Press 1p start to play.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

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Everything > Nihilism.

Earth dissipation time.

Nighty night.

PS. In Linux there's this piece of code called 'the kernel' which is the beginning process of every single instance of linux ... On forums and stuff there are people who are like "The Kernel is such an adaptable and impressive piece of coding. It's genius!" and all these thousands of different machines all run the kernel when they start up, just cause it's this tiny but straightforward basis for unlimited computations and unlimited functions. Anyway, my point is, I've always struggled to explain my belief system, but really I just need to put my kernel into words. Maybe.

Here's attempt #1 - "Everything ever is subjective"

I'm tired.

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Dude.

Dude dude dude.

Have you seen this?

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=6YxC6j2fKSs

The best bit I reckon is the last 20 seconds or so. It's just so freaky to see 'em actually playing in real life what I'd previously just heard and loved. (Have you seen 'em live yet? Which is yr favourite album? Geekin' out over here.)
We as humans sometimes/often/always disconnect the sounds coming from a cd from the performance of music by a band in a studio. This shit just thrashes the two together. It's crazy. And when he fiddles with the bass at the end to create that melodic feedback?
Shit.

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DAMMIT YUSUF

I JUST SAW THE DATE AND WELL YES IT was nice to give me a lift but I needed to hand in this form to Centrelink in Cheltenham today and yes I forgot but I would've remembered on my way to the station I'm sure.

Why today for lift? Of all days?

Aw man ... I don't even know what happens if you're late with two forms in a row ... which is what this is...

I should really try and get that shit in tomorrows.

But the bottom line is, Yus-o, you mean well, and I'm sure you just wanted to make sure I had time to catch up on some zooper-dooper bloggin'.

Zooper Doopers and blogs.
Together at last.

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Bop Circles.

Once found an old diary of my mum's and read it front to back, but it was so much more mundane than your's.
Almost every entry was "School today, played with Lorraine". But even then it was amazing to read, and I saw her instantly as a ... human .. (of some sort). We get along great now and I've always said it was the diary that got us started.

What I'm trying to say is that parent-text rules, and that this is a good day.

*break*

So I'm doing a tafe course in business management as part of a government program called NEIS (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme) .cause I'm starting a business with my sister ... Anyway, five days a week, 9 to 3, Moorabin campus ... And it's bliss.

Well, it's not.. but when your daily schedule changes drastically and you do something different and meet some new people, life gets more interesting.

Anyway........

• There's this semi-successful comedian in the class, right? Was on Spicks and Specks twice and Good News Week twice last year, and whenever he talks about the ridiculous state of Australian comedy it's so fucking interesting. One of his tangents involved Shane Bourne crying. We're quietly keeping a tally of who leaves class to urinate the most, men or women.
  

• There's this new girl called Mileena which is handy cause one day we'll be in danger and it's like forward forward circle. Fuckin' easy.
  

• There's this super rich older couple from the UK (England and ... Scotland?) who are both repulsive and completely engrossing.
  

• We've got two naturopaths, oddly. And a specialist in Chinese medicine.
  

• And there's this mumbling boganic kinda figure called Yusuf who gave me a ride home today who I'm beginning to think can't relate to anyone in the class but me. I'm quite surprised that he'd think of me (with my rolled-up-at-the-bottom jeans and my little pink novel and my talk of canadian indie supergroups) as someone he can talk openly to but he does, and I think he kinda needs to talk openly to someone, so that's good. Just stories about cars and trouble with the law and stuff like that.

All the Australian cultural stereotypes are represented. S'good stuff... At lunchtime though I find that I neeeeed to go off campus and just read my book. 'Sanity time'.

*SEGUEWAY*

Hanna turned off comments on her blog ...
To be honest I find it a little annoying.

:P

All you guys're really good writers. For honest - I'm into it.

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This is my favourite image in the world right now.

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Meeting Phil.

So last year I got to meet my most respected and idolised music making person.

