts, britney and sarah stuff i love, there’s also the darjeeling limited’s, kate bush’s and cecilia bartoli’s so my good taste is pretty well established.

it’s just that i need my marshmallow fluff every now and then as well.

mmmm marshmallow fluff.

now i lost interest in tori amos somewhere around the boys for pele era - she just got a lil’ too esoteric (read; fuckin’ wierd) for me.  tho’, i will forever say little earthquakes is one of the most amazing records ever.

apparently on wednesday in san diego tori was doing a show where two trollops who had front row seats cept coming and going throughout the performance.  this did not suit tori none to well.  she interuppted the song “code red” and verbally bitch slapped the two proceeding to say “get the fuck out of my show! … it’s a privilege to sit in the front row and i reserve those seats for people who appreciate the music, get the fuck out!…”

i think i love her!  i hate people who have no interest in the show some people forked out major bucks.  ugg.  thank you tori for having’ a massive set of balls. 

to see the auspicious moment, fast forward to 2:25…. it’s freakin’ awesome! 

the year was 1993 and i was in chicago visiting the (then) seminal tower records (alas, we didn’t have anything as cool in minneapolis).  i spent the previous months devouring rolling stone magazine reading all about madonna’s new record label (maverick) and how it would be home to new and unique musicians doing their own special thing.  there were rumblings of a new r&b musician/electric bassist that was about to explode on maverick named me’shell ndegeo’cello. 

 so there i was in tower flipping through the stacks, looking for the latest musical treasure and i came upon it, ‘plantation lullabies’ - sporting a wild psychedelic cover and a sticker with critical comments advocating the promise within… ‘tho i hadn’t heard a note, i had to have it.  hell it had tunes with names like ‘if that was your boyfriend (he wasn’t last night)’, ’shootin’ up and gett’n high’ and ‘i’m diggin’ you (like and old school record)’ - these were not song titles i was used to as a white boy from minneapolis.  i knew of jazz and soul - but i didn’t know about jazz and soul.  yea, i was a prince fan, and i thought i was all worldly and shit, but nothing’ could prepare me for the album – it truly opened my ears to a new sound.  i was hooked. 

  fast forward 3 years to 1996 and her second disk ‘peace beyond passion’ was released.  while ‘lullabies was an aggro mix of funk, soul, jazz & r&b; passion gelled all of the genre’s into one amazing new sound.  equal parts spiritual and sexual, the album is a blistering attack on the hypocrisy of christianity and misogyny of the time.  indeed, you knew you were in for an interesting ride when you heard the first words she uttered on the album: “jesus cured the blind man so that he could see the evils of the world”.  a couple of tracks later the blasphemy get’s amped up a bit with “maybe judas was the better man / and mary mad a virgin just to save face”.  the album isn’t all blistering commentary on christianity - also name checked; homophobia, self-hatred, social discourse and racism pop up.  the interesting thing here however is the way in which she weaves the politics and the profane in a way that challenges and satisfies.  the music is lush, silky smooth and forms the perfect bed for her poetry - culminating in the hopeful ‘god shiva’ and ‘with a tear and a smile’ - the message here, things may not always be golden, but if you seek out the passion, you will indeed find peace.  easily my favorite album from her.

that same year, i had the chance to see her live for the first time at first avenue.  imagine a sold out room packed with 1400 gay men, lesbians, black, white, asian - young and old.  it was the first time i had truly ever encountered such a radical mix of people all intent on one thing - enjoying the groove laid out on the stage… there was no posturing.  there were no fights.  the room was a sweaty mass of people jumping and dancing and digging the music.  the show easily rates in my top ten for live music experiences.

 over the course of the next ten years, there would be 4 more records.  diverse entries like ‘bitter’ (a mellow, introspective/quiet paean to a broken relationship), ‘cookie; the anthropological mixtape’ (blistering social-hip hop), ‘comfort woman’ (soul-psychadelia circa 1976 free-form jazz), ’spirit of the infidel’ (free-form instrumental jazz; the closest thing to coltrane in years) all leading up to her latest ‘the world has made me the man of my dreams’ - the most consistently engaging album since ‘passion’ - it’s groves are equal parts jazz and soul, and live, even a healthy dose of rock - and the words, well meshell is one of those rare artists where you can separate the lyrics from the beat and the poetry comes through. 

