Sombreros are fucking required

So someone hit my parked car today and fucked up the driver's side mirror. He at least did the right thing and told security, and offered to pay for a new mirror. That's cool because I have an old Volvo and apparently every part for those cars is really expensive, but it's used a lot of my energy today so I'm really tired. I'm also really tired because I woke up early, because I played drums for a few hours today, because ensemble ran too late, because I went to some dude's moderation concert (like mine last year!), or because I'm doing calc now. And I might be more tired later, since I'm going to go see my friend Lucian's band pretty soon.

The thing is, days like this really aren't that uncommon, but I hesitate to refer to myself as "busy" because it seems like everybody is always busier than I, or they make it seem that way. The thing is, though, that I don't think I could ever be one of those people who's always in the science lab, or always at the music building, or something like that. I'm not sure if it's a lack of work ethic or just a refusal to stop having fun, but it's sometimes hard to think about, since having no life is definitely how you get really, really good at something. Does everybody just do meth and stay up all night doing everything they "have" to do? I just can't think of any one activity I could commit to like that.

Anyway, I've recently spent all my "me" time hanging out with Julia, playing Zelda, or playing FIFA 11, or some combination of those. No partying, a decent amount of sleeping. Things are pretty good, but stressful sometimes.

Anyway, I just blasted the first LP of Electric Wizard's mammoth Dopethrone. The thing is so, so heavy, so I'm happy to have purchased the latest Rise Above reissue- Wizard vinyl always goes out of print and then sells for $200 on ebay, so I'm stoked to have gotten it for 20 bucks.

The last time I wrote something, it was the beginning of September and the semester. It's started to get cold. The weather has been really terrible for a few days now, and is set to continue being shitty for, oh, six months.

What else is up? I never feel like doing any work or practicing or going anywhere. None of the music I'm playing right now is exciting me very much, so I'm sort of just letting it stagnate.

That whole thing kind of scares me, but apart from that I'm not really unhappy or anything. I spend a lot of time with Julia and have fun playing Goldeneye and drinking coffee, but that does not lead to studying! Fall break is coming up this weekend, and even though it's just two extra days off, I hope I can use it to think some things through, since I won't have any work to do. I'll probably just watch soccer and eat too much. I need to find that optimum zone where I have enough time to just do what I want (something I am apparently unable to sacrifice), while still being a lot more productive than I have been. How do productive people do it?

Anyway, I've been listening to the mighty WINDIR a lot these past few days. As someone who's never been big on the "spirit" of black metal, Windir came as a breath of fresh air for me. They're all about Norse mythology and all that, but minus all the malice and plus some stunningly mature songcraft. The album isn't really black metal to begin with, more folk metal. Anyway, I feel like I'm playing World of Warcraft whenever I listen to this, but in the most totally awesome way possible. This video features Windir playing their last show without their leader and founding member Valfar, who died of hypothermia while walking to his grandma's house; they still do an admirable job.

PS: on a whim I ordered the vinyl reissue of Electric Wizard's classic Dopethrone from (LOL) Interpunk. I guess they still have copies, and nobody has Wizard vinyl. They also have a new album coming out called Black Masses. Maybe they will get me back into music, they bring the loud.

Also, if I can drag myself out of bed in seven hours, I'm going to start building my ProCo Rat pedal replica. I am legitimately excited about doing that.

BARD

So I am back at Bard College to commence my third year of study. I have been here for a week. I live in a pretty sick room and got a room to put my drums in, so that's cool, and things are overall pretty normal. I'm not taking a huge amount of class, so everything I'm taking is really cool and shouldn't load me up with work too much to prevent me from practicing. All good there!

It's Saturday night and I don't feel like drinking, so I'm just hanging out in my room writing a blog. Julia wasn't feeling well so she decided to go to sleep, which is a good thing since we're going to Saratoga early tomorrow to do some betting. It's interesting, I hadn't found much fulfillment in that sort of thing before this summer, but since she started coming with me it's been really fun and I can't wait to keep going to the track.

It's weird, though: since being back, I haven't really felt the urge to go to class or practice or hang out with friends or really do anything I used to do while I was here. I've never been a partier but that's hit an even lower low. I don't honestly feel very conflicted about this, but I think that Julia does from feeling the same way. This I understand, so I'm really going to try to remedy this situation for both of us, while making sure that sufficient time is spent together. We spent the whole day together yesterday and it was really great, so I'm just super-glad we can still get together and have a great time. This bodes well!