(Phil Elverum, aka Mount Eerie, previously of The Microphones)

First, we (John Smyth, Andy and myself) were standing around the merch table at this all ages, 'RRR Performance Space' Mount Eerie/Lucky Dragons gig, looking at and picking up various albums when this voice was like "You guys got any questions or anything?"
I looked up and Phil was right there, reclining in a plastic chair, with his accent and his little eyes and his ill-fitting clothes and his vaguely passive aggressive manner. And he was so real. And so close. I freaked out on the inside.
I mumbled something incoherent and whisked away the guys to a safe distance. They hadn't noticed the presence of Phil so I broke the news to 'em. We'd just met Phil, and he was vaguely rude. And Andy was like "Why do you think that's Phil?" and I was like "Cause I've seen what Phil looks like and it's that". At this point we're kinda freaking out. Can we go back?

We're all nervously glancing over at the merch table and he's not talking to anyone or doing anything really except sitting, so eveeentually we decide to head over and tell him how great he is.

I don't think that Phil cared really, how much we'd enjoyed his music, or how useful and cool the 'Headwaters' is, or how 'It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water' was in our opinion, a severely overlooked record in comparison to 'The Glow pt. 2', but he was polite.
Here's the thing: my understanding of Phil and the way he artistically operates leaves very little room for caring about what three people in Australia think, or even what anyone thinks. His gift is his ability to recognise and explore his own personal idiosyncratic obsessions and views, without regard to anyone else's taste.
Cause on one hand you have populism and impersonal pop music, and on the other you have selfishness and intense artistry. (Of course there are tangents and exceptions - this is an idealogical observation as opposed to a literal one.)

So in conclusion: I knew that Phil wouldn't care. I needed for him not to care.

But we told him anyway.
Because it was an honest thing to do, and I thought I'd regret it if I took the 'cool' option and not said anything, or worse, talked casually about the weather or some shit.

I've learnt so much about myself and adaptive spirituality and isolation from this man, and as such, neither of us are amenable to instant social 'clicking'. And that's almost totally fine by me.

Then the show was great. Lucky Dragons blew us away. And Phil hyptonised and connected us to everything.

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Back to stays.

Dave again, early morning.

Trying in a tangential fashion to find some solutions for Andy's computer woes.
Vista is giving us guff.
Is downgrading to XP the best idea? I just don't know.
Hypothetically, Vista should be able to handle the Soulseek-Firefox-iTunes gambit.
Linux is a delightfully interesting prospect but it doesn't seem to have a compatible Soulseek client available. Wait. Ok, actually it does. But it doesn't have FL Studio. But it does have lightweight iTunes equivalents.
How's Andy gonna deal with the idea of Linux?
Only time will tell.

At any rate, all this shit is prickly and complicated and probably not gonna work. :)

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A Little Past The Middle Of A List That Never Talks

I remember the very first time I was asked to guest-blog. It was a Saturday of middling temperature (tonight), and the plea (for me to help him reach his unreasonable goal of seven blog posts in a single night) issued like a passive steam from the blanketed Dave-coccoon that had taken over my brother's bed.
So he's asleep, this is Andy talking, and shit's about to get all wordy up in here.

Actually, I'm kind of exhausted - what with the shrieking and the tambourine-palm-banging and the searching for hours for a sound driver that'll make my WELL-MEANING BUT DUMB new computer make sound ~ Windows Vista sucks so hard, goddamn - so maybe I'll go for a more Dave-esque brevity. One sentence per subject.

In succeeding in playing our one demented song at that house party, we defeated what I am convinced must have have been a superteam of cosmic forces, bent on wearying us into silence.

Dave and I went and inspected this house (half-house, thirteen-out-of-twenty-six-house) in Murrumbeena today, and it was pretty much wonderful - affordable, lots of light, bandspace, eccentric layout, enormous backyard (I only realised today how much I've missed having a backyard, these three years I've been in Melbourne... our backyard in Wangaratta was amazing) - which we almost certainly won't be able to get, because we're ragamuffins, and there were families there looking at it today.
With kids.