last night, i had the chance to catch her live again (my 3rd time seeing her).  wasn’t at all sure what to expect, but knew it’d be an interesting ride.  the first surprise, no keyboards.  the album features a healthy dose of electronica/synth - however would this translate with no synth’s?  also odd, no center spot mic for meshell… instead, she was literally in the back - surrounded by her band (two guitarists, another bass and the drummer).  subconsciously was she sayin’ the music was just as important as the words?  at time’s the vox even took a backseat to what the band was whipping up.  all i can say is the new record positively explodes live.  stripped down, raw funk/rock propelled by exquisite drumming and simmering guitar - a helluva, show.  while it’s an overused phrase, the only thing i can come up with is religious experience… seriously - eye’s closed, body grooving - transcendent. 

meshell likes to live in the present and the future and as such, tends to avoid the “hits” of her past, at one point, someone yelled out for her to play ‘boyfriend’.  her response?  a simple, “not a fucking chance”.  she is so completely comfortable in her own skin - so alive when the music is playing.  she doesn’t doubt herself (or her setlist for a minute (in fact, many times it looked as if she was just grooving there in the back, enjoying the band and the moment as much as we were).  there’s only one other performer i’ve ever seen that is as comfortable in their own skin while on stage; prince.

 from the opening tune (a seering electric take on prince’s ‘all the critic’s love u in new york’) through the finale, meshell and company kept the crowd transfixed.   my friend amy came with me and at one point said to me ”sex with this woman would be amazing”!  i was also texting landry (who lives in the same neighborhood as meshell) and she msg’d: “she’s the hottest mf going!”  lol

indeed, she is the hottest mf around.  can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

my musical life couldn’t get any better today….

in about 3 hours i’ll be getting my grove on at me’shell ndegeo’cello’s live show at the fine line music cafe here in minneapolis.

she’s touring under her new album ‘the world has made me the man of my dreams’ which is a swirling mass of funk/soul/jazz/psychadelia/pop - i honestly have no idea what to expect (i’ve seen her twice before) - one thing is probably certain, she’s not a fan of playing most of her old stuff (you may have heard ‘if that was your boyfriend (he wasn’t last night)’) - one can still hope.  super excited for this gig.

ooh - just found this on her myspace - it’s for tonights show!!!  (god, i’m such a girl over this stuff):

 —————- 

in unrelated musical news - stunningly cool news from the movie world. new.fucking.kate.bush.music!!!!! (voenix, avert your eyes - i know how you feel about kate):

from bbc.com:

Kate Bush has recorded a new song for the soundtrack to the Golden Compass, based on Philip Pullman’s book.

Lyra was written and produced by Bush, featuring Oxford’s Magdalen College choir. It will be her first new material since 2005.

The song is named after lead character Lyra Belacqua, played in the movie by Dakota Blue Richards.

Starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, the film and its soundtrack will be released next month.

Bush’s last new material appeared on the critically acclaimed album Aerial, her first album for 12 years.

Her song will feature over the film’s end credits.

how giddy am i?

as my vacation of doing nothing but becoming one with my couch comes to an end (i need to go into the office for a bit this afternoon), i’m lamenting going back to work so i’m avoiding all reality by becoming lost in the 80’s goodness that i love so much.

this morning i’ve been listening non-stop to the thompson twins.  oh how i love thee tom and alannah and joe.  pure pop perfection (today’s pop stars could learn a thing or two)… and tom’s voice is like sex for me - it’s a guaranteed way to get me in bed; play thompson twins/babble/international observer - just a chance to hear tom’s voice get’s me a lil’ weak.

so then, here - one of their masterwork’s in video form, hold me know (…sigh).

home from miami - so.very.nice.to.be.home for a while.. i’m anxious to get back to day-to-day life. 

i was thrilled when i got home when i opened my mailbox and this greeted me:

now, firstly - ew is my bible.  i read it cover to cover.  i love it.  but to be greated with the perfection that is mr. crowe - well hmmm if that didn’t just make my day, not much else will.  i loves me some russell.  god he’s dead.fucking.sexy.

— 

for some cool as shit graphics check this out:

it’s an alternative version of the video for siouxsie’s ‘into a swan’.  i’ve loved that mirror effect since prince and the revolution did it for the ‘when doves cry’ video… i think it’s used well here.

—

copies of a couple blake lewis tracks (the 6th cut off of last season’s american idol) circulating around the net… i gave a quick listen to ‘break another’ and ‘know my name’.  of the two, ‘break another’ has a bit of potential. it’s typical pop-fluff mixed with a bit of disco and of course, that scat singing that blake’s known for.  ‘know my name’ however is complete dreck.

