More drones and fractured tones from C. Spencer Yeh, but this time the noise seems more focused than ever before. This change may stem from the fact that though this is by no means the first Burning Star Core album, it is the first to be taken on solely by Yeh himself as a composition. Yeh's recordings under the Burning Star banner have often found him in collaboration around a series of improvisations which though usually interesting, don't always pan out to an excess of beautiful moments. Here though, C. Spence utilizes space and drone bent through his prism of [...]
So...I'm an idiot. I saw a concert listing on a couple of websites saying something along the lines of "8-26 The BSC, Ophibre at The Piano Factory" and got all excited because I thought The BSC stood for Burning Star Core (even though there's no "the" in front of the latter). Well, I went to make a post just now about the upcoming show, possibly showcasing a video or mp3 of Burning Star Core, only to find out that an entirely different band is playing. If you happened to be in a similar position to me, [...]
Have you seen Danny Boyle's film Sunshine ? This should have featured on the soundtrack. You won't find many bands more admirably onomatopoeic than Burning Star Core. Beauty Hunter , from their 2008 release Challenger , is all glowing oranges and yellows. To describe it as ambient noise would be to do this music a disservice. This is beautifully textured sound, always pulsing and moving. There's nothing of the offhand casualness one might associate with the term ambient. I'd also hesitate to call this shoegazey, as that always implies not [...]
Joke of the Day: What did one asexual hipster say to the other at last week's Swervedriver reunion show in New York City? [Scroll to the very bottom -- below the MP3s -- for the answer] Talk about making a story out of nothing...CNN is reporting that rising gas prices are severely affecting indie bands' ability to tour this summer. Hmm...maybe if they spent less money on haircuts and sweaters -- wait a minute: CNN used the word "indie" in one of their top story headlines? Does that mean it's finally okay to say that [...]
I was contemplating maybe transferring audio from my cassette recorder to my hard drive today, but it would take way too long and I have things to do. The other night I fell asleep listening to 90 minutes of tape featuring drunken Matt, Evan, Jack, Ken, Katie and I from one night in Jersey, and I couldn't stop laughing. It's...uh...entertaining, in a somewhat pathetic way. You can't hear it today, though, I have the day off from work, so I want to make sure I get the most out of it I possibly can. You know, "sucking the marrow out [...]
This weekend's MacGruber-friendly Saturday Night Live episode featured Shia The Motherfucking Beef and musical guest My Morning Jacket. Jim James probably didn't want to scare America and so he kept "Highly Suspicious" on the sidelines. Instead MMJ catered to the jammier elements of Evil Urges , with southern rocking "I'm Amazed" and the Dead-inflected verses/Allmans-Skynyrd rapid-fire guitar harmonies of "Urges." Jim brought out his falsetto for the occasion, sounding smooth as it did in Indio, and he couldn't help himself to at least one bit of meta-showmanship (check the frozen-image pose at both performances' end). Here's "Evil [...]
* Burning Star Core : Live At The Southgate House (4.22.07) (25.0 mb) From Fascination : Drone Disco : Fig. 90 Well, the gods have blessed us with a small, mini-tour consisting of a collaboration between C. Spencer Yeh (of Burning Star Core) and John Wiese (look here ). I've been a huge, huge fan of Mr. Yeh's for awhile now, and it's always a treat to see him play. I really love the sense of musicality that [...]
I'm not sure this qualifies as a literal "adventure in dating," but I found this story on my hard drive this morning while looking for my resume (where are you hiding, you stupid word document!) and it's too funny not to post. It's from May of 2005. I was fresh out of college, living at home, and looking for any available options of the female persuasion. I knew this girl, we'll call her Leah. She had been expressing interest in my manhood for several months, so I called Ilya and told him we were going to meet her and some [...]
Today was the big chili cook-off at the Beverly Hills Farmer's Market. You're going to wait until tomorrow (isn't that the refrain of Silverchair's first single?) to hear all about it. If I had two describe it in two words, I will say, "Tears. Hair." I'm sure you will be waiting on the edge of your seat for my description of the event. Yes, there will be pictures. No, they are not good. RULES for uninitiated noobs : With 100MB of webspace, I give birth to a weekly Mix Tape to be deposited on your iPods [...]
• Whoever writes these news stories for AOL.com is a complete moron. Yesterday in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, a sixteen year old girl named Elizabeth Mohl was killed when she fell from a carnival ride called Air Glory while attending a local Christian Music festival. And then, to quote the article, "An autopsy [is] schedule for Monday, but Hable said Mohl likely died from the fall." Well, no fucking shit! What else could she have died from? Did she overdose on drugs mid-fall? Did her brain cease functioning in the moments before the malfunction? What the fuck!? [ story ] [...]
All of a sudden C. Spencer Yeh seems to have had a flurry of productivity; bursting out releases on Ultra Eczema and Yik Yak and hitting up some colaborations with Comets on Fire and Hototogisu. Yeh has a knack for the noise, but mixes in all sorts of extra ephemera on each subsequent release. His latest, Blood Lightning 2007 is capped at each end by two complimentary drones that splinter into mind melting debris; then in the middle of the album Yeh goes demonic, with "A Curse on the Coast," which sounds in bad need of an [...]
First list for BF after long hiatus. I made this as an extension of two other lists at Motel de Moka and Music is Art . Curious thing, what is really the shape of music to come? That was the main thinking behind the lsit, if not a slap happy effort to just shake things up with several exotics tracks while trying to keep it listenable. This one is BF's turn. What I find. Thing can be very ordinary but with slight distortion everything changes. ES does that. Automatic [...]
* Burning Star Core : Mes Soldats Stupides (demo) (23.0 mb) From 'let's play like wildcats do' : Hospital Productions : HOS-113 Ever since I first heard this band, Burning Star Core (look here ), I'm continually on the lookout for more of his stuff. Unfortuanately, there is very little to come across, as most of it is limited and already out of print, or limited and not available in stores. I so desperately like his stuff that [...]
Raven Sings The Blues
Anti-Gravity Bunny
Doklands
Swan Fungus
Stereogum
the of mirror eye
Bricolage Fantasy
Another All-Star In The Studio With Daft Punk
J-Ax Meglio Live Tour 2012: la scaletta della data zero a Rovereto con l'omaggio ai Beastie Boys
Childish Gambino – Black Faces (Ft. Nipsey Hussle) : Sick New Rap Single
Sound of Summer (v. 3.1)
