Pure Bathing Culture >> You know it's your time, you're the one

Pure Bathing Culture - "Pendulum"

(Partisan Records [U.S.] / Memphis Industries [Europe],  2013)

It's a huge honor to present this song.  I first heard it in summer 2k13 on Sirius' XM U station.  I was immediately floored that an unknown new band could barge out of the gates with such a masterfully-crafted song.  (Though I secretly wondered if Pure Bathing Culture was Memoryhouse under a new name...)  And the opening jangly guitar chords made me think it was a cover of the Go-Betweens' brilliant "Streets Of Your Town" (see video embedded below), but luckily it turned out to be an entirely new song by an entirely new band, and it blew me an entirely new mind.

This truly should've been a massive radio hit.  If you're a fan of production like I am, you'll revel in every little detail of this song as it leaps out of the speakers with unmitigated authority, and it will truly be stuck in your head for the rest of your life.  I'm sure the band's manager or publicist is a nice person, and was smart enough to choose to work with such a talented band, but he or she needs to be replaced immediately.  In America's current musical climate, in which completely hookless, soulless songs by the likes of Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, and Arcade Fire are becoming hits or semi-hits left and right, it should be pretty easy for any trained squid to finesse this song onto playlists nationwide.  Obviously it did get onto Sirius, which is quite a taste-making entity, but the only times I've heard it on WTUL were when I requested it.  In fact, a DJ last fall played it back-to-back with "Streets Of Your Town," at my request.  I also got KLSU to play it last fall at my request.  It was on some sort of regular rotation on Sirius XM U, because I heard it several more times there.  In fact, Sirius was so devoted to this band that they hosted a live in-studio performance / interview session in September.  I recorded some of it, mainly because the lyrics to "Pendulum" were a lot easier to make out in the live version.  Watch it here.

Here's the Go-Betweens song I mentioned above.  Check out how similar the opening guitar part is to that of "Pendulum":

Note: That's the "big-budget" version of the video; there was also a more low-key original version that focused more literally on the streets of an Aussie town.  So, if the Go-Bees were able to get TWO videos made for their killer song, how come Pure Bathing Culture didn't even get one? Refer back to the criticisms I had for PBC's management...)

Download an interesting remix of this song called "Pendulum (Women's Hour Edit)" for free here.

Stairway left after bombing of Aleppo, Syria by the Assad regime. This reminded me of a pendulum.
(Posted by Tumblr user miymintimatmazel; photographer unknown.)

Planets with similar climates: The Go-Betweens - "Streets Of Your Town" (1988), Puro Instinct - "Slivers Of You" (2010), Cocteau Twins - "Heaven Or Las Vegas" (1990), Memoryhouse - "Heirloom" & "Sleep Patterns" (2011), Spiritualized - "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" (1997), Wild Nothing - "Through The Grass" (2012), Slowdive - "Alison" (1993).

LAKE >> A falling leaf doesn't know where it goes

LAKE - "Don't Give Up"

(K Records, 2009)

I saw LAKE at the AllWays Lounge in April last year on a whim, after checking out their songs on iTunes and being struck by the simple, heartfelt beauty of "Don't Give Up." (Note: It's not a Peter Gabriel / Kate Bush cover.)  Why is LAKE able to pull off this kind of song when so many bands fail at it?  How does a 5-person band create enough space between notes for the song to breathe and have that elusive, magical, "breezy" feeling?  If the word LAKE were an acronym for something, what would it be?  Late August Kumbaya Echoes?  Love Always Kills Evil?  Low Altitude Kite Enjoyment?  Exactly.

It's one of those songs that you just have to love, no matter what type of music you're into.  And you'll want to tell everyone, even your parents, if only to show them that hey, you do actually listen to some "normal" music.  LAKE did indeed play this song at the show, so I was glad I went.  I got some mediocre pics, so I won't post them.  I believe they also did their haunting, autumnal, rather stunning song "Gravel".  The small crowd was very loud, and the band kept having to shush them.  They even had to stop playing a particularly quiet song, and went onto another one instead.  Mild-mannered lead singer Ashley Eriksson was really peeved when that happened.  Drummer / keyboardist / backing vocalist Lindsay Schieff coolly stepped to the mic near the end and sang a song or two.  (I believe she sings "Gravel.")  They did lots of instrument-swapping throughout their set; in fact, the only bands I've ever seen do as much swapping during a performance were ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead ('98), Indian Jewelry ('08 & '10) and Tortoise ('98).  Portland seems to be a really talented area when it comes to music, and I would in fact call it a hotbed of music.  Coincidentally, I had seen another Portland band, YACHT, earlier that same day; they played for free at Tulane's main outdoor quad.  See a synth-tastic clip here.  I mentioned this to a LAKE member and he was surprised that he hadn't known about that show, and said "We're good friends with them."  In summary, there's no logical reason why LAKE is not one of the biggest bands in indie pop.  According to K Records' website, LAKE have "recorded 12 full length albums (only 3 of which have seen proper release)."

In honor of the band's name, here's a(n uncropped) photo that I took recently right behind NOMA (New Orleans Museum of Art):

If you know my love of swans, you'll know that I immediately made this my computer's desktop image.  A similar photo of two swans taken here in City Park has been my cellphone's "desktop" pic for around 5 years.

I was actually planning on posting a song called "The Sea" by the band I'm about to talk about, but you'll see why I'm not gonna.  However, you can download it for free here.

Wed. Oct. 24: I decided to go see Brooklyn band EXITMUSIC at Circle Bar in NOLA, even though I was not blown away by them when they opened for School Of Seven Bells in April in Baton Rouge.  (I will spell their name Exitmusic from here on out, just because.)  I wanted to see them as headliners, especially since they have a new, well-received album under their belt.

Detailed chalkboard marquee outside the bar

I hadn't been to this place in two years, and it had been shut down for most of that time for renovations and for not having a valid music license.  Anyway, it now finally has air conditioning, and the ceiling has been raised, but it's still the size of a large living room.  The opening act, local singer Miss Mec, was good in an old-fashioned, laid-back, Cat Power kind of way.  Her music is often described as "Cajun reggae."  She and a guy played for a while at low volume with no drummer, and got a good response from the crowd.  They did a cover of "Moody River," and ended with a cover of "A Change Is Gonna Come."

