Dion

I love Dion and the Belmonts. Timeless songwriting.

Revenge

The cafeteria of Worldwide Plaza has run out of yogurt, much to my dismay. When I realized this, standing in front of the cold case, I deployed an angry fart for all to smell.

I hope it lingers until they bring in the fucking palettes. I need my yogurt.

Yay

Apartment dude officially flaked. I called him and he said he found someone else....after he offered me the apartment. Thanks dude, I like how you stressed that you were 28 and respect was important to you, and then you flaked out and didn't even think to let me know. Dope.

Fuck life. Something way better than cool needs to happen really soon.

Weekend

This weekend was weird.

I went to the Bmore Round Robin, both shows. First night was cool. Second night fucking blew. I got to see friends and what they had been up to musically, which was awesome. Denny's (Smart Growth's) new track blew my head off. However, three things happened that totally sucked:

1. The tour manager chick needed to talk to Dan Deacon and instead of just asking me, she beat on my back and twisted my ear around in the middle of a fuckin song until i was like wtf, and then she screamed "I NEED TO TALK TO DAN". it's like god damn, chill, you can't wait 2 minutes? or just like, not injure me?

2. I got shoved onto Double Dagger's stage during a song, which is whatever, but as i'm getting up, some roadie grabs me by the neck/shoulder and sprawls me out into the crowd, and when i stand up he shoves his arm across my neck as if to say "no more antics dude". so i yanked his arm off me and continued to try and have fun

3. Some drunk girl started flailing her arms in my face during the next DD song, and i put my hand upwards next to my face to block her inebriated idiocy, and this offended her, so she decided it would be totally cool to open palm strike me in my face, sending my head crashing into my friend Ben's face. yeah totally, that was super appropriate. so at that point i made the decision to bounce, it obviously wasn't my night.

Nolen and Ben followed me, and i was basically real pissed, and on the way out i saw the dumb bitch and pointed her out, so Nolen was like why would you do that. and she played the innocent role, and so Nolen was like this dude is one of my best friend's, and i have never known him to lie. so she sat in silence and we walked out. i received hugs from Nolen and Ben, and rolled out.

Luckily, some friends were at a party in Brooklyn. so i went there, chilled, went to white castle, went to some girl's house who looks like Anne Hathaway, listened to her roomate say ridiculous shit, and eventually went home.

I would like to conclude that NY draws the absolute shittiest crowds for shows. I have never met more douchebags, art-jocks, dumb drunk bitches, too-cool-for-schools or wall-leaners at shows anywhere on this coast who rival NY. And I have been to shows in a number of states.

I got offered an apartment, then the dude flaked. Dope. Brooklyn is fucking flake city.

Diplo @ Webster Hall

My friend Ben got us discounted tickets cause he is down with the broads in the fairly awful Brooklyn band called Telepathe. They play sub-par beats from a machine and then dance around talking about guns and glam and play with their hair and stuff. Sometimes this dude plays multi-effected guitar leads on top of it all, which usually makes me want to pierce the power cable to his amp with an arrow.

Abe Vigoda played, they are my favorite band. Their sound was swallowed by the dumb space layout of the venue, but some songs translated really well. They were very well received, not to my surprise (they rule), and John Norris was there as usual. I think him and I share the same favorite band. I wish I had the resources to move to LA and start a band somewhere next to the ocean.

Diplo was solid. His crew rolled out a turntable aparatus with crazy lights and a megaphone with a Mad Decent sticker on it and shit. The table looked like a sliced portion of my highschool kitchen's service bar. His mixes were on point - I'm always curious how much of the stuff is other people's shit that he's playing, how much is made from simple chops, and how much is made from borrowed/obvious samples from other people's music. It doesn't matter really, just shutup and dance, BUT, I like to know. I assume the Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger bmore club remix was his own, and it kind of blew my mind.

I had to leave early cause I'm 24 now, so I'm an old man, so I had to be in bed. But I got some dope fly fresh $1 slices of jump-off pizza with Benjamin then went home and made a club mix. It came out pretty good. It's a good starting concept.

I'm DJing at the loft on Halloween. It should be really phat.

AHHHHHH!

FUQ LYFE!!!

My friend Ben Walton

Apartment Hunting

Fucking sucks. My birthday is in 6 days. I met a girl on the Chinatown bus and I'm pretty sure she died. Or maybe she wishes I died. Probably the latter. I'm sleeping on my friend's floor. Every night I get bit on the fucking face by a mosquito and I'm awoken by throbbing pain. But luckily only one of them bites me each night. So at least I can prepare for a specific amount of torture. Maybe it's the same mosquito. He/she sucks.

Abe Vigoda - Skeleton

This is the third LP release by LA post-punk band Abe Vigoda. In a chronological sense, I think their albums have gotten better each time, and I would venture to say that the formula for this is their ability to vent their emotions more creatively with each new release.

There is a shitload of emotion in their music. It's very grabbing, you notice it instantly. The rhythms serve as a kind of salsa-infused palette for which the numbing reverberated guitar melodies to be placed upon. The bass lines are innovative, not too safe, and not too ambitious.

Although this release is the seemingly 'happiest' so far ["Sky Route (Star Roof)" very much being rooted in darker post-punk tendencies and much more openly cathartic], the tones and the textures of their sound are still very sad. I would like to think, ideally, that this is a collaborative notion felt between all of the band members, but I can't help myself but to single out singer Michael Vidal. He seems to be telling the stories, he seems to be expressing the most frustration and solemn perspectives, and the rest of the band seems to be providing a more visceral and nondescript emotional quality (this is not to downplay their roles in any way).

This dynamic is what makes this band so interesting to me. There is a faked-happiness among all of their newer songs that draw you in. You want to dance, you want to move, the repetitive and beautiful harmonies attract you. However, in the middle of it all, there is the preservation of something painful and grotesque. There is some subject matter; ambiguous but existent; that remains as the nucleus for which the more accessible sounds surround and disguise. It creates a beautiful overall texture; something equally visceral and cerebral, a texture with balance and imbalance. Something simple, but containing deep substance on second glance.

I won't take the time to compare them to other bands or try to cite influences, and this is out of respect because I feel that this band is almost totally expressionistic. When a band relies this much of the emotional quality of their art, it is really a waste of time to pinpoint their subconscious influences or hero-bands. If you listen to their body of work, it becomes very clear that this music is therapeutic for them. They are growing, and their music is growing with them. All in all, I think this album is extremely worthwhile to check out for people from a wide range of interests. And I think for many different people, it's quite beautiful.

Hanging On By A Thread

Why couldn't they just boot this ho.

Make My Taco Pop

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