May 13
Cee U Next Tuesday, Volume 2: Wednesday Edition
by rachel
Last night I saw Von Iva again, and as soon as the lead singer got up on stage and told the crowd at TT’s that “Drinking is nice, but drinking and music is fucking nicer,” I was all:
“OMG I FORGOT ABOUT CEE U NEXT TUESDAY”, which is my best invention since Workin It Friday (even if the difference between the two is the same difference between “Vanilla” and “French Vanilla”). So, I’m a day late on my c.u.n.t.-iness. Apologies.
None of you were at the show, and that was your loss. I know because I can smell our audience a mile away, as you my kind. Here’s why that sucks: Von Iva=Better Live. Pretty darn good recorded, too, but not the same. You also miss what I love lots: They are hot-pants-and-high-heels girls, like myself. Um, and I would like very much for lead singer lady to have my babies. That is all.
They are at the Mercury Lounge in NYC on Friday 5/15, which is a good way to start the weekend, NYCers.
von iva online
May 11
26 Songs About Sex And Death #1: Skin On Skin
by rachel
(a project)
The song:
Dry as the back of my mouth after a sip of red wine with a bad cork, like your humor which you think is funnier than it is. Meat hook fingers, hooked nose. I’ve had it with your nose but you can pick a song on the jukebox with my quarter. All’s fair. You got the one in the last town.
Fair isn’t fine you say, whiskey isn’t rye but rye is whiskey, and amble towards the woman who has imbibed too much of either or both. Her feet sport cowboy boots that have seen better days but she can still shuffle. I think she is too old, but her old is probably still young enough for you.
Too many cops in this town. We should head further West but the clock is ticking on us and the Ford.
We should have played cops and robbers. Cops and robbers is cleaner.
Make it matter, hook-nosed miscreant, make it matter. Her bra strap is falling off her shoulder though her halter top stays on - shoulders like canned ham, like the kind that hoisted babies once, but they don’t so much anymore. They are shoulders that lift shots to mouth, shoulders that shake a gelatinous shimmy to strangers with floppy hair.
Shelby is a married man. Somewhere.
The bartender would like us to pay our tab, Shelby. The bartender would like us to go.
While I wrote this I remembered how fucking great Queens of the Stone Age are, which- if you read this blog- might come as a surprise to you that someone as single minded as myself could forget…but I did. Please don’t let that happen again. Enjoy:
Queens of the Stone Age—Skin on Skin
Amazon
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Apr 21
Cee U Next Tuesday, Volume 1
by rachel
It’s true, I enjoy cuntiness in my tunes, literature, gin cocktails and girlfriends. In this space, please find my Tuesday bitch jams.
I will be singing the new Peaches song for the next 3 weeks, I think. Join me in its cuntiness and hairdos. And gurl is SANG-ing in this one. Cannot wait for this show.
Apr 13
Soon We’ll Be Found
by matt
A beautiful video for a beautiful song.
Sia | Soon We’ll Be Found from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.
Apr 10
Switch It Up
by matt
Last year, Björk released a song titled “Náttúra” to help raise money for the cause of environmental renewal and self-sustaining businesses within her homeland of Iceland.
NME.com is hosting Switch’s remix of the track for free, assuming for a limited time only here. He manages to turn the already raw, primal track into something even beyond. The transformation is a bit reminiscent of Alec Empire’s chaotic reworking of Björk’s “Jóga” in 1997. Yikes, was that really 12 years ago?!
Apr 9
Silversun Pickups Video
by rachel
I was a 16 year old girl for the Silversun Pickups in the summer of 2005, it’s true.
So I’m glad that the SSPUs are continuing on the same retro-90’s, androgynously voiced, simply distorted sound path. The video is very 120 Minutes.
Mar 30
Speaking In Code
by matt
Local techno aficionados Squar3 Productions have finally gotten their dance culture documentary released just in time for Boston’s Independent Film Festival. And it will be premiering just a few blocks from my house.

Psyched! Details here: World Premiere of Speaking In Code
No commentsMar 23
New PJ Old PJ
by rachel
There’s going to be a new PJ Harvey/John Parrish album very very soon. Color me anticipatory.
Here’s the first video, which is great, simple, and great. Also great.
The new album with John Parish is called A Woman A Man Walked By, which I will most certainly be purchasing a physical copy of on March 30th. That’s right. I need it in-hand.
Mar 23
Brazilian Fire
by matt
When I first noticed the almost pop star-sized accolades rolling in for Gui Boratto’s debut LP Chromophobia in 2007, I was both intrigued and confused. What could have been released from the generally stark and demure Kompakt Records camp to warrant such huge, global praise? Then I heard the epic “Beautiful Life”, and it started to make sense.
It’s unapologetically anthemic and optimistic; the cause for an end-of-the-night, hands-in-the-air dancefloor experience. It almost straddles the thin line between inspiring and cheesy, but I tend to fall to the side of the believers. This is not to say all of Boratto’s material incites a PLURathon. He also lays into the deeper, grittier side of tech. Alternately, at other times, invoking the theatrics of rock and pop music into otherwise faceless dance compositions. With a sonic spectrum as wide-sweeping as his, it’s easy to see why his name was on the lips of many a pleased critic.

I’m currently digesting his second LP Take My Breath Away and sensing a similar formula. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” perhaps? I catch myself really grooving to some of the darker, headier cuts (”Opus 17″, “Atomic Soda”, “Ballroom”), but the one track I find myself coming back to most is the lone larger-than-life vocal narrative. It starts out rather bare-boned and heavily repetitive with a slow growth. The first couple minutes remind me of something fellow Kompakt artist The Field might have constructed. As the song builds, the near 8-minute monster boasts gorgeous chords, invigorating builds, and explosive release. I suspect that much like “Beautiful Life” on his first record, this will be the most remembered song from the sophomore album. Break out your whistles.
Gui Boratto - No Turning Back [mp3]
Mar 20
Under The Disco Lights
by matt
So iTune’s party shuffle function has unintentionally turned my Friday afternoon workday into an episode of Solid Gold. Well, at least in my head.

Up popped “Chase” from italo-disco pioneer and major influence to modern house music (in my humble opinion), Giorgio Moroder. I haven’t heard this song in a while, but it’s still as relevant today as when it came out in 1977. I can’t believe “Chase” came out 10 years before I was born!
……………and by 10 years before, I mean the same year.
Waa waaah. Anyway, aside from the fact that I’m not getting any younger, this song remains the jammy jam even now. Even more importantly, it also served as the precursor and foundation to one of the most defining disco tracks of the 1970s, and dare I say of the entire disco genre itself. Go dig out your finest bell-bottomed jumpsuit for this one.
I must admit, I’ve always had a fascination with the nightlife of New York City and how it’s changed throughout the decades. I wish I could have seen it in the late 70s, early 80s and the transition from glitzy, sensationalized disco to the grassroots development of underground house and garage music. Going to raves in Manhattan ballrooms, Brooklyn warehouses, and beneath the Brooklyn Bridge were a blast and utterly amazing in their own right, but to be one of the beautiful people for a night and party down at Studio 54….I think Dichototall and Dichotosmall could have rocked it proper there. At least when we were younger, more naive, and not so crusty, that is.
At any rate, it’s nice to feel a bit of nostalgia now and again, even if it’s for an era I never personally experienced.
Giorgio Moroder - Chase [mp3]