Mec did a slight faux-pas by telling us "Exit Wounds are up next, you guys. They're awesome!"  She quickly caught her error and corrected it, and made a quip about Samuel L. Jackson.  (I just looked up that movie and he's actually not in it, meaning it's one of about 6 movies from the last two decades that he has not been in.)  So everything was just dandy so far.  I'm chilling out in NOLA at one of its coziest, coolest little bars, about to see an up and coming band (whom I generally describe as "a darker Beach House") for 5 bucks, and there's even A/C now.  Little did I know that I was about to see the biggest meltdown I had ever seen from a band...

Exitmusic tried to do a soundcheck for a good while (I found out afterwards that their van had broken down), and the guitarist was getting a bit irked.  I should mention that back in April, they had a live drummer, but this time they didn't.  The walls were rattling, and there was a problem with the vocal mic'ing.  It didn't help that there was a very enthusiastic heckler bellowing obnoxious things when the singer was trying to warm up.  He finally said loudly "This isn't a sound system, this is a shit system!"  This was after he had said something like "This place is a joke."  The bartender shot back "Thanks for choosing Circle Bar!"  The guitarist growled back "Did someone just say something?"  I don't know if he knew that it was the bartender who had said that to him.  I took a brief video clip, but didn't want him to smash my camera or something, plus I was still holding out hope for some more songs, so I stopped filming.  Here's a verbatim quote from my clip: "I don't know why we got booked here to play a fuckin' show that we can't play... It just, uh... It doesn't fuckin' work."   Anyway, the guitarist announced to his bandmates that they would try to play 2 or 3 songs and then leave.  This was apparently news to said bandmates.  After several uncomfortable minutes, they played the beginning of "The Sea," then restarted it and played it all the way through.  Everything was rattling in the building, but at least they finished it, and the crowd cheered louder than you would think such a small crowd could.

They then played "The Modern Age" and got another big cheer.  I was actually a bit irked that the crowd was cheering so loudly after the club had just been disrespected, but I was happy that the show was getting underway.  But then things took a drastic turn for the worse as the guitarist literally screamed "My wife has the most beautiful voice in the world and you can't even fucking hear it!"  (I know that's a verbatim quote from "My" up to "world," and the rest is probably verbatim too.)  The club's booker, a really nice, mild-mannered guy named Jason Songe, walked up to him in a friendly way and talked with him.  He must've thought Songe was the soundman because he argued with him about the acoustics.  The singer appeared to be on the verge of tears, and she was definitely trying to keep the show going, but her husband was clearly on the warpath.   (I did not film any of this part.) I was wearing an Unwound shirt, and the word on my shirt felt pretty appropriate for what was going on.  I mentioned to the singer that I had seen them recently, and that I liked their final song at that concert a lot ("Sparks Of Light"), and asked if they could maybe just play it acoustically or something.  She seemed agreeable with that concept, and said "Yeah, we always finish with that song."  And they started both shows with "The Sea," for what it's worth.  But it never happened, and the band slowly took down its gear.  The bartender (I talked with her afterwards but didn't get her name) eventually found the band members when they were on this side porch area and said "You guys have got to leave."  She later told me "We were really excited about this show!  We promoted the hell out of it."  She said how much she loves her club and that she was not gonna let anyone disparage it.  So yeah, Exitmusic lived up to their name.  It was easily the biggest meltdown I had ever seen.  I had been chatting with this genial older couple next to me at the bar who said it was their first time ever coming to this place.  I really doubt they'll ever come back.

If a tree falls in a small forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound?  If no one hears about what happened on this night and the band gets off scot-free, would that be right?  On the other hand, do I want their career to be destroyed because of one dismal night?  Well, no.  What I have a problem with is the fact that this incident was kind of like if you went to see Wham! and Andrew Ridgely was being a dick, while George Michael was being professional and trying to get things back on track.  What I'm saying is, a person can destroy an artist's career by giving a biased summary of what happened, but in this case, the thing that would kill this band's career would be if someone had simply filmed the entire event from start to finish, with no narration or anything else.  In other words, with no critical opinion or bias involved.  The simple, unedited footage would simply stun club bookers across the country/world.  But as far as I know, no such footage exists, so the band's career is in no jeopardy.  To play devil's advocate, imagine you are in the band Exitmusic on the night of October 24, 2012.  You have van problems, then arrive at a club with that has an admittedly non-amazing sound system and lacks a soundman, then you get accidentally introduced as Exit Wounds by the opening act, then you get heckled while warming up, and you realize only a few dozen people have even shown up.  Would you be in a bit of a bad mood?  Of course.  But the first concert I ever saw at Circle Bar was Lubricated Goat, in March '04.  Including the bartender, there were FOUR people in the building, but the band played a set for us and didn't complain one bit.  That's called being professional.

I should mention that right when Exitmusic decided not to play any more songs, the jukebox began blasting David Bowie's "Let's Dance" at a much louder volume than I had ever heard any jukebox ever play before.  I cracked up at this song choice, and assumed the bartender had selected it, but she said it was just the next song up in the queue.  But it was still great to have a dour band chased offstage by such a bouncy, kinetic song, sung by someone who is presumably one of their idols.

Anyway, I'm glad I got to see two songs, and I commiserated with Miss Mec afterwards.  She is seriously one of the nicest, realest people ever, and I predict big things for her.  She told me she was singing with a Black Keys-ish band called Strange Roux the following week at the Carousel Bar.

Look at the body language in this poster and ask yourself which band member was probably the self-absorbed one and which was probably the sweet and apologetic one:

Hint: The nice one had a side gig acting on HBO's series Boardwalk Empire.

So, I very sarcastically dedicate LAKE's "Don't Give Up" to Exitmusic on several levels:
1.) Both bands are fronted by a married couple.
2.) Both have capitalized, one-word names.
3.) Both played shows in small clubs to approximately the same size crowd (~20 people) in New Orleans.
4.) Exitmusic gave up on their show, whereas LAKE did not, even though LAKE's lead singer was sick and Exitmusic seemed to be in perfect health.
5.) LAKE don't need extreme volume to get their songs across, because they are so meticulously sculpted that they'd sound good with loud amplification, acoustically, or anywhere in between.  Perhaps Exitmusic's songs are too, but I doubt we'll ever find out.

By the way, the bartender told me that Exitmusic donated the entirety of their cut of the money to the opening act.

Thu. Oct. 25: I went to Euclid Records.  Amazingly, the only other customer in there was a girl who had been at the show last night, but I didn't say anything to her.  I got a spare copy of The Lucy Show's awesome LP ...Undone for only a dollar.

