n-judah love song

assault!

Bangin' techno the way it should be: Underground Resistance in a dj set/live PA at the Limelight, circa 1992. Thanks to Monty for the link. Jeff Mills can't dissapoint, but not for listening to if you can't stand an MC.

Get it while it's hot, cos' I'm taking the link down soon.

two reviews

Two reviews SF Station - on Zero 7's The Garden and Kaskade's Here and Now. They'll be my last reviews for a while before I (with all luck) start writing instead for Bostonist.

come to our party!

  come to our party! 
  Originally uploaded by miz_ginevra.

if you're in SF, you should come to our party - old friends and new will be joining together to celebrate the End of An Era. Most specifically, Adam turns old. (Oh, and it's my bon voyage too.)

new tunes

For those of you who live in RSS, I have a ton of great new mixes up in my sidebar. There's
links to new streams - Big Bud on Future Breaks, Christine Moritz (thanks Adam!) and a great find - all of Chris Whaley's mixes that I've enjoyed over the years. Solar Summer might still be one of my favorite mixes ever, I just had no idea he's put them all up online.

Also surprisingly good is the new Zero 7 - look for my review on SF Station soon.

friday fun

I'm always interested in this question, so I'm cross-posting: what was the first album you ever bought? 

I'd like to think I picked this up because I was precociously hip and cool, but really, I just liked the album cover. It was in the "cut-out" bin, where the store put all the stuff that wasn't moving, and everything was less than $5. A lifetime of loving Bjork began. I also ended up working at the same store for my very first job, the long-lost Kemp Mill Music.

download magic.

The only song I heard more than once at WMC, other than boring dark house and some atrocious mash-ups (for SHAME, Sander!) was a few remixes of current UK chart-topper Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". The clever bit is that it's only reached #1 soley on download sales. It's a collaboration between the ubiquitous Danger Mouse and the Donny Hathaway-esque vocal stylings of Goodie Mob member Cee-Lo Green. In the original, it's 3 minutes of catchy straight-ahead northern soul with a simple, remix-friendly bassline. And scheduled to play Creamfields, too? Nice one, boys.

lullaby of clubland

"Razor wire and cinder blocks -- it was a look, and it is perhaps irreplaceable."

They're razing the remaining DC nightclubs on Half Street, and the story of how the "jocks finally won" surprised me at how touching it was. That strip of clubs were the first places I ever went out to go dance. A drag queen taught me how to put on eyeliner in the bathroom of Tracks, I walked into Wet to see Soul Slinger and walked out with a whole new understanding of the male persona, and the DJ booth at Capitol Ballroom was propped up on cinder blocks, but still banged out the best music I had ever heard.

To add insult to injury, 5 more NYC clubs, 3 of which were gay clubs, have been closed by the cops in where else but Chelsea, including Avalon (which once upon a time was the Limelight) and The View Bar.

Lady Bunny quips "the real shocker is that there was ever anyone actually present in The View."

SF has been loft-ifying SoMA for 10 years now.

To summarize completely mangle Andrew Sullivan's post on the topic - the excess and ridiclousness of the club scene are only part of what makes up gay culture and a slice of American culture. And yet, it'simportant, it was a pioneering way to declare that You Are Just Who You Are. I learned that sassy self-confidence from the dancefloor. Can't be all bad, can it?

It's kind've like how I felt when Times Square changed up. I'm not saying we need more strip clubs and crackheads. Change is welcome, necessary and good. On the other hand, do we really need to Disney-fy and sanitize everything that makes a city A CITY? Really?

hot sand, good times.

(cross-posted mostly from my top seekrit Comet blog.)

I know many folks love SXSW, or Coachella, or whatever your flavor of overly long, loud, overpriced music gathering might be. Someplace where you not only put up with being surrounded by throngs of people trying to see the same act, but you get absorbed in it. Alternately annoyed with the logistics, and also kind of never want to go home.

For me, that's Winter Music Conference: kicking off my shoes in the sand to shake a tailfeather to the best new tunes, walking on the beach watching the sunrise (rise!) on the ocean, asshole bouncers, deco buildings, the best people-watching on earth, sandcastle sculptures, café cubano, street musicians.

I'm eating via the fabulous guide to the good eats in Miami from my dear Culocho.

It's exhausting, there's a million other places to go for the money, I may never go again, it's the bling bling Burning Man, right, right, I know. Hey, it might be underwater before I get the chance to go next!

Look for some sure-to-be embarrassing photos on Flickr, and I'll see yall Tuesday!

