Ian suggested I rank the "top ten Japanese albums" for my next installment of the Friday Top Ten franchise. That's right, it's a franchise now. As far as I know you don't have to do more than two or three of something in order to make it a franchise. They call the Twilight movies a franchise and there are only three of them. I've written nearly 200 top ten lists, I'd say that's a god damned franchise, wouldn't you? Anyway, I thought that Ian had a good idea, but there are so many different kinds of Japanese music, [...]
Stereotypes about Japanese culture persist in the Western consciousness, in spite, or perhaps as a result of our increased exposure to it. Blogs, magazines, and TV shows love to say, "OH LOOK AT HOW WEIRD AND FUCKED UP JAPAN IS," and that's because people who don't live in Japan only want to see only the bizarre things that come out of Japan. This is true chiefly in two areas: porn and music. But this isn't Fleshbot or whatever, so LET'S MUSIC BLOG!! I co-host an occasional radio show on KSFR . It's a graveyard shift show, [...]
You would think a "leading technology company" earned such a lofty claim through smart business practices. They probably synthesized commonly found elements into a new medicine, or cracked some DNA code that could stop babies from being born with superfluous toes. Whatever they did, it's got to be important enough to warrant the term "leading technology company." You wouldn't think such a lofty claim is earned by launching a new digital file format in the hopes of becoming more popular than MP3s. That would be stupid. BACH Technology thinks they can replace the MP3. Their new file includes [...]
I'm back in Los Angeles. I slept for about 10 hours and am still getting reacclimatized to this place. I'd like to extend a "Happy Mother's Day" to my mom. Of course, she's probably not reading this website today. She only ever visits the page when I've written something nasty about baby boomers or blamed my parents for making me a miserable human being. I don't think she's ever seen a positive note on this page. Oh well, I guess that's my fault. Also, congratulations to Nicci. She was in a student film that premiered tonight, and she [...]
Give the Drummer Some's 10 Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere (see Comments, below, for helpful info about downloading) The tanking economy claimed another victim last week as your humble miner got laid off from his day job. Yes, the army of the unemployed just called up another reserve, and he's ready serve with, um, dignity. Losing that zippy T-1 connection at work, but gaining a heightened appreciation for the "free" aspect of free album downloads, this column vows to continue to serving up piping hot links to the most [...]
God help me if the next two weeks are anything like today was at work. I'm going to be such a miserable piece of shit. I'm trying to think positively about my temporary schedule change, but it's so depressing. I might as well be one of those cult goons standing on a street corner near the "Dream Center," handing out lemonade to passing cars. That's how useless I feel. When I took a short 15-minute break today, I found myself walking across the street for a soda, and I had a vision of myself five hours later crying over a [...]
Image: Untitled by Teun Hocks . Prints available here . . "I tried to make an image about desire and about the strange feeling that something is missing, although everything seems so peaceful and romantic." ~ Teun Hocks ~ It is probably no secret by now that I am often attracted to art – whether it's music, film, photography or any other form of art – that in some way tries to express the feeling that Hocks describes in [...]
A short mix of songs in honor of the snowstorm that kicked my ass today. That's a picture of Soviet prisoner walking through ice fog in a Gulag camp. But seriously today was almost that bad. Almost. Xiu Xiu - No Friend Oh! Radiohead - Reckoner (Being Pulled Apart By Horses) Morita Doji - If I Die Wu-Tang Clan - For Heaven's Sake Evangelicals - Snowflakes Chromatics - Running Up That Hill [...]
Sunday. Is it time again already for a new mix tape? Ugh, alright. Hold on, let me get my glasses. [2 minute pause] Ah, much better. Before we get started, I figured I would reprint for you the mini top five (it's actually a top six, but who's counting!) that a lovely Swanfungus reader e-mailed me this weekend. I recently posed a rhetorical question on the topic of women, but since I actually received a legitimate response from one of you, I will reprint it for your reading pleasure. Here are the top five reasons girls like to [...]
Hello beautiful friends. I trust gravity is not keeping you down on this beautiful Sunday, is it? Unless of course, you're living in Vermont (as pictured above, six years ago), where temperatures are starting to drop already. After a miserable, rainy Friday night, the rest of the weekend has been beautiful. And how did I spend my time, you ask? Why, getting drunk on Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale and Port Brewing Wipe Out IPA of course! Today I joined a local bird-watching group for a picnic and some vino in the park. Then shared tasty [...]
I have returned to Los Angeles, alive and in one piece. I'll tell you all about my trip tomorrow. For now, enjoy these songs, okay? RULES for uninitiated noobs : With 100MB of webspace, I give birth to a weekly Mix Tape to be deposited on your iPods or Zunes or Kingklangs or whatever the industry is currently pushing on you. Sometimes there will be themes that link all the songs together, other times I'll just throw songs at a wall (not literally) and see what sticks. Ever had one of those really pedestrian moments when [...]
I've been a fan of Slap Happy Humphrey for quite a few years now. Based in Japan, Slap Happy Humphrey was a supergroup made up of some of the biggest heavyweights in the Japanese psych scene: Jojo Hiroshige from Hijokaidan, Mineko Itakura of Angel'in Heavy Syrup and Hiroaki Fujiwara of Subvert Blaze. The idea was simple yet incredibly effective-to record covers of obscure Japanese folk singer-songwriter Morita Doji 's (pictured above) music straightforward, but to add bursts of noise and distortion throughout. I still remember the first time I heard their [...]
Swan Fungus
Girlpants
WFMU's Beware of the Blog
motel de moka
A.M. 180
Fire in the Stereo
A-Trak - "Round of Applause" / "Where My Money At" (MP3 Download)
SHOCKING NEWS: Ben Gibbard turns to pills in wake of Zooey Deschanel divorce
Skrillex Uses Satanic and Homosexual Influence to Win Grammys
Diplo - "Climax" (MP3 Stream)