Speaking of which, there's this band from Olympia called No Kids, and embarrassingly, the main reason that I like them is their loneliness ~ they have this beautiful, tacit way of making that loneliness a quality... something to revere.

New-Computer frustrations. All I use my computer for is to (1) listen to music, (2) watch illicitly-obtained film and television, and (3) use the internet. I did the research, got the exact right whizzbang new one for me ~ because my old one was trying to kill me from beyond the grave ~ and it can't do any of those things at the moment. I wish I could downgrade; sink back into the wonderful windows 98 days... better yet, the halcyon Amiga days... goddamn.
Progress, given how much and how often it's lauded, seems to cause a terrible amount of unsung grief.

And grief should always be sung, no?

~Andy Guest-Blog Terminated

Wait! I've got a better plan, Hoggle.

So! First we got lost. Then we played terrible, teddy dog based music for a group of strangers. Then we bopped ferociously to My Girls. Then we found that the garage sale at our building had been abandoned, and all of the things that we wanted but didn't buy earlier were sitting under a sign that said "Free!" and we went to tooowwwwn. Old handmade stuff's cool.

Awesome night.

Now Andy's watching Labyrinth for the first time and David Bowie's penis is lighting up our living room/blog arena.

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Cutting down to seven blogs a night (the gum helps)

Way too much idealogical niceness = automatic uncool + occasional creepiness

Example? See the blog post below. To 'People Are Just People' I was an unknown entity, perhaps cool, perhaps not, whereas now I'm just another "obviously lonely", "obviously lacking self-esteem" douschebag.

(For the record, I have plenty of self-esteem, I'm just aware that I'm not marketable to a substantial consumer base. More of a niche product.)

My point is, niceness and coolness are, generally, totally opposed.
(Generalisation I know)
But I'm stuck with niceness and that's who I am and I'd change if I could (but I can't so I won't).

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And the flash of steel from real buns, in real life, really fills my mind.

Dear Susie,

One time I fell in love. With a girl. Over the internet.
After several very long chats, she linked me to some site, I think it was diary-x or something, I'm pretty sure it's not running anymore. Anyway, what I found was this enormous list of 117ish blog entries next to a picture of Bjork, and I read them all, and there was poetry, and little life vignettes, and little thought excercises, and it was so beautiful. And something that I just realised recently is that it may/would have been far less beautiful and cathartic if there were comments ... you know like "Oh, I quite like this one" "Thanks! I thought it was kinda crap.." or whatever.
I have friends with blogs, and it occasionally seems like they get bogged down in the comment-counting kinda rut, and a little dissuaded to continue or put in the same effort. But the thing is, people don't always comment if they like or love a blog post - it's just not what I think I wanna use as a barometer for success. Also, having comments enabled and like, actively awaiting comments I think may put pressure on the reader, perhaps diminishing their overall blog experience.
This is waaay too long.
The point is, turning comments off will make you feel like you're actually doing it what you wanna do, cause you want to.
Oh, what happened with the girl, you ask? Well I moved to Sydney to live with her and around a year later we broke up, I moved back in with the parents in Wangaratta, and then to Melbourne cause it seemed like a nice place and I wanted to start a band.

I hope you get some kinda enjoyment from the album. :)
I don't know why I keep coming back to that record. Lead guy Doug is kinda faceless, but also kinda compelling.

What I like about your blog is that, well, you're from Horsham living in Melbourne, and I instantly relate to other kids from the sticks. It's a strange ... thing ... to move to a city ... Idunno.

So I just realised that without comments enabled, you can't reply to this at all. Maybe this should've been a reply.
Oh god. Too late now.

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Early Morning.

Early morning.

MediaFire, Free File Hosting Made Simple.

My most listened/favourite album (by a long way) over the course of 2008 was released in 2001.