"beat"ing a dead horse

We started this game up at a party the other night...how, exactly, do you know when rave is dead?

For instance, "rave is dead when you only go to places with a bar." Go over to Adam's blog where the game continues: rave is dead when...

music monday

Maybe it's because I got new headphones from Shure (BTW, Sony, you can suck it, with your shite headphones) or because I've been going back out to more live music, but I thought I'd do a quick round-up post on tunes.

Here's Beck covering Nick Drake's Pink Moon. Emo-tastic.

Have you tried emusic yet? Non-DRM, 40 tunes for $10 a month, with new labels being added all the time - most recently Grand Central and Ninja Tune. Plus, they have loads of jazz and blues.

Todd posted a drum-n-bass mix from Little Jen, it's ill.

I've posted about this before, but it's still so fun to play with Pandora and last.fm. Based on the RIYL principle, and both sites "learn" what you want to hear.

In a quick break from political blogging, Alex points out the UnderworldLive.com site, which lets you purchase new tunes that will only see release online, download live sets, and pushes forward the idea of getting music straight from the band to the fans.

I am so in love with the Mylo album, it's a little ridiculous.

I'm really trying to get into podcasts, but finding decent ones takes more time than I have. KUSF's Future Breaks FM is some ill drum-n-bass from right here in the Bay Area (thanks to Jason for pointing it out). I've been digging on both the Hierocast from Heiro Emperium Records, it's snowboarder hip-hop: good beats with interesting production; as well as DNAE Beats, which seems to favor hip-hop with a jazzy bent and good vocal samples.

Did you know Betalounge is still around? That's one of the first places I listened to music online, apart from Radio 1.

Anything new rockin' your block right now?

tricking out typepad

Laura wrote this excellent post about how to get a favicon in the address bar of your browser with TypePad. And then my favorite TypePad design blog, swissmiss, posted a link to the favicon generator today.

Just find an image - for me, I just used the Tummy Touch logo, and presto, now you should see the favicon if you clear your cache and reload see it in your browser window.

And welllllll, I borrowed the logo, so maybe you should go buy something from them, like the fabulously sexy I Am Fearless Funky & Five compliation, which I love more than is really appropriate. As evidenced by the fact that I am using their logo as a favicon. (But look how cute! It's my favorite logo evar. Why don't they have t-shirts?)

Thanks to Laura, Tina and Time "Love" Lee.

living for the city

Hi yall! Did you miss me? I'm what us nerds call "heads down" this week, which I think means "too busy to blog". So! In lieu of posting actual content, I will simply tell you that I learned how to make an iMix, from which you can download from iTunes some songs that make me oh-so-happy.  I was inspired by Adam, who is my favorite record player. 

I had to make two mixes, because one was actually 50% Stevie Wonder, whose magical powers I've already mentioned, but I thought that was kind of overkill. It's a little weird, when the new mix loaded, they replaced a couple of tunes with similar ones, so just take it from me that the bassline on Common's "Be" is the ill shit, and you should go get his latest album.

Oh, and because iTunes' section for "girlie, twinkly 2-step remixes" is severely lacking, here's the last song on the happy mix: Gabrielle - Rise (Artful Dodger Rmx).

loss and such

One of my favorite music blogs is closing up shop. Monty Luke's The Stolen Moments Presents Juicy Bitz has been a great source for old school tracks and picking up SF deep house scene news.

He closes with the sad news that Mark Spoon of Jam & Spoon was found dead in his home at 41. If for some reason Monty takes it down, here's one of their big ol' tracks from the EP "Tales From A Danceographic Ocean": stella.mp3

geeks of a different name.

Some of you know, I used to work in a record store. The kids who came in were, for the most part, bedroom dj's - that particular brand of DJ who are music snobs to the Nth power, who consider their taste superior, but are, sometimes, interesting to hear. The bedroom DJ spends all their money on records that 5 people will hear.

Podcasting = the new bedroom dj'ing.

My people.

work it

As some of you know, I've been trying to get in shape since last year, when I realized I had gained some wonderfully unhealthy eating habits, none of which I seem to want to break (see: cheese, wine, diet coke, lattes, more cheese, Chinese food, beer, et cetera). So instead of giving things up, I have to work out. Bleh.

In pursuit of actually keeping this goal, I have made the dorkiest-ever soundtrack for hitting the gym. It consists of equal amounts Prince, old school raver tunes, and Cindy's favorite, Missy Elliot. Anything that keeps me going past the "holy shit, has it only been 10 minutes on the treadmill?"