I don't want to go into too much detail on it, but that night I had to call 911 for the first time in my life after an incident of road rage was directed at me.  Maybe more on this after I decide what kind of legal action to pursue or not pursue...  Another example of a simple unedited video clip being all that is needed to settle a dispute, and in this case, I do have a video clip of the incident.  The police officer to whom I showed the clip told me he'd "tear this guy a new one" if he ever got a hold of him.  Which, considering the extreme and violent stuff that cops see in their daily line of work, should tell you something about what happened.

Sat. Oct. 27: A severe cold front moved in, dropping the temperature from about 85º to about 60º. Rather than going to the ludicrously expensive Voodoo Fest in N.O., I went to a free festival called Houmapalooza.  ("HOE-muh-pah-LOO-zuh.")  The bands played on the steps of the Terrebone Parish Courthouse.  I skipped the first 4 bands but saw the others.

The first band I saw was a Houma pop/rock band called Autumn High.  They could become sort of Cranberries-esque or Sundays-esque if they develop more dreamy melodies.  Their singer has a ridiculously pretty, operatic voice, as can be heard in their new single "Jester".  If she can rein it in a bit, she could become literally the voice of Terrebone Parish.  They closed their set with that song.  Ocean Of Storms played a riff-heavy set.  Meta The Man were the undisputed highlight, and I got several video clips of them.  They were the main reason I went.  I had never heard of them until that afternoon, and after checking out their album on Bandcamp, I decided they were worth seeing.  They seem to be influenced by the overall aesthetic of At The Drive-In, with the addition of some progressive, artsy stuff.  But don't worry, they sound nothing like The Mars Volta.  Their keyboardist even played some noise cello (really) at one or two points.  I bought their CD afterwards for $5, and found out they're from the small town of Norco.  Outpost 11 were a full-on '80s metal band from down the road in Cut Off, home of the Cajun cannon, Bobby Hebert.  They had a drum riser and an underdeveloped fog show.  After allowing myself to let go of the pretentious music snob in me, I was able to enjoy them for what they are.  In true James Hetfield fashion, the singer began each with an enthusiastic "This next song is called ___!"  An old lady next to me lent me her Saints blanket after seeing I was shivering.  She exclaimed about one of Outpost 11's songs, after the singer announced that it has been getting play on 92.3 FM: "I liked that one.  Reminded me of Nickelback."   The only New Orleans band on the bill was next.  I, Octopus played an energetic instrumental set, with the Jazzmaster-wielding guitarist introducing each track by saying "This song is about sports," "This song is about bees," This song is about flowers," and so on.  I think he was antagonizing the crowd a bit.  It was very cold, and Voodoo had sucked away most of the music fans in the region, so the turnout was low.  The final band, Chaos Of The Cosmos (yes, lots of cool band names at this event) churned out some mediocre party rock.  They had two go-go dancers in front of the stage who also did some hula-hooping, and lots of little girls from the crowd joined in on the hula-ing.  It was pretty entertaining.  I should also point out I met a tremendous lady who is directing a documentary called Art On The Bayou, about local bands and artists who exist outside the sphere of Louisiana influence.  I'll be first in line to see it whenever it comes out.  And I wandered into a new art gallery and talked to a lady there who seemed interested in showing some of my art.  I also met I, Octopus' drummer and his girlfriend (wife?).  I've long thought of them as the Brangelina of the N.O. post-rock / indie rock scene, since if you don't see them at a show, you know it's not a cool show to be at.  He also drums for some other local bands.  So it was a pretty interesting day.  I stopped in at the only cool Houma music club, The Boxer & The Barrel, but a local band that I don't like was playing, so I bailed and drove home.  I have to say I can't believe I almost missed out this crazy day just so I could go see Silversun Pickups and Justice at Voodoo... Not that it would've sucked, but it would not have surpassed the peripheral things that I experienced at Houmapalooza.

Mon. Oct. 29: "Frankenstorm" hit the New England area, and conspiracy theories abound as to whether or not it was engineered by the gov't to give Obama a boost in the polls right before the election.  (See: HAARP.)  Sorry, but a snowstorm and a hurricane intersecting in late October, one week before the election?  The gov't. allowed Pearl Harbor (this is 100% fact) and 9/11 (about 90% sure) to happen, so this Frankenstorm thing doesn't surprise me at all.

Lawrence Wilkerson, former Colin Powell aide, blasts Sununu, GOP, as 'full of racists'

Nation suddenly remembers simple comforts of having out-of-touch white man run country

Planets with similar climates: Papas Fritas - "Way You Walk" (2000), Ben Folds Five - "Smoke" (1996), Velour 100 - "Stare Into Light" (1996), The American Analog Set - "Gone To Earth" (1996).

Lovers >> I know I don't want to live without it

Lovers - "Figure 8"

(Badman Recording Co., 2010)

Not much to say here other than the band totally nailed the vocal harmonizing to stunning effect.  The harmonizing brings to mind Alice In Chains' eerier, acoustic-based stuff, and you know I'm always drawn to songs with this kind of "prowling" beat / tempo.  There's one somewhat startlingly sexual lyric that actually goes with the mellow flow of the song quite well, though it might make you spit your soda out the first time you hear it.  "They don't pray as hard as I ache" is a sublimely beautiful and subtle way of exposing the folly / cruelty of religious conservatives as it relates to the simple human emotions of two people (in this case, women) who love each other.  It's always nice to have a simple, catchy, solid song like this pop up on the ol' shuffle play, and I always have to play this one 5 to 10 times in a row.  The beat is extremely similar to the one in a song called "Digital Versicolor" by fellow Portland synthers Glass Candy.

Note: If I ever decide to take this mp3 down, you can hopefully still download it from the Oregon Music News site by clicking here, and while you're at it, read their nice article on the band.  At the bottom it also lists the exact gear they used on the album.

The typical shrieky grrrl band like Sleater-Kinney or Bikini Kill couldn't write a song with this kind of subtlety and atmosphere if their lives depended on it.  It's just baffling that this was not a huge indie radio hit, though the band's unremarkable name is probably partly to blame for them getting lost in the avalanche of new bands popping up every week.  And of course their label couldn't even bother to release it as a single.  This is why one of my dreams if I ever win the lottery is to start my own singles label dedicated only to releasing songs that should've been singles years or decades ago.  I would do this right after buying up a ton of rainforest in South America.