Generally, music evokes colours in my mind, and the stuff that I like is often the stuff that evokes the most colours at once - the brightest and the most diverse.

Anyway yeah!

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Empty post!

Thiss
iss
thee
Emptyy postt!

Grapple an apple today!

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Samboy

And then I'll put in my retainer, and then I'll go to bed, and then upon waking it'll all be ok that we didn't finish the album in time.

This is an example of a lie that I tell to myself, to procrastinate emotionally.

To borrow a lyric from Phil Elverum, 'there's no end in sight'. But that's not to do with the album - I craftily changed topic at the beginning of this paragraph without letting you know. And now I've created some obscure ambiguity! This is a good day for self-censorship and being a scaredypants.

We have a song/some songs that are a lot like this blog post. You think you know the limits of the word 'inaccessible'? Forgeddaboudit.

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"Zerozerocommentscomments" - Does this imagery frighten you?

Guys seriously I just turned off comments and it's like, the best. It's been a couple of minutes now and it feels, I'm not gonna lie to you, it feels good.

Here's an introduction, leading up to my contention: Pitchfork would suck (a lot more) if there were comments - just random little bits of meaningless text to draw your mind from the subjects at hand - the same goes for Tiny Mix Tapes? MarriedtotheSea?
And here's my contention: comments suck. The whole comment arena creates awkwardness for both the commenter and the commentee. Unless it doesn't. In which case, that's great. Whatevs.

Now! Now that that's over with, I'd like to continue right along to another contention.
And here it is: 'The Glow pt. 2' is probably not the optimal album for the majority of kids, genuinely curious to hear the Microphones, to cut their teeth on.
See, I've seen people who just have the glow pt. 2, and most of the time it's the beginning and end of their Microphones journey. Stay tuned for speculation on why.

It's huge.
The songs are all hidden.
All of the noise that obscures the songs, it all comes across in the first few listens as mean or pointless or posturing or all of the above. Or something.
I'm fully aware that I have no scientific basis to judge the music in comparison to his other works (in relation to first listens), but here's what I do have - exhibit a - right here in these dot points.

• I love the Microphones.
• The first album I heard was 'The Glow pt. 2'.
• It took me eight or nine months to finally enjoy it in any real way.
• Now compare points 1 and 3.
• Yes I'm a patientish person, but my point is, you don't need to be! You shouldn't need to be.
  
• Who WANTS to put in that kind of time when the album released directly before 'The Glow pt. 2' was 'It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water', which a- is perfect, b- I loved to fucking pieces after the first 10 minutes, and c- reeks far less of "you're supposed to like this because of 'influence' and 'prestige'"ness, instead opting for a clear focus on being straight awesome.

Honestly, if you were to hear the three main Microphones albums in order you would have to agree, there's a narrative and a clear order and a clear artistic path, gently winding its way from what is 'awesome(/inclusive)' (and creative and emotive) to what is more 'artistic(/exclusive)' (and creative and emotive) ... By the time you get to the end, you know Phil, you know his deal, and you feel invited despite the poison ivy all over the place.
'Glow pt 2' is in the middle. It's transitional.
This isn't really a pet peeve, I just think that if you're gonna get one, it might be a good idea to leave the classic alone for a bit, and start at the start, where you'll feel welcome.

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Ok good. Now, would you describe your shoes as ... very satisfying? quite satisfying? in the middle? a little unsatisfying? or very unsatisfying?

New computer. New music collection... feel... style. (click image for doublenice image funtimes)












Sorted into groups and then alphabetical from left to right.
As you can see, it's small. Going for a survival kit, fan out, cover your bases, try to get all you need in as little space as possible kinda thing.
Oh compy you're so cute with your smaller thumbnails. Undeniably perky.
I finally just finished downloading these 320 mp3s of the second (ish) DJ Shadow album. Shit was six years in the making, and we juust got new speakers. This gon' be good.