If you have any suggestions, I'm open to them. And, lordy, please keep your Kelly Clarkson to yourself.

BTW, pilates damn near killed me this morning. Please tell me that gets easier.

wistful tunes

Not only is Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this weekend - something we always, always go to - but the lineup rocks. Gillian Welch, Patty Griffin, Joan Baez, Calexico, Emmylou Harris, Laura Cantrell, and Rosanne Cash among many, many other great artists. Grab a lawn chair and come along to Golden Gate Park.

Alex sent me over to the music trailer for Elizabethtown, and true to form, Cameron Crowe and Nancy Wilson have put together a well-thought out, eceltic soundtrack. There's two of my absolute favorite "contemplating life, gazing out the window" kind of songs - Elton John's My Father's Gun and Ryan Adams' Come Pick Me Up. Krissy pointed out you can stream the whole album here.

quick update

I'm having sort of a hectic Monday, but here's a few highlights:

Adam and I are throwing a hurricane benefit with both live jazz and DJ's on the 22nd of this month at Butter. Watch this space for more details. Until then, here's an interactive map of the history of jazz in New Orleans.

A nifty little piece called About The Other Animals.

Guilty. (though only of second degree murder, and not a hate crime either.)
 

My preview for Feist at Great American is up on SF Station. It's chanteuse-alicious.
 

shake it, babies

my article on Vinyl & Sila and the Afrofunk experience is up on SF Station.

internet radio

the new version of last.fm is pretty darn cool. I don't have a lot of time to mess with their tagging, but I do sure like having new music played for me based the Recommended If You Like principle.

late registration

A great article/interview with Kanye West about his new album and studio techniques.

"he's thought of as both a solution and a problem, which means he must be doing something right."

geek tunes

someone's converted epson printers, an Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64 into synths.

the machine is neither a god nor a devil

Adam told me about an article he'd read in the New Yorker about the history of recorded music, so I decided to dig it up for all yall. It's a few months old, so you savvy folks with subscriptions have already seen this - but if you haven't, it's a facinating piece. There's interesting analysis of how recording influences performance and vice-versa: how the demand for precision affects how music is played, and how artists, as always when faced with a rule, seek to bend it.

"The paradox of recording is that it can preserve forever those disappearing moments of sound but never the spark of humanity that generates them. This is a paradox common to technological existence: everything gets a little easier and a little less real."

kickin new flava

...KCRW is the pretty much the best radio station evah. Just open your iTunes to radio->eclectic->KCRW if you're not in the LA area. Yesterday, there was Primal Scream's "Higher Than The Sun" (which is actually like 100 years old in music time) followed by the Todd Terry remix of Moloko's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (the joint with Steve Miller samples..."doo doo doodoooo"...) and followed closely by one of Beck's new tracks.

And because we all adore a good mp3 blog - welcome to Smart Music. Prefuse 73, Interpol, Lemon Jelly, telefon tel aviv...all legal and free, the way it oughta be. (thanks, moka break!)

music tag

go meme, go!

total volume of music on my computer: 18.9 gb at home, 5.2 at the office

last cd i bought: jill scott - beautifully human

song that's on right now: spoon - i turn my camera on

five songs that i listen to a lot: (according to my iTunes)

heard it all before - sunshine anderson
sparks - royksopp
obsession - fuzzy logic
yehaw partystyles - people under the stairs
matural high - kevin yost

five people i'm now tagging it:

scott
adam
jason
ales
alex

Winter Music Conference vs. Burning Man...round 1, fight!

I haven't been to the WMC in ages, because I am a JadedRaver™ but Monty reviews the event thusly.

"1. The WMC is the Bling Bling Burning Man. You do the same things you do out on the Playa except you're wearing clothing and nothing is free. And everyone is an idiot."

The comparisons continue on down the line, from an influx of geeks getting pasty-and-sunburned,  "sprinkle dirty sand in all your food" and " listen to music you hate for 168 hours straight, or until you think you are going to scream. Scream. Realize you'll love the music for the rest of your life." (from Virtual Burning Man.)

 

if it ain't baroque

I've been trying to avoid listening to The Arcade Fire. I despise when bands are over-hyped before they've even released their second album and have a "The" in their name. When Gawker said that The Arcade Fire had "officially stolen the mantle of most hyped band, like, ever, from quirky Scots Franz Ferdinand", I put up a little sign in my yard saying "No Fucking Way Am I Listening To This". And that was that, or so I thought.