Like this

666

Hey, so I have been in Westport since whenever I last wrote something on here, hanging out, playing drums, painting, and drinking beer. I've also been doing more reading than I expected, although I don't think anything I've read has really been all that great...

A few weeks ago my world was rocked by the announcement that the "classic" Guided by Voices lineup is reuniting, first for Matador's 21st anniversary thing in Vegas, then for a short tour which ends in New York on 7 Nov. I am very, very happy because I just ordered my ticket to that show, along with one for my darling Julia. I like them a lot more than she does, but she gonna come with. GBV tends to get lumped in with other 90s "indie" bands, but to me they stand head and shoulders above almost any band ever, with the exception of maybe the Clash, Carcass, the Kinks, Flag and Sabbath. Since I will probably never see any of those bands (with the possible exception of Carcass), and since this is the GBV lineup that recorded all their best stuff, and since they're going to be playing songs exclusively from that era (though nothing off Vampire on Titus, unfortunately) this is just going to be the best time. Aaahhh I'm so excited.

Speaking of Julia, she is finally coming to visit on Monday the 26th. The day after that we're going to hit Montreal for some legal drinking and amusement park rides, then head back down to Westport and be together for a week and a half or so. Then drive down to Brooklyn and hang out for a week there. Looking forward to this very very much tooooooo!

WE ALL KNEW

Heading up to Westport, NY tomorrow to spend a long time there painting, drinking beer, playing drums, and hanging out. I'm a little stoked without going totally nuts- it'll be better than hanging out in Kinderhook and avoiding everyone, but I'll be farther away from the city and Julia and that is not so pleasant. However, I'll probably be able to make it down to Brooklyn at some point, and she will come visit me up there and we will go to Six Flags. I like her very much and want to spend as much time as possible doing fun things with her.

I'm listening to Kreator's second album, Pleasure to Kill. I have to say, this is one of the only raw-thrash classics that I just can't totally get into. It's fast and thrashy and stuff, but for whatever reason it just doesn't catch my fancy. I know a lot of people think Seven Churches (Possessed) or Welcome to Hell (Venom), say, are overrated as fuck, but I think both of those albums are the shit, particularly the former. Just listen to "Holy Hell" and I dare you to avoid banging yer head at some point in that song. To go against Kreator even more, they recorded a totally boring album with the guitarist from the mighty Coroner. How could you make boring metal with that guy, he makes someone like Kirk Hammett look totally second-tier.

Oh, I have also been watching a fuckload of World Cup. I've watched almost all the matches, and my team, the Netherlands, is still in that shit. They play Brazil on Friday. Can they win? Julia says "no," and I will be an unhappy man if she is correct. Spain looked great against Portugal today, I don't "want" them to win, but I think they may have what it takes this year...

HEY

HOW IS STEPHEN STRASBURG PITCHING? HOW ARE HIS CHANGEUPS? ZOMGZ HE'S GIVEN UP TWO HOME RUNS WTF IS UP WITH THAT WHAT PITCHES WERE THEY ON. CHANGEUPS?!?!?!?! HE SHOULD STOP THROWING CHANGEUPS OR WORK ON HIS MECHANICS OR SOMETHING BECAUSE IF PEOPLE CAN HIT THE BALLS HE THROWS THEN HE IS NOT AS GOOD AS WE THOUGHT HE WAS.

NOW WHY ISN'T HE PITCHING FOR THE WASHINGTON NATIONALS TONIGHT I KNOW HE PITCHED LAST NIGHT BUT WE WERE PROMISED A SUPERHUMAN...?!?!?! I HAVE NO INTEREST IN WATCHING THIS GAME NOW

Diplo wearing a sick DEATH shirt

Summer

Well, it's been summer vacation for a few days now. I've been bumming around my mom's apartment while "housesitting," which has involved a ton of Simpsons, plenty of sleep, some plant-watering, some eating, some running, and lots of metal.

My mom's neighbor just came in with either one or two dudes (I'm not going to guess what their relationship is) and said that she learned at the bar the other night that my mom had a son who is staying here right now (true, that is me), and that "he watches the Simpsons and listens to hardcore music a lot." I'm going to go ahead and say that she pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one, for an OUTSIDER.

Anyway, it's 3 AM, so I guess I'm getting back into my terrible sleep schedule. I need to wash all the dishes and hide my 40s before I go to bed. I brought two here, drank one, and couldn't bring myself to have the other, so it's still unopened and in the fridge. My mom would have a heart attack if she saw that, oh man.