The bio on the group's website says: "Loud and proud, Portland, OR based Lovers is a band of emotional intensity and complexity. Their new album Dark Light begins with singer Carolyn Berk’s confession, 'Every time the music starts, I can feel my aching, shaking heart,' and from there, Lovers embark on a spiritual journey of inspired three-part harmonies, deep introspection, and next-wave humor. Since 2001 songwriter Carolyn Berk has established her unique voice as Lovers with four acclaimed, haunted and heart-broken previous albums. Lovers (celebrated lyricist Berk, synth-programmer and performance artist Kerby Ferris, and sequencer and percussionist Emily Kingan) craft an intimate portrait of female friendship, sexuality, and evolution as an infinite process."

I like most infinite processes, such as the "rising" and "falling" of the sun, that perpetually-swinging pendulum I used to see at some museum, breathing, learning how to juggle knives, cleaning your car's windshield, etc.  I also like intimate portraits of female friendship, such as The Simple Life, Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" video, and Desperately Seeking Susan.

Dark Light was the album on which Lovers "went synth-pop."  I headed over to Siberia last year to see Lovers, even though most of their new album, Dark Light, was a bit too synthy and '80s for me.  My sister and her boyfriend bailed on me at the last minute, so I had to go solo.  Seeing a flawless rendition of "Figure 8" was obviously the main highlight, but the rest of the set was no slouch either.  The keyboard player and harmony vocalist, Kerby, made some funny quips throughout the night and was quite entertaining overall.  Local homo-disco party rappers Skate Night! played last, and got a great reception as well.  I felt out of place being one of the few str8 dudes there, but hey, this is New Orleans and people are people so why should it be?

It was kinda weird though, since Siberia is mainly a punk / metal / stoner rock type of club.  I believe it used to be a meat storage facility, based on its thick brick walls and super-cold A/C.  It now allegedly boasts the only true Russian food in the whole city.  It's right on the same St. Claude intersection with the Hi-Ho Lounge and the AllWays Lounge & Theatre, making for one of the coolest 50 square yard areas in the country.  I rarely go there, though.

I forgot to mention I saw this new local band Glish on Aug. 12th at one of the new Sunday matinee shows at The Big Top.  Excellent shoegazey noise pop stuff, especially the heavy, drifty, Hum-meets-Slowdive song "Collider," which you can stream [http://glish.bandcamp.com/album/collider-demo,here].  It was hot and raining so I didn't bring a camera, but the photo-holic guy who runs barryfest.com (I had gotten a business card from him outside a show here or at the Zeitgeist early in the year) was taking lots of pics, so I assume he'll post them soon.  They began with "Collider" and then did every song on their Blast Off EP except "Don't Be So Fucking Nonchalant."  I bought Blast Off on cassette afterwards, since that's the only physical format it's available on.  I made sure to wear one of my best shoegaze shirts, namely my red Band Of Susans one.  Afterwards, I asked the singer if anyone in the band was into the Swirlies, since they had a very Swirlies-ish sound, and she goes "Oh my god, I was just listening to them today!"  So I asked her favorite songs but she didn't know any because that was the first time she'd ever heard them.  She was rocking a pixie cut and possibly the shortest shorts ever manufactured in any sweatshop.  One of their members was wearing a Flaming Lips shirt.  Another local act, an emo-ish, looper-fortified duo/solo project called The Self-Help Tapes, played after Glish, but Glish was the acknowledged headliner.  It was a benefit with all proceeds supposedly going to a local company called the Community Printshop, though I saw some Glishers dividing up cash outside the club afterwards, so I'm not so sure about that.  The turnout was about 20 people, and unfortunately Desiree was not among them.  I almost bought a $5 print that just had the phrase "When Doves Cry" on it in a cool peach-colored font.  (Scheduled opening act No Clouds, supposedly a trip-hop / shoegaze type band, cancelled.)

Went to the new Fresh Market on St. Charles afterwards and got some obscure beers.  Their beer dude, Madison, is like an encyclopedia of beer knowledge.  He told me that a local deli called Stein's actually has the best beer selection in town by far (not counting brewpubs like d.b.a. and the Avenue Pub), so I'll have to hit it up soon.

I took this at the Zoo recently, and found out it's a quote by an author named Mark Doty:

There were some other cool quotes mounted around the Zoo, including this one by Robinson Jeffers, done stencil style on a gray wall:
"As for us:
We must uncenter our minds from ourselves.
We must unhumanize our views a little, and become confident
As the rock and ocean that we were made from."

Deciding on a bunch of shows to go to in the next two months, including Saul Williams (spoken word), Glish (EP release party), M83, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Dinosaur Jr. (original lineup), Voodoo Fest, and the Psychedelic Furs (with the only two original members being the Butler brothers, but Mars Williams has returned on sax).  Definitely going to see Beach House, Merchandise, and Aussie sensations The Jezabels.

My cousin Shane came in, so we watched the Saints' humiliating season-opening loss to the Redkins in RG3's debut.  His friends, Redskins fans from Virginia, went to the game and probably had the time of their lives.  On Sat. they all saw Galactic (w/ Corey Glover of Living Colour on vocals) at Tipitina's.  On Sunday night I went to the Mushroom, but found out that the person I wanted to see doesn't even work there on that day anymore.  But one out-of-the-blue "I'm Nicole, by the way" introduction was enough to make it a worthwhile night.  Snagged Curve's Döppelgänger on used used CD and Less Than Zero on DVD.  I had sold my Döppelgänger CD many years ago, and, after listening to it again, realized I was right to have done so, since it pales in comparison to both Cuckoo and the EP compilation Pubic Fruit, but any Curve fan knows that.

ATTN: Employees - Do not buy these used CDs - As a bargain bin aficionado, this makes me nod my head in agreement grimly

Documentary claims that the music industry deliberately lowered the quality of vinyl records during rhe '80s - "The records were thinner and more flimsy. Everything was designed for us to switch our music collection over to CD."

Ervin McKinness, aspiring rapper, tweets 'YOLO' about driving drunk and dies minutes later

Currently eating or drinking: Campari tomatoes; Outer Darkness Stout (best stout ever, probably; comes in a wine bottle; almost as thick as motor oil); Winn-Dixie sourdough bread; Kraft Mayo With Olive Oil (olive oil is the #1 non-water ingredient in it, so it's quite healthy, and tastes just like actual mayo); Eel River Porter (beer); Quaker Stila blueberry crisp bars.