—

speaking of dreck, the new britney came out today. 

now - i’ve given the album a listen (no i didn’t pay for it - it’s everywhere on the net)… and i gotta say, it’s not quite the disaster i thought it might be (color me surprised).   that said however - that album cover is terrible [the girl/record company machine has never done great cover art].  the album itself is full of beats (toxic was certainly a precurser to this highly electronic album) and there are some pretty slammin tunes… let’s face it however, this is less to do with britney as much as it’s about her producers (bloodshy & avant (from ‘toxic’), the clutch & the neptunes).

there’s an urgency to these hook heavy/slamming dance-floor tracks… killer loops - hot production, and utterly disposable - all at the same time (but really isn’t that fairly normal in today’s next-best-thing world)… time will tell if the album holds up well - but for now, it’s the perfect summertime record (wait - time to check the calender… last time i checked these kind of jam’s fair better in summertime)… the nice thing here is that for a couple of tracks you forget that she’s a trainwreck… and you remember this is a girl that is capable of a funtime dance jam… it’s nice to get lost in pop-fluff every now and then…

…at least until i need some substance…. speaking of where did i put that me’shell ndegeocello record…?

—

*don’t you think that’s probably the first time siouxsie & britney have been mentioned in the same breath?  lol

see that lil’ link over there to the right?  the one that says ‘current’.  click it.

it features my current obsession in musical form.  ladytron’s ‘destroy everything you love’ - it’s fab!  really! 

‘course it’s moody and kinda dark - but i like it.  it kinda describes me right now.  tho’ it’s not really about me, it’s more about a situation from my perspective.

it’s neat how song’s can sum up your thoughts eh?

oh, and two links down from ‘current’ is a hot lil’ link called ‘tattoo’s’.  ya might wanna check that one out too - some hot ink there.

cheers!

greetings & salutations - sorry for the lack of posts lately; was on the road and had literally no access to the internet (gasp!) -

lots  of things happening lately and soon i might share something big, but in the meantime, can i just say how fucking much i love having a musical twin in london?  my colleague ian is from the united kingdom and whenever he comes over for a show he tends to bring me prezzies… and this last weekend in dc was no different.

ian and i share a love for all things siouxsie and he brought me the 12″ vinyl of la sioux’s recent into a swan - with two mixes unreleased on cd.  can you say i geeked out at the prospect of new siouxsie?

there was just one challenge tho’ - i haven’t had a turn table for a while (having got rid of much of my vinyl collection years ago). 

::sigh - what the fuck to do?::

well, the obvious answer is to go and be a good american (i was in dc at the time, afterall) and spend valuable money on a vinyl-to-mp3 converter turntable.

(uploading prince & the revolutions ‘love or money - extended version’)

yes, my friends, i’m completely enraptured by old 12″ extended versions by prince, kate bush, siouxsie and more (for example, the divine jill jones rarity - ‘bald man’; my theme song).

so i’m completely giddy happy listening to rare tracks that i haven’t heard in years. 

—

unrelated:

rushed home from dc just in time to see the sublime johnette napolitano play the entry in minneapolis.  makes me happy.

(sorry johnette, i know you hate it when people take your pic, and you want us all “in the moment”, but it was such a great moment, i couldn’t resist taking a souvenir)

unrelated pt 2:

last night cb came over to watch heroes and i entertained him a bit by showing him an instructional dvd on how to give a guy a brazillian wax.  go here to read the salicious details (he sum’s it up better than i could).

unrelated pt 3:

(don’t try to understand - this is for one person, and one person only)

fall is officially here in the twin cities and i couldn’t be happier.  fall is, without a doubt - my single favorite time of year.  there’s something so amazing, so comforting about this particular change of season.  i love the smell in the air (crisp, yet warm), the sound the leaves make as you walk through them and the way all the color’s get just a bit more bold. 

of course with fall comes the inevitable change to winter.  but, given global warming, winter ain’t what it used to be in minnesota. 

thanks to everyone who voted in the first ever atomic pop! poll regarding if i should spend 99 of my hard earned pennies in buying the tune ‘gimme more’ by brit brit.  as i was about to press the button “buy song” scoot swooped down and gave me a copy of the tune.  yes, jason, i realize i chastised you for getting tunes that way, but brit brit doesn’t need the moolah, siouxsie does!  i am completely addicted to this damn song.  ugg.

last night, cb came over to get caught up on ‘heroes’ and hang out a bit - i made a killer (or at least i think so) sausage and peppers dish for dinner and on cb’s suggestion, we tried the above.  can i just say whoever decided to make a yellow cake flavored ice cream should be canonized… this ice cream is flipping white trash all the way - and oh so fucking good.  (p.s., make sure to link on over to cb’s site for his most excellent take on the family circus comic strip).