Then two friends whose musical tastes I respect told me that the album was pretty good. And so I listened to it. "Meh," I said, "they're singing in Franglais, silly Canucks. When is this gonna start to ROCK!?"

And then I started listening. Pretentious? Yes. But then it kinda grew on me, like indie rock fungus. I'm pretty sure they know exactly how Baroque-addled they sound (violins? check. accordion? check.) and the lyrics about childhood jaunts in snow and lost love push it to 10 on the oh-so-precious-meter. Maybe it's because my personal world has me feeling a bit fragile (c'mon, James and Death Cab are the most played bands on my iTunes this week), or maybe it's my Québécois heritage talking, but something in the album resonates with me.

And then I cuss at myself for liking Yet Another Trendy Band. Dammit.

I still think Kings of Convenience sound like Schroeder from Peanuts, though. I refuse to like them, too. So there, indie rockers.

sunny days

I took a cue from Ari, who said something to the effect that it is impossible to be in a bad mood when listening to Stevie Wonder. I put on my dad's old coat (a tan leather 70's private-eye peacoat) a pair of big sunglasses, and played all the songs belonging to the genre "funk" while walking to work in the sun.

A fine way to start a Monday.

amon tobin

I bought two tickets to Amon Tobin this Friday as part of the NoisePop festival. He's playing at Bimbo's 365. My boyfriend doesn't particularly care for this variety of music, and Jason said if anyone else would like his ticket more, then they should go.

Do you want to go? If you give me a good reason I'll take you. And if no one wants to go, hell, I've got two tickets for sale.

who's coming with?

Tsunami Relief Benefit
Ben Gibbard / Mark Kozelek / Eric Bachman
The Great American Music Hall
San Francisco, CA
USA
Friday ,  1/28/05 , 8:00PM
General Admission

All Ages ** All proceeds go to Tsunami Relief Fund

money, success, fame, glamour

updated: Wow, this is one of my top searches. Here's the tune  you're looking for from Party Monster. 

 

sweet washy melancholy

Todd introduced me to the lovely, symphonic m83. You can hear whole album on their site. (brilliant! thank you for being unfraid to put your music out there for people to actually listen to!) Or you could just check out this song. Go Ahead. I'll wait.

rock out with ya...

There are some really good shows this week - and I haven't been to see live music in approximately eighty-four million years. Ok, a few months, but still.

At Bimbo's 365 this Wednesday and Thursday is Neko Case.
At Slim's this Friday is the Weakerthans.
On Thursday the 9th, also at Slim's, is Iron and Wine.
Further down the road to think about - 1/7 at the Fillmore,  Handsome Boy Modeling School aka Prince Paul and Dan the Automator.

That there's a lot of funk to put in one gal's trunk.

closing time

this reminds me of a lot of places that have gone under in the past three years. Obviously, Bush hates independent record shops.

Now my record store is closing. You see, I took it for granted that the store would always be there. I figured that eventually I would be able to (at the very least) resume my three dollar a week LP habit. I knew that the store was having problems and I still didn't make enough of an effort to visit during the tough summer months. There are still other places to shop, but they aren't my happy places. They are just stores.

My record store is closing, and I am crushed.

I sure am glad Tweekin and Groove Merchant and Amoeba and Aquarius have been able to stick through this long.

holla back

as you can see from the sidebar, I've been enjoying my old music lately. This time of year  reminds me of working at the bar, waiting for customers to arrive, and putting on any old CD we could find. Sometimes I'd sit up in the window and read, a lot of times we'd share beers and sing along to Sticky Fingers, waiting for the Wack Pack to walk by in their daily parade of Crazy.

Needless to say, this reflection isn't exactly keeping me up to date with the latest and greatest musique.  I've always gotten great tunes from my friends, cos yall have good taste. So I ask - what are you diggin on right this minute?

vaya con dios, ipod.

so sad.

Yen and I have been working on reformatting my hard drive (which,  by coincidence, died during an update of itunes) and I just got it up and running today. Of course, I installed iTunes, popped in my iPod, and....poof. nada. nothing.  Don't run iTunes with the "auto-sync" option should you be updating your system.

all of my tunes are gone.

yeaaargh.

Todd pointed me to this helpful link, should the same happen to you.

I've been home sick today, so I'll be back on the ball tomorrow.

now spinnin on the isnob

The Avalanches are rockin it in my car right now. It's good sunshine music, along with Burning Airlines, some very old breakbeat, Blame, and Neko Case.

The dog likes to snuffle in the bassbin and try to figure out who the hell is singing in there.