Good to great movies recently seen: Live!; Another Earth; The Doom Generation; Vivre sa vie (a.k.a. My Life To Live); Not Easily Broken; All She Can (a.k.a. Benavides Born).

Currently reading: Paul Theroux - Sinning With Annie and Other Stories (1969-72); Christian Lander - Stuff White People Like.  Tried to skim Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius but got annoyed by it.

Planets with similar climates: Lush - "Light From A Dead Star" (1994), Glass Candy - "Digital Versicolor" (2007), Grimes - "Be A Body" (2011), Pet Shop Boys - "Love Comes Quickly" (1985), Let's Active - "Horizon" (1988), Cat Power - "Cross Bones Style" (1998), Pearl Harbor (a.k.a. Puro Instinct) - "California Shakedown" (2009), School Of Seven Bells - "I L U" (2010) & "Lafaye" (2011), Alice In Chains - "No Excuses" (1993), Blair (Blair Gimma) - "Hearts" (2009), Curve - "Clipped" (1991), Yo La Tengo - "Autumn Sweater" (1997).  

School Of Seven Bells >> Swing my weight around

School Of Seven Bells - "Windstorm"

(Ghostly International / Vagrant Records [U.S.]; Full Time Hobby Records [U.K.], 2010)

My town is about to get a direct hit from Hurricane Isaac, so this was the only song that kept coming to mind.  It's only gonna be a category 1, and we took a direct category 2 hit from Gustav in '08, so I'm not very worried.  The only annoying thing is moving my 100+ outdoor potted plants around.  Perhaps based on their extremely polished sound, I had always thought SVIIB were on a major label, but a check of my Disconnect From Desire CD, in beautiful paper gatefold packaging, proves otherwise.  This is truly one of the catchiest choruses I've ever heard, so beware, because it can really get stuck in your head for months at a time.  This song came out on a red vinyl 7" in the U.K., but only as a "digital single" in the U.S.  More proof that the Brits have always valued these kinds of bands more than we have over here, though ours did have an extra track, since we believe in super-sizing.

This song has that duelling-simultaneous-choruses style that reminds me of the old nursery rhyme "Frère Jacques," as well as the Psychedelic Furs' immortal "The Ghost In You."  The wussiness of the song's opening chant used to put me off, but Alejandra Deheza's main vocals have a deep, resonant, almost androgynous tone that is very awesome to my male ears, especially during the "When the fire's burning from sky to ground..." part.  The drums have a loose, jazzy feel that suits the music perfectly.  It was NPR's song of the day: "[Ben] Curtis says he began writing the chord progression based on a melody that Alejandra Deheza was singing while they were driving through the Alps; they constructed the song's transporting sound to remind listeners of the mountains."

The aforementioned extra track on the U.S. single is a predictably pounding remix by A Place To Bury Strangers.

"Bye Bye Bye" actually had more potential to be a hit than "Windstorm" did, in my opinion.

Fun Fact: The album title is from Brian Eno's storied Oblique Strategies card deck.  Yes, this band is pretentious and meticulous in all the best ways...

As I mentioned a few months ago (see here), I saw SVIIB in April '11 opening for Interpol at House Of Blues in New Orleans, and headlining at the Spanish Moon in Baton Rouge in April of this year.

Alejandra's twin sister Claudia had left the band in Sept. 2010, right after Disconnect From Desire came out, so I guess I'll never get to see the "real" / original SVIIB live.  Note: They were not at their merch table either time, so don't plan on saying hi to them at a gig.  And they did not have the "Windstorm" 7" for sale at either gig, since it had presumably sold out long ago.  They also didn't play "Dust Devil" either time, so don't go hoping to see it.  I did see Ben Curtis playing pool upstairs at the Spanish Moon right before opening act EXITMUSIC went on and unspooled their gloom-rock.  Ben's previous band, Secret Machines, kicked moderate ass at Voodoo Fest '05, doing a bombastic type of Led Zeppelin meets prog rock thing.

Former print mag CMJ's digital cover from July 26, 2010. Hilarious Fact: This was actually not SVIIB's debut album..

Go check out the album cover and then look for that strange symbol, on the band members' bodies and elsewhere, in the music video:

There was also a deluxe version of the CD that came in a box with tarot cards; these cards are reproduced in the booklet of the regular CD issue too, so don't break the bank on the deluxe CD.  I usually complain about bands that I like making super-catchy songs and then not receiving enough of a marketing push.  Well, this album got a truly impressive and diverse promotional blitz, but SVIIB's music proved to be not quite simplistic enough to compete in the current major-label or indie climates, in which lobotomized party music reigns supreme.

Cheesy '80s-style album announcement poster

You may wish to read this article, if only for the stylish photos: The evolution of Brooklyn's School Of Seven Bells

Map from two days ago

Map from today

I was gonna see the Jeff Buckley-channeling band Ours, of "Sometimes" fame, at the Parish in N.O. last night, but it was cancelled due to the storm.  I guess I'll go when it gets rescheduled.

My sister sez noted Lana Del Rey hater Brian Williams has been following around her crew at her hospital in N.O. today, so you can probably catch a glimpse of her on tonight's NBC News.

Hipster traps appear around New York City - "...which include sunglasses, a yellow bicycle chain, a Holga camera, a can of PBR and a pack of American Spirits as bait."

Planets with similar climates: My Bloody Valentine - "Drive It All Over Me" (1988), Curve - "Horror Head" (1992), The Psychedelic Furs - "The Ghost In You" (1984), Lush - "Take" (1992), Pearl Harbor / Puro Instinct - "Slivers Of You" (2010), Catherine Wheel - "Flower To Hide" (1992), Bleach - "Dipping" (1991).

The Sea And Cake >> Water breathing warm and heavy

The Sea And Cake - "Choice Blanket"

(Thrill Jockey Records [U.S.] / Rough Trade Records [U.K.], 1993)

Few songs immediately make me feel summer's warmth deep in my bones like this one, so I had to post it to kick off the summer.  I think I've told this story before, but in October 1996, I heard a stunningly strange and joyous song on WTUL while stuck in traffic on Jefferson Hwy. driving to a dermatology appointment.  It turned out to be "Lamont's Lament" by a band called The Sea And Cake.  I couldn't even hazard a guess as to what year it had been made, what city the band was from, what ethnicity its members were, etc., which is usually a good sign of a unique work of art.  It bewitched and bewildered me so much that I immediately sent some money to Thrill Jockey Recs. and demanded that they send me whichever TSAC CD had "Lamont's Lament" on it.  I got the CD, Nassau, a week or so later.  It came with a Thrill Jockey catalog full of stuff I would soon obtain, by groups with intriguing names like Trans Am, Tortoise, and Oval, all of whom have recently been Blowtorch Babied.  Brad Wood recorded this album in early September 1993, fresh off of becoming indie rock's producer célèbre after twiddling knobs on Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville.

