Check out Sigur Ros here: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/

What to write here that my friends haven’t written yet… let me think about it… yeah, I’ve got nothing.  It’s a bunch of ambient-type background music that is simply … that.  Background music.  It’s not epic, it’s not something you can expect to hear on the radio or in clubs (such as Neo), it’s not any of those things.  It’s Trent putting stuff out there that sounds like the slowed-down instrumental leftovers from Further Down, Fragile & Year Zero all mixed together.  Does the word “leftovers” mean it’s not album-worthy?  No fear, mon frair, it’s still highly purchasable and I fully recommend you do so here:

I plan on purchasing the 2-disc set with download-able higher-quality mp3’s.  Even more interesting is the latest post from Trent on NIN.com:

“03 March 2008:
BACK!
The new Nine Inch Nails record is available RIGHT NOW! (for real this time)
Sorry again about the hassle. Somebody kicked the plug out of our internets, but we’re all set now.
posted by Trent Reznor at 8:00 PM pst, from hong kong“

Also, check out the Wall Street Journal story on Trent and Obama here:

http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/03/03/internet-lessons-from-nine-inch-nails-and-obama/ 

In other news,  we celebrated Dave & Brian’s Birthday on Saturday night at Julio’s Mexican Restaurant and followed-up with some Hogs n’ Honeys.  CLICK HERE FOR PICS.  As usual, Drew makes a wonderful representation of what every awake person at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning should act like.  Win?  Doubtful.

That’s all.  Goodnight.

She named it “I’ll Become The Sea”, after some of my favorite (translated) lyrics from La Mer by Nine Inch Nails. This painting is so much more in terms of talent and vibrant output than anyone I’ve ever known was possible of providing. I gotta say that I’m so honored to have this on my wall. So cool! Love ya, Jules! Thanks so much!

Julie’s working on getting this work up on her website currently, but you can see her other art over here:

http://www.jnausdesign.com/

Convictions. Everyone I know has something to say about the type of music they like/dislike. They may say, “I like all kinds of music”, but 97.13548% of the time they’ll follow up with, “except <insert random variation here>”. Personally, I can’t handle Country (countless times I’ve expressed this), Death Metal (screaming/non-understandable) or realllly slooowww musssiiiccc.

In my case, I’ll admit that I’m a huge House & Electronica snob. If it doesn’t go nnnsta nnnsta, I usually don’t listen to it. Some occasions may require a change, since there are people out there that don’t like it (clueless… all of ‘em!). I shall now include a few images to reinforce my statements. hahaha

A couple of things the last 2 weeks keyed up this conversation. Firstly, Dave brought up a blog post he was reading regarding an Oakenfold performance and the state of the “DJ Superstars” (mostly in the comments). After he mentioned how much of a hack Oakenfold really was (which I’ve also heard a minimal number of DJ’s say, too), I started thinking back to the days when I really started understanding what House music was all about and how much the music really put me in a happy place. Yes, the recognizable DJ’s have egos, but hell, show me a rapper or rock star without one and I’ll show you 17,000 that do.

To be completely honest, I really don’t know how Oakenfold got demoted to an opening act for Underworld. I get the feeling that maybe these 2 were the headliners, and then there were lesser DJ’s before him. Either way, I do agree that Oakenfold might be moving a bit too far into the “mainstream” since his release of Starry Eyed Suprise and Faster Kill Pussycat (with Brittany Murphy on vocals). I attempt to hold him to a higher standard than most and these were pretty pop-tastic and commercial. I miss the days of Bullet in the Gun & drastic remixes of Dido/Radiohead/U2/Sneaker Pimps/Madonna/Depeche Mode where he did some grassroots production, instead of the more prolific tracks for movies (Matrix Reloaded, Swordfish & Collateral).

I was, however, able to attend an Oakenfold set at Summerfest in Milwaukee 3 or 4 summers ago and it was pretty freakin’ awesome. Felix Da Housecat opened.

Here’s the photo album from that outing: http://pix.drewzilla.org/summerfest1
A short video clip of the event: Right-Click Here and Save

Another thing we were discussing was the quality of mainstream music and how bad it’s turned lately. Mostly, this was centered around Trent Reznor and NIN, since this is something we both relate to and appreciate in terms of artistic ability and creativity. Trent continuously reinvents their music, yet has the basic underlying concepts to how he produces his music. Good, loud music with a rhythmic electronic feel, intertwined with hushed ambient melodies. Trent’s big beef right now is with his record company, to which he currently owes another album, and the prices they charge the customer (of which he’s getting jack/squat). I’d probably say the last CD’s I bought in the store were NIN “The Fragile” and Chemical Brothers “Push The Button” a couple years back, which deserved their purchase price (in payment to the artists). I don’t plan on purchasing any albums soon, considering the front racks at Best Buy contain Chamillionaire, Rascal Flatts and James Blunt. On top of that, their Dance/DJ section (named in an annoyingly generic and lame fashion for the sheep) contains 99% compilation discs that probably don’t pay the artist 1/10th of what their production is worth. Give me a streaming audio of Pete Tong or Judge Jules on the BBC Radio1 or a white label bootleg and I’ll be content for hours.

This is a short list of some of the tracks that shaped my focus on electronica around the Y2K:

Paul Oakenfold – Bullet In The Gun
Underworld – Born Slippy
Felix Da Housecat – Silver Screen
ATB – 9pm (Till I Come)
Robert Miles – Children & Fable
John Digweed – Heaven Scent
Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now
Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy, Hey Girl

A couple other producers & composers that deserve recognition:
Danny Elfman – Movie Scores/Themes & Oingo Boingo
Brian Eno – Father of Modern Ambient Music
Pharrell Williams – N.E.R.D. & The Neptunes
Timbaland – Timbaland & Magoo
Q-Tip – A Tribe Called Quest

That being said, Chemical Brothers (open by Ladytron) are spinning the Riviera up on Lawrence & Racine this Monday, and I doubt I’m going to be able to attend. Damn you, fundage! Tickets are like 45 bucks. *sigh*

In light of the above, heres a couple funny links for the “haters”:
Trancecrackers
DJsOnStrike

Bedtime. Ni-Ni!

/pre-apologizes for short-lived nightclub rockstar slash unrealistic lifestyle & employment

ANYWAY… on to the song… this is great:

*sigh* Well, I guess there goes my Saturday… and Sunday.  Lets not kid ourselves.  The last time I attended an evening morning show at Vision with a big-name DJ, it was Above & Beyond.  They started at 2 a.m. and finished at 5 a.m. (yeah, they HAD to close at 5).  Talk about after-hours.  However, it was one of the coolest indoor shows I’ve ever seen and people were just hoppin’.  I knew some people that even ended up at after-hours for that one till NOON.  Ahhh… I miss you, afties.

Wish me luck.  This one might hurt.

http://yearzero.nin.com/

You’ll want to click the link above to launch the flash-player to listen to the new album.

Believe you me, I’m going to need about 15 more rounds of audible input on this one before I even start to form an opinion. Mr. Reznor’s idea, regarding a “soundtrack for a movie that hasn’t been created yet”, which was somehow borne within 6 months time, leaves a lot to ponder. Here are a couple of links I know you’ll appreciate:

http://www.rollingstone.com/year-zero-project-way-cooler-than-lost/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_(album)

Will I be purchasing this disc? Pretty much guaranteed after just purchasing the new live Nine Inch Nails DVD. Check it out via the link at the top, let me know what you think. I’ll give a better run-down within 24 hours, most likely. Now: SleepyTime.

Good find, Bud! Looks like she did rather well at SXSW. Nice track… definitely need to find some more music from this Brit!