Monday, November 28, 2005

worst album covers

And there are some doozies...

See how many of these you own. Once you get there you'll need to scroll down to see the art.

Beatles fans...


Okay, this isn't that new. In fact, Pitchfork's review went up in January this year. Oh hell, guess I'm a bit behind on the music news!! Oh my.

Anyhoo. There's this great tribute album - 40th anniversary of the release of the wonderful Rubber Soul. It's called This Bird Has Flown. Check it out on download.com - they have audio samples. I haven't heard the full album yet, but it's on my To Buy list. I like the sound of Low doing "Nowhere Man" - a very straight version with their usual gorgeous but simple harmonies. Ben Lee's "In My Life" is also nice. I think that I would keep Ben Harper's "Michelle" on skip though. I just don't like that guy. He's so earnest. His voice grates simply 'cos he annoys me as a person. I have a mean streak sometimes. I swear I will end up a crotchety old woman with lots of cats.

Life the universe and everything

Well, actually, just life. Here's where mine is looking.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:
6
Mind:
6.1
Body:
6.1
Spirit:
6
Friends/Family:
6.9
Love:
7.3
Finance:
6.7
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Hey! What's your world view?


You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative


94%

Idealist


81%

Postmodernist


69%

Existentialist


31%

Fundamentalist


31%

Materialist


25%

Modernist


19%

Romanticist


0%

What is Your World View? (updated)
created with QuizFarm.com

Monday, November 21, 2005

Metal

I have a new-found respect for metal. Music that is. Having gone to experience once more a sonic assault by the wonderful Yellow Swans, I got to hear also the "shamanic black hole doom" of Black Boned Angel. (Their words, not mine.) They came on first - Campbell Kneale on guitar (Birchville Cat Motel) and the drummer from The Stumps on bass. Between them they conjured up a glowering mass of noise that filled every crevice and orifice of everything and everyone at the little Valve bar. Big shuddering guitar, deeply primal. Kneale's connection to his guitar, and at times, the speaker, looked deeply sexual. Or had I drunk too much beer. And then, my initiation into the metal scene: Backyard Burial "Lower Hutt Grind Scum". It was as much fun to watch the crowd as it was the band. Since I listen mostly to indie pop, alt country, electronica in many forms and a bit of what could be described loosely as rock, this was totally new to me. I hear something of it's ilk out of my son's bedroom. I kinda liked it. I got myself into a headspace that was just taking it in: watching, observing, listening, and trying not to judge. I ended up coming to the conclusion that there were similarities here with jungle - fast dirty jackhammer beats - than with any other music I knew. And then - another dose of Yellow Swans. These guys play for a short time, but with music as intense as theirs it's long enough. It was so intense I nearly peed my pants. Okay, that's a lie, but I don't know how else to describe how it built up internally till I felt like I was gonna burst. I wonder what it must feel to make music like that. It's like an incanatation - summoning up some kind of ferocious manifestation of noise. Exhilirating. Saying that the music has an orgasmic nature sounds trite, but it's kinda true. I don't know that I would want to listen to them recorded. I imagine it would lose it's intensity.

messin with yo eyes

Check this out. Now my eyes feel funny.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

It's been over a month!

Bah, it's happened again. I've left my blog for over a month! But then again, not a lot has happened. For a while I was insanely busy with work - like the most work EVER! That meant evenings and weekends and every fricking minute of every fricking day. But it did mean a whopping round of invoicing for last month - a wonderful feeling, and it will be even more wonderful when the cheques start rolling in around the twentieth. However, now it's quiet. I've been spending the days rebuilding my Mac and installing Tiger (bloody clashes with existing software, of course), sorting out the box of various business cards from suppliers, clients and friends and putting them into separate business card folders, catching up with admin, and generally freaking out that I need more work! BUT I have also been taking the time to enjoy the fact that I have some spare time, so I've also potted up some tomatoes, planted herbs, and am about to get some veges into the garden - lettuces, aubergine, two kinds of beans, spuds, carrots. Oh, and some pretty little flowers for the garden. Awwww. Including a rose, naturally.

I'm trying to remember any sparkling social moments over the last month, but they are few and far between. SOD and I went up to Palmy for Ben's show at the Manawatu - great show, but the night out on the town in Palmy was strange - it was Hallowe'en and there was some themed street party going on in town so we hung out there and drank beer with the locals. I don't understand why NZ has wholeheartedly adopted this American tradition. We never celebrated it back in my childhood. I think it snuck in over the 80s. Fucking TV culture. (Am I sounding old or what?)

Had some fun on the way back home in a little town called Shannon - bought some stuff from their little antique store, including this ring and this cool little Welsh pipe for SOD. Also some books on theosophy from their weird little bookshop.

On Friday night I went to see Hollie Smith at Indigo - it was her EP launch and it was so so great. She has the best voice in Wellington. Truly an inspiring woman. And sexy. It was almost 1am when that finished so I headed off to Happy where they were having a late night noise/drone evening, featuring a couple of friends and ending with an outfit called Yellow Swans from the US (Portland Oregon no less). See Stephen's blog about them. They were pretty impressive. Had a most excellent stint in town drinking far too much and got home at some ridiculous hour. A sign that I am indeed getting old is that I spent almost my entire weekend recovering. Sad but true.

On the work front, I've just finished a magazine in German. That was fun - it's a new tourism mag aimed at Germans planning to visit NZ. And it looks pretty good, I reckon. Also just completed all the promo material for Circa's production of their yearly Xmas show. This year it's Cinderella (flyer pictured here). Should be some fun. I'm planning to head along with my girls.

Next on the agenda is getting a project underway as I might be in a group show at the beginning of the year, so I had better get myself organised!