Archer Prewitt shows why he is the thinking jazzbo's guitar hero on this song, unfurling effortlessly cool licks as though the bloated and/or macho genres that marred the music scenes of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s never happened.  Sam Prekop's creaky vocals are unmistakable, and his falsetto near the end is the perfect closing touch.  It's worth listening closely to his lyrics, which are cryptically beautiful and naïve in almost a beat poet kind of way.  Even the maracas are perfectly shaken on the off beats.  The baffling cover art deserves mention, since it is a guy's afro made up of around a hundred cotton balls.  There's also a painting of Charles Mingus by TSAC's bassist, Eric Claridge.  I should mention he's one of the best bassists ever, period.  The combination of that one particular shade of sky blue with that one particular shade of corn yellow just works perfectly, and puts me in the perfect mindstate to listen to the music.  See all the artwork (of the U.K. LP, to be exact) here.  As for me giving this the tag "should've been a #1 hit," well, I'm not necessarily referring to the '90s; in the '50s or '60s it could've made serious inroads on AM pop radio, and I bet the band would've been fighting off major label offers left and right.

AllMusic Guide's 4.5-star review succinctly said "The Sea and Cake's buoyant debut is a breath of fresh air, an utterly distinctive and innovative work that expands the scope of frontman Sam Prekop's work in the great Shrimp Boat to incorporate a new fascination with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and textures. Recorded by Brad Wood, the album simply glows -- Prekop's dry vocals and free-associative lyrics skip along a shimmering and lushly pastoral backdrop that nimbly fuses pop, soul, jazz, and even prog rock; tracks like 'Jacking the Ball,' 'Flat Lay the Water,' and 'Showboat Angel' are as seductive as they are elusive."

This summerrific image is used on the back cover of the CD & LP, as well as on the LP itself

My TSAC timeline:

Jan. 1996: Read about them in a long article about this new-fangled scene called "post-rock" in a guitar magazine.

Oct. '96: Hear "Lamont's Lament," immediately buy their sophomore album Nassau. (See above.)

Mar. '97: Hear a few songs from their brand-new album The Fawn in my car and am blown away.

Spring '97: Buy The Fawn on LP at Tower Records in New Orleans.

June '97: Buy The Sea And Cake CD for my dad. (See above.)
Mar. '98: Got a free The Fawn promo poster from mailorder; promptly put it up on my wall for almost a decade.

Mid-'98: Buy Two Gentlemen remix 12" from Thrill Jockey mailorder.

Early '99: Borrow The Biz and Sam Prekop's debut solo CD from hip friend Andrew Mister.

Ca. '99: Buy Shrimp Boat's CD Cavale, since Prekop fronted this band before TSAC.  (Claridge and Wood also did time in the Boat; a very incestuous scene there in Chicago.)

Late '00: Somewhat disappointed by new album Oui after sampling it on the listening station at Borders; lose faith in band for a few years.

Mid-'03: Download Glass EP from eMusic; "An Echo In" restores my faith in the band's prowess.

9/23/03: After waiting 7 years for TSAC to come to NOLA, I sell my stereo to a pawn shop for $35 to buy a ticket to go see them play at TwiRoPa.  An incredibly boring band called The Kingsbury Manx opened.  TSAC were loud and used lots of distortion, which disappointed me, since I wanted a quiet, crisp, nuanced show.
Ca. '06: Buy a beautiful neon green Nassau promo poster on eBay.
Early 2009: "Jacking The Ball" is used in a commercial for the ultra-evil criminal enterprise* known as Citibank.  (In this live clip of the band's first-ever gig, Sam says the phrase means "Bring out your firearms and ammo."  I had only been wondering for 15 years!)
Early 2010: "Parasol" is used in the R. Patz "I'm-not-just-a-brooding-vampire" drama Remember Me.

I would say that, along with "Lamont's Lament," "Jacking The Ball" and "Parasol" were The Sea And Cake's two best-known songs, even before they got the aforementioned exposure recently.  The band's recordings since then have been pretty spotty, essentially treading water, though few bands are skilled enough to tread water like TSAC can, and fewer still are even allowed in the same pool.  Overall, Nassau remains my favorite album of theirs, with The Fawn and The Sea And Cake tying for second.  Buy all three.

Tue. June 19: Saw two garter snakes mating below my parents' neighbor's doorstep.  Later was called upon to help extricate a baby raccoon from her enclosed swimming pool room / greenhouse.  Stayed up all night talking to Drea online.

Wed. June 20: Finished up with two weeks of house-sitting for my parents while my mom was in Japan & other parts of Asia.  Realized I might be slightly allergic to dogs, since I always seem to get sinus problems when I stay there too long.  I've also banned my favorite food, blueberries, from my diet since I think I might have a sensitivity to them.

Yes, that's a Prince CD

Thurs. June 21: I got into one of the most HILARIOUS and rewarding incidents of my life.  I'm driving down Hwy. 20 to Thibodaux when some psycho person starts tailgating on me, while combing his/her hair, and weaving side to side on the road, nearly going off it a few times.  It's a narrow 55 MPH road with nowhere to pull over.  So I maintain my speed and take a film clip in my rearview mirrors using a little digital camera that I often bring with me, making sure to periodically show my speed, as well the time & date, on the dashboard display.  Down in Thibodaux, after being tailgated for over 10 miles, a cop pulls me over.  I'm trying not to laugh as she walks up to my car on this 90º day, since I know all my shit is up-to-date and on point and I will put my 20 years of driving up against anyone's.  She tells me that someone called the police and said I was photographing them while driving.  I say "Yes, and I have video of that person tailgating me right here."  HAHAHAHAHAHA.  LOL.  She watches the clip and decides I'm right, since she can see/hear that I even tried to wave the person around me at one point.  (FWIW, she was short, blonde, cute, and slightly chubby, with a gigantic, staggeringly vicious pink scar in a semicircle under her chin / on her throat.  I seriously was amazed that anyone could even survive such a wound.  A bite from the lower jaw of an alligator?)  She even gives me a business card with the Lafourche Parish police dept.'s phone #s on it so I can report tailgaters in the future.  So this was fun and all, but a few minutes later, I start to think what would've happened if I hadn't taken that video, if it was just my word against the tailgater's.  Would I have been ticketed?  And since two cop cars were dispatched to intercept me, and the cop declined my offer to burn a copy of the video for them to use against the tailgater, that meant the tailgater probably got away scot-free.  Not so funny.  But this did remind me of the power of video in clearing up a dispute, and coincidentally it came a few days after the death of Rodney King.
Continued on to Hebert's Nursery and labeled a bunch of their cacti for them.  At Rouses, being a huge Guinness fan, I took a chance on an amazing beer by Guinness called Foreign Extra Stout.  It's almost comically full of flavors like coffee, chocolate, honey, toffee, etc.  By far the best beer I've ever had.  The cHeat won the NBA title.