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Ever noticed how similar 'Why?' are to the Magnetic Fields? Melody wise?
No?
Probably because it's a trite observation that I scrambled to make in an effort to internally redeem myself for getting on the bandwagon so late.

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A Throwback To West Coast Psych And East Coast Boom Bap,

Today Andy got the debut album from local psych chicks 'Beaches'. Really cool. It's kinda like BJM or BRMC but really good. Even the production is excellent, which surprised me heaps. Til today I thought Australian studios were all about the clinical instrumental isolation and rote 'modern' mixing techniques. All gear no heart. But no.

Beaches
http://www.myspace.com/theskywaswhite

They're signed to Mistletone so they're playing Summertones too!


On the other side of the pond. DJ Premier rules. Melodic gritbop. You guys are much more into psychedelic hiphop than me, I love Doom but other than that it's Boom Bap all the way.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=UpdZuOuYuZU

old Wu, old Common, old Nas, old Jay-Z, Mos, GZA
Danger Mouse, Premo, RZA

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We also got this dvd of these Brian Eno 'Video Paintings' - Two pieces, 120 minutes - Haven't checked it out yet but if it's as boring/relaxing as we suspect it'll be, well, that'd be awesome.

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Blog apathy is fun!

Andy's five or six episodes behind me Orange-County-wise, so here's a blog. I don't know.

Neil Roberts is meeting with the district attorney tomorrow.

I foolishly told the Mistletone dudes that we could send them the promo pic, promo tune (for a radio sampler) and a bio/blurb by the end of the day yesterday ... sooooo we spent like five hours in the morning mixing this new song, five hours taking photos and stuff, maybe three hours working on a blurb, and then another two hours mixing the song again.

Finally sent the email off at 4:45 this mornin'.

Death Proof rules. The appeal is so visceral and subconscious. Easy to understand when it's in front of you, impossible to put into words. All I can say is that Quentin Tarantino is must be smarter than me cause he knew all these things that I subconsciously wanted to see in a film and even now I don't really understand where these weird desires come from or how they've never been satiated.

Dan didn't like the Flaming Lips film clips.

Taryn Baker! Awwww shit. No. Ok. She's vapid - clueless to the shit goin' down with Volchok.
Oh! I went to the Cumings' today and they're thinkin' about letting us play with them on the 31st. T'would be good fun (The pursuit of 'fun' is lame, the pursuit of anything is lame - lame.) and also excellent practice! If they were into the idea, anyway.

Shak+Hanna - Milk Teddy rule.

Speed grapes.

Dan was amazing with country capitals.

Oh! Would anyone care to see a couple of the photos we took yesterday?
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj38/marcbucket12/for%20work/IMGP1171.jpg
http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj38/marcbucket12/for%20work/IMGP1197.jpg

We might make like, a band blog, at some stage, better designed for people who aren't you to read. I wonder. I was thinking like a "Road To Summertones" kinda thing ... but also with self-created youtube ads for favourite obscure bands, and songs and demos, maybe some like slow release of each song from the album on a different day or some shit I don't know.

Album will be done in seven minutes by the way. No it won't. That was satirical. But it is coming. Andy's much more finicky than I am with the quality control these days, which is like, artistically, probably a good thing, but suicide-preventionally? nossogood...

Speed grapes. The point of the title is that life is kinda like the movie Speed cause you can't stop and you can't slow down, not if you wanna make the jump - (overexposure!!! stress, work, ambition) - and hopefully everyone'll be off the bus when the bomb explodes and you die. - (hose down the dead, before they die, before they die) (I can find, patterns and shades, grey on black = life, white on white = death, goddamn it's morning) -

SOUR CREAM - had some in these vegetable sandwiches at Marc's yesterday and oh man ... that shit's gonna be a vital piece of my sandwich repertoire.

I googled 'sandwich' just now to check the spelling. I'm gonna take that as a cue to get the fuck off this laptop on a green chair in our living room.

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