I had a long conversation with Julia today (via ichat, naturally) about our definitions of "love" and it was weird. I like to tell her that I love her because I do, and I associate tiptoeing around the word with being fourteen and having no idea what it meant, but I guess I can see where she's coming from. I miss her.

Musicwise, yeah, it's been all metal so far. At first it was looking like all-black metal, but I'm in love with the new Darkthrone, Circle the Wagons. It's so, so good, I've listened to it about ten times in the last two days and I've started to write a review of it for posting on one of the websites I contribute to. I also just keep coming back to Possessed's Seven Churches, which is considered a prototype for "death metal" but to me just exists as a somewhat-sloppy thrash album with this really fucking evil tinge to it, which, I think, is why it stands out to me versus something like the second Kreator album, which is considered a classic but which I never really got, for some reason.

I am also currently just getting beaten over the head by the fourth Coroner album, Mental Vortex. Coroner's one of those bands who you never really hear about, at least in the US, I think because everything they did that wasn't fairly par-for-the-course (though technically adept) thrash was just too progressive for your average thrash fan. However, I'm really looking forward to memorizing all the time changes and sweet guitar parts this baby has to offer. Jesus Christ, these guys were technical. One of the reasons I love, say, Carcass (who I compare almost every early-90s metal band to) is because they could write fairly straightforward, awesome metal while adding little flourishes to it to remind you that they could shred. At this point, though, Coroner were nothing short of mindbending: their guitarist's all over the place while remaining completely in control, and his rhythm section is with him every step of the way. Somehow I have little difficulty seeing these dudes pull these nightmarishly complex songs off note-for-note live. They also hit you with a tambourine during the groovy 4/4 parts, just to show you who's boss. I've had this album for a while and it never hit me, but now that it has, I have a feeling that this is gonna be on repeat all summer long. Dare I say this is more complex than later Death? Or do I have an... OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION?

RIP

"You're a Rainbow in the Dark"

Okay okay

So it's "finals week" here at Bard College. Wrapping up year two in supremely classy fashion: putting my work off, listening to DJ SCREW, writin' blogz, surfing the web, etc. I don't have a job or anything lined up, and I don't have plans other than to spend July watching the World Cup in a location with a TV.

Summer's going to be weird as usual, but in a different way. It's way too long and I don't know what I should be pushing myself towards. I think Polluted Bitch-Hound is going to be playing a few shows over the summer, and I'm going to do my best to practice drums a lot. Jobwise or internshipwise I don't know (mom's pushing me hard about this), but I don't want to fuck up any sort of "future" in the "music business." I'm probably just going to drink a lot and paint and run.

Most of all, there's the emotional weirdness that comes with that much time spent doing nothing. Last summer ended up being probably my least favorite summer ever. Right now I am happier than I have maybe ever been thanks to a certain girl named Julia, and I think that when she's around, I'll at least be going out of my way to hang out with her. Unfortunately, I can't spend all my time on the move because with limited employment comes limited cashflow. However, I hope to afford the following relative luxuries:

June 18: EYEHATEGOD/BRUTAL TRUTH

Sept. 4 (?) THE STOOGES/SLEEP (ATP)

Drum things

Yeah that's about it. Eh, better do work now.

sup

FIVE FAVORITE THRASH ALBUMS

I'm wilding out on some thrash, so I thought I'd think up what my five favorite (pure) thrash metal albums are. Eh.

5. Forced Entry- As Above So Below

4. Exodus- Bonded by Blood

3. Possessed- Seven Churches

2. Metallica- Kill 'Em All

1. Metallica- Master of Puppets

Fucking THRASH

Right on

My moderation concert went very well. We recorded the concert, and the audio can be found here.

By the way, Arab on Radar is back together.

Hell

I'm moderating today. It's not a big deal but I am freaking the hell out. Elaborate Polluted Bitch-Hound concert in like seven hours...........

This is what we are playing:

ENTER THE HOUND

RAVEN'S CHOICE

CHANGES

FUN TIME

METHUSELAH

HIGH ATOP THE MOUNTAIN

BANUJAGA

CREATURE RUNNING WILD

...or something along those lines

TOP TEN CARCASS SONGS

1. Embodiment

2. Child's Play

3. Tomorrow Belongs to Nobody

4. This Mortal Coil

5. Heartwork

6. Ruptured in Purulence

7. Carnal Forge

8. Edge of Darkness

9. Doctrinal Expletives

10. R**k the Vote

I love this band so, so much

So I've not had internet for five or so days, but that's okay, because the weather's been beautiful. Happy spriinnngggggg!

