Dès le mois de mai j'ai commencé à sentir que cette année ne ferait pas l'affaire, Xiu Xiu et son Women as Lovers appartenait plus à 2007 et Bon Iver et Fleet Foxes restaient seuls, à tourner, en boucle. L'ennui avec ce top 2008, c'est qu'il n'a connu aucunes hésitations, aucun dilemme déchirant. Faire ce top c'était un peu réaliser combien l'année avait vu défiler de disques sur la platine, et bien peu y revenir. 2008 a eu ses moments de grâce, ses albums superbes et inattendus, mais 2008 a aussi cruellement manqué d'attente fébrile. Je l'ai constaté [...]
In May of 2007 I attended the Bottling Smoke Festival here in Los Angeles, and Ilyas Ahmed performed on the festival's opening evening, and I was instantly taken with his codeine-slow experimental folk compositions. When I had come down from the euphoria of the weekend's amazing performances, I found myself seeking out many, many recordings from artists I'd just heard for the first time. Century Of Moonlight was the first album I found, and it's the one I have listened to the most. Especially alone. At night. While out of my head. This is the way that experimental [...]
I'm not sure how many of you have been reading this page for a while, but some of you may remember last summer's "The Great Chili Cook-off That Never Was" . 368 days ago, I tried to attend the Beverly Hills Farmer's Market Chili Cook-off. I showed up too late, and lamented my misfortunate for longer than I should have considering I didn't have a job or anything to do that day anyway. Nevertheless, when I saw this past week that somebody had Google'd "Beverly Hills Farmers Market Chili Cook-off", I got to thinking that maybe it was an [...]
One of the songs I posted in the mid-year mixtape the other day was from the mysterious Pakistan-born Portlander Ilyas Ahmed . In 2005 he released a string highly acclaimed and impressive privately pressed CD-Rs including Between Two Skies and Towards The Night , which were each remastered and released in limited runs of 50 by Digitalis. I'm probably the last person you'll find toting around some sort of obsure, psychedelic folk music in my earthy hemp bag, ESPECIALLY if the shit is near impossible to find. In fact [...]
It's crazy to think that we're already about half-way through 2008. It seems like just yesterday when I was ringing in the New Year in a cozy cabin-like bar in Vermont, while feet of snow accumulated outside. But here we are, in mid-June, leaving me to wonder how half-a-year flew by so quickly. When I began pulling this mixtape together, I thought that it would be a breeze to pick out some of my personal favorites of the year so far, but, as you can see, it became quite extensive. There were a couple more that [...]
After a string of highly praised CD-r's and a recent reissue/repackage on Digitalis, Ilyas Ahmed finally stamps out a proper full length. Vertigo of Dawn is everything that his fleeting CD-r output promised, its full of dark, moody woven guitar tracks whose vocals resemble wordless chants more than true expressions; floating above the pluck and din of his music. Though Ahmed has common ground with pickers like Jack Rose or more closely James Blackshaw, his delicate string work is more often ensconced in buzzing harmonic drones and draped under the call of his enchanting and chilling voice. The [...]
Constellations. Plural. • A professor has penned a detailed article on the topics of aliens and time travel, and I guess the fact that he is a currently-employed professor lends some credence to the fact that he's talking about the existence of extra terrestrials and the possibility of time travel . I think it's fascinating that France opened up their UFO sightings vault, and that the government said 58% of the sightings could not be explained. Fat dudes wearing pointy ears and speed suits while living in their parents' basements are probably really excited about [...]
Yesterday I had eggs for breakfast. Today, I had eggs for breakfast and dinner. Unfortunately, none of them were green. If I'd travelled to Mexico, there's a chance I could have indulged this fantasy of mine. Or, I could just wait until St. Patrick's Day, buy some green food coloring, and dye my eggs green. But video of a hen laying green eggs is pretty cool anyway. Check it out. [ story ] It's official. Johan Santana has passed a physical and is bringing his career .258 batting average to Queens. With his pockets lined with $137.5 million [...]
Good Sunday, my loves. Thanks for making this the most heavily trafficked week ever (I think?). Almost 1,000 people a day? On this piece of shit page? Clearly these visits have nothing to do with my ability to spin a yarn or engage in intelligent culture critique. Whatever the reason, feel free to stop by anytime. You're all welcome. Except for the gays. I hope your weekends were fun. I slept all Friday night, but went to a raging house party last night. Silly times. Drunk as hell. I was fierce on the dance floor. Stop laughing. It [...]
A jam packed Friday if ever there was one. I received an early morning phone call inviting me to Sherman Oaks to drive Lyz to the airport with her friend. I showered and dressed, and quickly realized I was out of one of my medications. Placed a call that I thought was reaching the Costco in Los Feliz, but it was actually the Burbank location. I tried in vain to get them to switch the order to Los Feliz, but it took them several hours to figure out how to take my refill out of their system and place it [...]
Today was quite pleasant, thanks for asking! My early afternoon was spent with Fawn and Brian checking out a community garden where they want to buy a small plot to grow their own herbs and vegetables. We talked to a guy named Dana who maintains two plots filled with cacti, and he showed us around the grounds. Apparently at the top of the hill a beekeeper keeps several colonies of bees to harvest their honey. I was mortified, to say the least. I saw two frames from a short distance and refused to get any closer than that. I don't [...]
Ilyas Ahmed is a mysterious character. From little informations exists online, I've discovered that he's self-released a pair of CD-R albums as well hooking up with Time-Lag Records for his current disc, Century of Moonlight, and a vinyl-only album for later in the year. He also lives in Portland, so look him up next time you're in the area. Ahmed's music is organic, primarily guitar-based, and often includes his own vocals - both wordless and lyrical. Closer to the drone-folk of Six Organs of Admittance than the more "proper" ambient I've [...]
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Spiritualized / Nikki Lane Live @ The Wiltern 5-22-12