*Citibank received $45 billion in federal bailout money in late 2008, with which they immediately, brazenly, bought a $50 million corporate jet and then teetered on the edge of insolvency for a while as people like me gleefully waited for them to fail.  According to Bloomberg in 2011, "Citigroup paid back $20 billion of its bailout funds and the Treasury converted the remaining $25 billion into a 27 percent stake in the bank, which it began selling last year. It sold the last of its investment in December, realizing an overall gain for taxpayers of about $12 billion."  It is clear that that groovy Sea And Cake song singlehandedly revived the bank's fortunes and hence really paid off for the taxpayers in the end.  America.

Mark Bittman: What's wrong with what we eat - A fascinating, disturbing, and oft-humorous video

Beirutopia: Could Lebanon's capital become a garden city?

Man sees his stolen bike on Craigslist, steals it back - "A spoke for a spoke, so to speak."

Planets with similar climates: The Promise Ring - "A Picture Postcard" (1996), Luna - "California (All The Way)" (1994), The Sundays - "Summertime" (1997), The Cardigans - "Carnival" (1994), The Police - "Bring On The Night" & "The Bed's Too Big Without You" (1979), The Church - "Already Yesterday" (1986), The Smiths - "This Charming Man" (1983).

Suburban Lawns >> Our data was merged and love was born

California Month continued, tremor #38:

Suburban Lawns - "Computer Date"

(Suburban Industrial Records / I.R.S. Records, 1981)

Suburban Lawns didn't release very much music, but they are apparently a cult favorite to this day.  I don't know much about them, and don't have much desire to learn more about them, but I have determined that the band members were actually not nerdy, at least based on this "interview" clip:

Compare them to the legit dweebs who make up nerd-pop bands like Devo, 2 Live Jews, or They Might Be Giants...  I think I got this song on eMusic in 2003, but I'm not sure.

LP back cover

From marriedtothesea.com

I skipped a St. Vincent concert the other day, but watched it stream for free at the Tipitina's website.  She/they covered one of my favorite songs ever, "She Is Beyond Good And Evil" by The Pop Group, and this has apparently been done at every show on this tour.  She/they also recently did a decent cover of "Kerosene" by Big Black, another of my favorite songs ever.  I'm not a fan of covers, but you have to give SV props for those two.

The new episodes of Beavis & Butt-head that debuted last night were painfully unfunny, which was kind of like a dagger to the heart of someone like myself who can recite almost every line from the original series.  So I spent most of my time watching that Rangers-Cardinals game, which is already being called arguably the greatest World Series game ever.  I'm pulling for the Rangers, because they've never won a title, and their skipper Ron Washington is from NOLA & is one of the nicest guys in sports, and I like the whole Josh Hamilton redemption story.  But mainly because Tony La Russa and Albert Pujols are creepy, charisma-free robots who probably moonlight in seal clubbing or illegal arms laundering when they're not busy scowling and complaining in the dugout.

Planets with similar climates: Devo - "Girl U Want" (1980), Hybrid Kids - "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy?" (1980), XTC - "Pulsing Pulsing" (1979).


Speaking of creepy people, check out this amazing article: Is Aleister Crowley the father of Barbara Bush?  After reading it and comparing the photos of the two of them, one's only answer is an obvious "Yes."

Loquat >> I spent my time falling down the stairs

California Month, tremor #7:

Loquat - "Swingset Chain"

(Dreams By Degrees, 2001)

Any fan of ambitious, bittersweet pop music will be floored upon his or her first listen to this song, from the San Francisco group's 10" EP called Fall.

Fall came out in 2002, but, if I remember correctly, the song was recorded in 2001.  The band rerecorded it for their 2005 debut album, but I think that version sapped a lot of the song's dynamics and sense of wonder from it, so stick with this version.  The EP also has a very futuristic, nifty remix of "S.C." by some dudes(?) named Atomix And Spindly.  (AllMusic Guide disagreed: "Sadly, the EP is rounded up with a house remix of 'Swingset Chain.'  Predictable and almost offensive in the context of what came before it, it shatters all the playful charm of the original."  Oh, loosen up.)
 Kylee Swensen's voice is so infuriatingly pristine and perfect in every way, and it just dominates the song in every way without coming off as showboating.  She would have been one hell of a jazz singer in another era.  I interviewed them by email in early '03 for my old zine, and a little while later Kylie emailed me back to tell me they'd just put out a music video for the song, which made me feel psyched that they'd soon be storming the indie charts, then playing arenas and whatnot.  It's pretty much just some live clips stitched together, but hey, at least it's a music video:

This song apparently got used in a fuckload of TV shows, including One Tree Hill, and was included as a free download with some national brand of memory card (a brilliant marketing coup), but the band never became well-known outside of California.  The song has inspired lots of cringeworthy amateur cover versions on YouTube, so it's apparently become a cult favorite, which is the main thing I ever wanted for it.  It's truly one of the best songs of its genre ever made, and it deserves to be up there with the classics by The Sundays, Fleetwood Mac, and The Smiths.  (Loquat did an interesting synth-y cover of "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" in 2003.)  The melodic twists and turns are just spellbinding, and the inscrutable lyrics like "It rained a hundred nineteen days of the year / I spent my time falling down the stairs" and "You're a dandelion seed that flies through the years / And lands randomly, and disappears" and of course "The penny drop that broke her arm" are very cool.  You could write a thesis paper on these lyrics, no joke.  By the way, as I teased in my previous post, a loquat is a type of tree that makes a painfully sweet yellowish-orange fruit; it's also known as the Japanese plum tree, though it's not related to plums.  They're ubiquitous around here in the Southeast, but are not quite considered an invasive species, due to how slowly they grow.  It's pronounced "LOW-qwott," and is not related to the kumquat.