I'm in a weird place right now: happier than ever, caring less about schoolwork that I "have" to do than ever. I actually wish I could just start summer vacation now, and that's not usually the case with me... oh well, lots to look forward to. Polluted Bitch-Hound practiced today and we sounded pretty good, a little rusty, but we have a show on Saturday that we should do okay with. I also wrote a Meatsmoke song with Quinn and Dan today that is a lot more complicated than the others.

Also I can't stop listening to BRUTAL TRUTH.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2eejmc0aoz5

Fuck

FACEBOOK VOL. 666

This is from an album on some dude's 18th birthday. "...Finally." Truly ready to tackle the nuances of adulthood.

get stoked, world

weekend

GOLD MINE

I can't decide what exactly to think about Feet First. I don't even really know why I'm singling them out, since there are a lot of bands who do incredibly pale imitations of bands from '81 who were horrible to begin with, but they do it for me. I can't stand "punks" like this; I don't think there's anything "working class" about this band. They seem really into it, but the whole conception is just so... wrong to me. Side note: their guitarist really plays that fish guitar all the time.



NOTE that they are wearing their own band's t-shirts... just like Metallica did.

Anyway, here's their Myspace.

BACK

So dogsledding was really cool and I just got back home but I'm in a really fucking terrible mood. I'm going back to Bard tomorrow and I don't know if that'll change anything either way, but at the moment I am not stoked.

Best Music Dude Hangs

Andrew WK is fucking awesome. I'm not such a big fan of his music, but his entire lifestyle seems to have so much to offer that I think I put him up right up there with, you know, musicians whose music I actually really like. Maybe even more than a lot of them. Let me consider this: Steve Albini's kind of a dick. So's Ian Mackaye, and even though both have every right to be, I don't think either would be the sort of dude you could invite over to play NBA Jam and talk about babes. I am of the uniform opinion that Kirk Hammett would be a really good dude to hang out with, and probably the best guy I can think of to jam.



The dude is absolutely out of it, and really can't put a cohesive thought together, but I can respect everything he's about: solos, surfing, neutrality, and weird shit left around one's living space. I think I could also stand to hang out with Jon Bon Jovi.


I really like Bon Jovi, and I think he'd have some cool shit to say in hindsight about being in a band that never really died off popularity-wise just because it kept doing the exact same thing. I don't think I could hang out with Glenn Danzig, though, or Varg, or Mick Jagger. I met the singer of Orchid once when he was in Panthers, but he's a total hipster now and looks like he does a ton of blow. David Yow and Lemmy both seem kinda cool, I think there's serious chill potential right there.

Anyway, bottom line best hangs:
1.) WK
2.) Bon Jovi
3.) Hammett
4.) Lemmy
5.) Jus Oborn (would definitely smoke weed with, and would probably even buy the weed)
6.) Yow

Worst (1=worst):
1.) Varg
2.) Danzig
3.) Albini
4.) MacKaye
5.) Jagger
6.) I don't know

Maybe Jagger wouldn't be such a bad hang, I just don't think he'd be super fun. I think Keef would be great, and I think I've definitely had that conversation before. Oh well. I'm going up to Canada tomorrow to do some legal drinking and some dogsledding. When I get back I might try to snipe a Sunn head off eBay. PAIN TRAIN, WOO WOOOOO

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

IT NEVER GETS OLD

WAZZZZAHHHH

Back to Bard for a few days of practice tomorrow.

LET'S GO SPACE TRUCKIN'

Felt like blogging. I just got home a few hours ago after spending a bunch of time in the city. I'm listening to Deep Purple and lying on my couch. I dropped by my house in Red Hook earlier today and talked to Lotte and after a near-disaster everything is okay there. I was very surprised to realize that I'm actually looking forward to this coming semester. Last semester was a bit of a nightmare. I think whenever it's getting colder my mood worsens but 20 credits really was a downer. The Hound was my only glimmer of hope, and that remains intact.

I've been invited to review music for a new music site called Review Posse. Looks kind of hip-oriented and almost nothing on there (except the Mariachi El Bronx record which was okay) is of the slightest interest to me. They have some King Khan shit reviewed and Dave Matthews Band. I don't know, I've written some stuff that I need to proofread and shorten a bit, then probably submit and get rejected because nobody gives a fuck about Turboslut except me. "Review the new Wolfmother!"
If the Pygmy Lush/Des Ark collaborative LP actually comes out this year it will probably be #1.