so friday i’m off for a quickie hair show in cincinnatti (ooh, don’t be jealous).  the fun part?  i get to see jason.  i’m super excited to have dinner with him friday night after model call (if he’s really nice, i might just get him a ticket to see the show on sunday too!).

and lastly, i present rocco dispirito for no other reason than i’m completely in love with this man.  dead.  fucking.  sexy.

i need - and expect all of my loyal readers to weigh in on this subject… i need ya’ll’s help (if i could figure out how to make the poll thing work, i’d make you do it that way) - instead, please just respond in comments… (really!  may fate is up to you)

here’s the question of our time…:

do i download britney’s single ‘gimme more’ from itunes?

seriously - i’m so on the fence on this one…

on the plus side:

• the ‘hook’ is killer
• nice production
• good to have a piece of pop fluff every now and then.

on the negative:

• it’s trash
• it’s britney (bitch)

what to do?  it’s not that i’m a huge britney fan (i’m not really), but the pull of this train-wreck is undeniable.  + i’m kinda really rooting for her to get her shit together.  she’s just such a disaster.  the single is the #1 track on itunes right now. 

tell me what to do - i’m so on the fence

fuckin’ brilliant new video for the track valerie off of mark ronson’s album version  featuring amy winehouse - amy doesn’t appear in the vid, but the wine-ette’s do a damn fine job standing in.

i still love this album so much.

well it’s official; the 5 city sales meeting tour i’ve been producing is finally over.  thank god!  it went off more or less without a hitch - a couple of the hotels had an issue here or there, but for the most part it was a success.  now, just 3 more hair show’s this season (cincinatti next weekend, washington d.c. the following and then miami at the end of the month) and i can finally spend some quality time at home. 

took a friend around a bit of san francisco tonight - she’d never toured it.  jumped in a cab to get to the haight for my amoeba fix.  that store never fails to provide me with a treasure (or three):

first up, the uk version of siouxsie sioux’s new (and first ever proper) solo album ‘mantaray’.  now, yes, i could have waited a week for the u.s. version - but i prefer things the way there were meant to be and this import, limited edition copy is gorgeous.  have only listened to the music on the crappy in room dvd/cd player - must import into the iphone for my day tomorrow to give it a proper listen.  (fyi, it appears as if siouxsie and budgie have split after some 26 years together and that siouxsie may have come out of the closet… no shock there i suppose).

next up, my mental hard-on lloyd cole with ‘live at the bbc’ - i didn’t even know this existed.  lloyd in so many ways is the perfect man for me… soulful, british, talented with dead sexy eyes.  ‘course he’s also straight so fuck ‘him.  this is a collection of tunes recorded live in 1990 and 1995.  very excited with this one.

and then there’s my new robbie williams treasure.  a semi-are cd single for a tune called eternity that doesn’t appear anywhere else, as well as a non-lp track toxic.  as much as lloyd is the perfect british guy for me, robbie just get’s my rock-star- rock’s off.  + you know how i like the boys with ink.  again, sigh - he’s straight.  so fuck him too.  lol.

also picked up a couple of multi-disk set’s put out by the fine folk’s at bar de lune - can always find a treasure or two for use in future shows.

whilst in the haight, we passed a cool asian artifacts store where they had a number of fine balinese puppets - i’ve always wanted a one of these; i couldn’t resist.  here she is:

here’s a close up of her face:

(kinda siouxsie-esqu in’she?)

tomorrow is just a day off in san francisco - how perfect?  first up, sleeping until whenever the hell i feel like wakeing up, i wonder what i’ll do after that….

lyrical mood o’ the moment:

go on and take it off
take it off!
shake it off baby, for me
c’mon and break me off
break me off!
’cause i get what i want and i like what i see   

the donna’s ‘take it off’

—- 

things are good today, fall is starting to crawl  to minnesota (the leaves are in the very early stages of turning) - autumn is my absolute favorite time of year, i love the crispness in the air, time for sweatshirts.  nothing better than the smell of fallen leaves while on a walk through the neighborhood.

today was still really warm tho’, 80 or so - so no fall yet, but i can feel it in my bones; it’s coming (if only it wasn’t followed by the dreaded winter). 

tomorrow i’m off to san francisco for the week - a bit of work, and a bit of r-n-r.  should be a good time if i don’t spend all my money at amoeba records.

truth be told, i’d much rather be at home tho’.  i’m thinking this fall will be a great time to be lowkey and spend some quality time in minneapolis.  i’m looking forward to being around more.

all-in-all, a very happy day for me.