During a break in the rain from Tropical Storm Lee on 9/3/11, I was moving some of my cacti & succulents to more protected spots, and decided to do a group photo.  My camera didn't really focus properly b/c the humidity level was about 98%, sorry.

There are cacti, succulents, aloes, agaves (tequila plants), yuccas, and a dyckia (DEE-kee-yuh) in there. Not shown is a Mammillaria cactus that I've had for 13 years, because it's in New Orleans.

Planets with similar climates: The Sundays - "I Feel" (1992), Club 8 - "We Set Ourselves Free" (2002), Pale Saints - "Featherframe" & "Thread Of Light" (1992), Rainer Maria - "The Imperatives" (2002), The Cardigans - "Your New Cuckoo" (1996), The Delays - "Stay Where You Are" (2003), The Psychedelic Furs - "The Ghost In You" (1984).

The Black Watch >> I won't skip over anything

California Month, tremor #5:

The Black Watch - "Terrific"

(Doctor Dream Records, 1991)

I got into this song via a 1992 Doctor Dream Records (yeah, I had never heard of that label either) compilation CD called Doctor Dream Records Super Sampler.  I bought it in a pawn shoppe in Laplace for 50 cents in late 2007.  I'd already owned the band's '94 album Amphetamines for around a decade, but had only listened to it once or twice.  It has the awesome single "Come Inside," but not much else on it has grabbed me.  You can find it in almost any used CD bin, since Zero Hour apparently pressed up an enormous quantity of them, thinking the band would hit it big.  So they erred on that, but at least they had faith in the band, unlike Doctor Dog.  (Read more about this below.)
"Terrific," from their sophomore album Flowering, didn't do much for me at first, until I grew to anticipate the huge shift from jangly lite pop to urgently passionate intensity, specifically at the 2:30 mark, and then an even more dramatic shift at 3:10.

Like R.E.M.'s "The One I Love," it comes off as a love song, but is actually quite a bitter breakup song.  Or maybe it was written in two parts to illustrate how the mind works when it realizes it can't have the object over which it obsesses, and resorts to looking for every bad thing about that object in order to convince itself that it doesn't really want that object.  Violinist and occasional backup singer J'Anna Jacoby delivers some really inspired playing, and the evolution of the John Andrew Fredrick's singing over the course of the song is impressive too.  According to the interesting bio page on the band's website, he has a Ph.D. in English from U.C. Santa Barbara, and later received an award for Lecturer Of The Year while briefly teaching there, before they laid him off.  (Which makes me wonder if the lyrics of "Terrific" were aimed at UCSB rather than at an ex.)  And he has written two books, The King Of Good Intentions and The Knucklehead Chronicles.

I forgot where I found this; presumably on someone's Tumblr page

The song really has that "California feel," with effortless chordal propulsion and easygoing melodies, making it ideal as a car song.  I read something about how TBW really believed in this song, and quite rightly wanted Doctor Dream to push it heavily to radio and release it as a physical 7" single or CD single.  When the label refused, the band got really ticked off, and I think that's why they left the label, signing to Zero Hour Records.  Of the album, one of my idols, Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover & AllMusic Guide, said:
"Right from the brilliant opening song, "Terrific," the listener is clearly in good if familiar hands -- a brisk, clipped power pop / U.K. new wave rocker that eschews feedback in favor of a clean punch, all topped by the lovely violin work by Jacoby, showing why she's been in demand as a side person on a number of other recordings, and a sweet-and-sour lyric sung by both Frederick and Jacoby."

Option (the best music mag of the '90s, in my opinion) said:
"Often the group sounds English, sometimes recalling The Cure's poppier moments... Flowering works best when Frederick's winsome voice is dragged fiercely along by Jacoby's endearing fiddling and the twin strum of acoustic guitars."

(Note: "Terrific" can also be found on the band's 2000 album Lime Green Girl, which for some reason has seven of their early songs tacked onto the end of it.)

That's my grandparents, Paul (Pop Pop) and Marcie (Mom Mom), with their kids: my uncle Tom in blue shorts, my dad Steve in green shorts, and my aunt Kathleen.  My uncle Mike, the oldest of their four kids, took the pic, according to my dad.  The back of it states "This Is A Kodacolor Enlargement, November 1959."  Yes, I had to take a photo of this photo, since I don't own a scanner... sorry.  This was likely taken in Hawai'i, since Pop Pop was stationed on O'ahu, presumably at Pearl Harbor, at around this time.  I think my dad said that the family lived in 15 different places by the time he (my dad) was 13, including Germany, Savannah, Albany, and of course Hawai'i.  Pop Pop is my idol, by the way, and my middle name is Paul.  He and Mom Mom were married for about 50 years until his death in 1994.

That's a photo I took in the French Quarter of some women (I believe only two or three), using a long shutter speed, from my car, probably on Royal Street facing west or Bourbon Street facing east.  The file is dated 11/25/04, but I'm not sure if that's the exact date it was taken.  I rarely go down there, since the Quarter is mainly a tourist destination that locals avoid, so it might've been on the night I went down there to see Cat Power, which was on 9/20/04.  I can make out the word "Bistro" on the yellow sign, and the Stop sign means it was at an intersection, if that helps anyone to ascertain exactly where this is.  Despite the poor resolution / quality, this has always been one of my favorite photos that I've taken, maybe because of how the multi-tiered building right behind the women sort of looks like it's a kaleidoscopic extension of them, and it melds with the refraction from the big white light at the top.  Overall, it just has a good sense of motion and mystery.  The Quarter is one of the best places to do nighttime "drive-by" photography, since all the neon lights really blur well when using a long shutter speed, and there are always drunk m.f.'s doing stupid or entertaining stuff, because they feel they are obliged to do so the second they set foot in this city.

Planets with similar climates: The Smiths - "This Charming Man" (1983), Felt - "Penelope Tree" (1983), The Lotus Eaters - "The First Picture Of You" (1983), R.E.M. - "The One I Love" (1986), The Go-Betweens - "Streets Of Your Town" (1988), Film School - "Nothing's Mine" (2010), Sand Rubies - "Goodbye" (1993), Matthew Sweet - "We're The Same" (1994).