—

in other fun news; on tuesday the brand new meshell ndegeocello disk ‘the world has made me the man of my dreams’ drops.

i’m super excited for this record…. i’ll be high-tailing it over to ameoba right after work on tuesday to get me some me’shell.  i love me some me’shell

yo.  what up?

sorry i’ve been so quiet the last couple of days… not much to say i guess coupled with the insanity of travel/work.  been kinda in a funk.  i think the mad-travel of the last 2 months is catching up with me.  i feel massively disconnected from home and my friends.  i know life is going on around minneapolis without me and it just kinda seems like i’m missing out on something. 

i’m sitting in a hotel in baltimore (ooh, yer jealous i can tell)… had the night off from work and walked around a bit - not much to see in this town.  not much that i found anyway.  i’m sure it’s lovely (crime rate aside).  i’m looking forward to san francisco next week and even scheduled a couple of extra days in town just for fun.  after that i’m home for a full week (can you imagine?!).  my travel schedule will begin to slow down a bit throughout october, with nothing currently scheduled after october 29th!

it’s amazing when your in the doldrums how easy it is to forget what gives you joy - know what i mean? 

i spent a bit of of time cleaning up my big ipod and adding most of my prince collection to it (prince had for the last year been on his own ipod, but i’m trying to scale down a bit, who needs 3 ipods [let alone 4 with the iphone]?)… so as i was moving the 665 prince songs i own (not including another 125 tunes on a bootleg collection of early prince performances dating back to 1980), i was reminded how much i fuckin’ love prince (yea, i forget sometimes)…. specifically listening to a bootleg show of prince live in germany in 1988 - i’m going out of my mind enjoying this shit…

endorphins are a good thing for kicking out the blues….

—

thanks for all the great suggestions for names for the new ipod (and rg; wouldn’t you like to know…. :-))… there were some great ones and i almost took jason’s suggestion and named it sioux (after all, it’s crazy sexy with a jet black casing (much like siouxsie sioux), but in the end cb came through with ‘biff’. 

2 of my other 3 ipods are named after characters in christopher moore novels, so it seemed only fitting to continue the trend (my main ipod’s name is ‘catch’ after the demon in ‘practical demonkeeping’, and the prince-pod is named whaley-boy after a group of character’s in ‘fluke’. 

so now we have biff, named after the title character from ‘lamb; the gospel according to biff, christ’s childhood pal’. 

—

and now, allow me to introduce you to biff (with a very rare self portriat thrown in [if you look closely at the bottom of the pic, you'll see 'catch' hanging out too - god i'm a fuckin' geek]).

so since i’ve been on the road, i missed most of mtv’s cluttered vma awards show - but was curious about how britney did (hell i don’t even love the chick or her music, i keep rooting for the poor white-trash girl….), but i was so hoping she’d pull it out for this - thank god for you tube where you can see a disaster over-and-over-and-over….

as the you tube will attest, she was a disaster - bad lip syncing / barely there dance (seriously, the girl can dance,  she could have relied on that and killed it)… she looked scared/bored/uninterested all at the same time.

i’m still not there with the song, but i give it points for trying to so something new… it could be slamming with a great remixer.

poor, poor trainwreck.

now, i’m not a huge korn fan, but i can totally respect what they’re saying with this tune.  interesting facts in there too.

ok, i feel it is my duty to inform you of things that are bloody brilliant, killer and all things atomic!  additionally, i feel i must repeat myself occasionally as not everyone pays attention the first go-round.  so even tho’ i mentioned it here and here - i gotta go down the mark ronson road again.

version (mark’s album) is the shit.  if i believed in capitol letters, i would’ve capitalized shit.

the album features: robbie fucking williams, kasabian, amy winehouse, paul smith, old dirty bastard (r.i.p.) and the divine lily allan on the following: 

(can you tell the insomina demon is rearing it’s ugly head?  how else do you explain trolling you tube at 2:30am??!?!?!) 

this album is brilliant - i discover new things in it constantly.  (not to mention i have the biggest crush on mark - he’s dreamy).  so check out the above you tube and if you want more (and who wouldn’t), click the banner to the right.

so i’m home from boston with just the slightest beginning of a cold.  ugg… this is so the wrong time for me to get sick

—

boston went well.  very well.  so well in fact, we are changing things!  boston was the first of 5 touring retail sales meetings for the management team from our stores.  it seriously did go well, but in so many ways it was certainly a dress rehearsal (being the first)… lots of changes to the music, decor and presentation. 

—

very little down time in boston - was staying at the fairmont in copley place right across the street from trinity church.  i did get a chance to do a bit of a walk-about last night.  anxious to