Blog: Nervous Music

Ghost "Piper" - This song is lifted off of Ghost's 7th (and most recent) album Hypnotic Underworld which includes more of their brand of commune-minded, free-spirited psychedelia. "Piper" includes some crazy guitar work, blistering at times, and is one of the more upbeat tracks from this Japanese collective. They were my favorite live act from 2002's Terrastock Festival held on Landsdowne Street. Definitely worth catching them if they come around again. Buy It . Helms "Ghosts With Searching Eyes" - This is the second song from Helms's The Swimmer [...]

Join Beck, The Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Peaches, Devendra, The Postal Service, Sonic Youth, Sloan, Wolf Parade, David Cross, Elvira, and a host of other ghoulish contributors for a benefit for UNICEF called Do They Know It's Hallowe'en? Catch a direct link to the video here -- it's worth it. BOO!

I got an email today not intended for me. Those are always fun. I assume it's not spam because the footer of the email shows that it arrived via the ol' "Email to a Friend" feature. It arrived to my personal account from "rjmhead." It included a link to the BBC Food site, pointing to a recipe for lamb steak with brussel sprout puree and roast parsnips . The body of the message simply said: How about this to use the sprouts?

On my commute home last night, somewhere between All Things Considered and Marketplace , NPR used John Zorn's "N.Y. Flat Top Box" to segue between segments. I just had to look down at my radio dial and yell "WHAT?!?" You'd understand my shock if you've ever heard "N.Y. Flat Top Box." Imagine a performing country band being shoved down a flight of stairs and you're partway there. I think Tim, Alex, and I all agreed at one point that "N.Y. Flat Top Box" could very well be the stupidest 45 seconds ever recorded. [...]

You can now print photos off of Flickr, and they did a really nice job rolling out this new (and much anticipated) service. You can either have prints mailed to you, or you can choose to pick them up at a local Target. Prices seem reasonable and they're smart about recommending the proper print size based on the photo's resolution. You can do lots of other things with your Flickr photos now too, including designing real U.S. stamps and creating books and posters of your lovely snaps.

This BoingBoing post about the card game Set hits the nail on the head. Chris and I used to play this all the time, and after a mere 10 minutes of the game, you're locked into Set mode constantly looking for sets in everyday objects. I think I see one now... SET!

The Beta Band "Dry The Rain" - Rob Gordon: I will now sell four copies of "The Three EPs" by The Beta Band. Dick: Go for it. [Rob plays the record] Beta Band Customer: Who is this? Rob Gordon: The Beta Band. Beta Band Customer: It's good. Rob Gordon: I know. Miles Davis "Filles de Kilimanjaro" - 3rd Grader: Hey [...]

Granted, Chris and I used to get a lot of mileage out of our collection of junk CDs when we used them as drink coasters. But you just can't beat the analog way of keeping your coffee tables safe. Check out the Record Coasters . Plus there's other nifty stuff like the Record Bowls and ... heh ... the LP Snack Tray . Wicka-wicka-woo!

I have too much media (for lack of a better term) begging for my attention these days. It includes books gathering dust, music waiting to be heard, movies waiting to be seen, and websites waiting to be visited. If you're an information junkie like me, you have a hard time separating the wheat from the chaff, the good from the bad, the junk from the funk! But I do have a solution for all you blog subscribers out there. If you use a blog/feed reader, create a new folder called "Probation" [...]

Dr. Claw has been revealed. Check it out if you don't mind potentially ruining your childhood.

System Error "Enter To Exit" - There was a glitch with this week's tracks, so you get three rather than the typical two. This album was the first that showed me you could make a fine product out of errors, mistakes, hiccups, and accidents. It's a warm, organic ride through faulty software. The duo in System Error also go by the name Higher Intelligence Agency, and I get the feeling that the glitchy material here is the garbage generated from their HIA sessions. Mmm garbage. Enjoy! Out of print. Oval "Do While" - [...]

A grammar guru I am not. (See?) I don't claim to have a grasp on the intricacies of the finer points of the more delicate side of the English language. Heck, I use words like "drooped" and "zooed" so you can't trust me when it comes to floating grammatically correct grammar past your grandma. But I have been known to turn a goofy phrase now and then. Anyway, last weekend, I got to thinking about the Loverboy song "Everybody's Working For The Weekend." No particular reason, really. It just popped in my [...]

Bloglines quietly launched a few new features last night. They now offer some keyboard shortcuts for navigating and managing your feeds, plus they display new posts alongside saved posts so you can see what's actually new, for instance: Hot Sauce Blog (5:2). I'm happy to see Bloglines is actually launching some enhancements, although small. With the introduction of the new Google Reader , Bloglines has some stiff competition these days. But I'm still content with my Bloglines account and here's hoping that with the added support of its new owner, [...]

I'm warming up to Yahoo's podcast service, aptly called Yahoo! Podcasts . Every podcast search so far has turned up the feed I was looking for, and I really like how they've positioned the "Listen" and "Subscribe" links side by side. Very clean, very easy. There has been a lot of talk recently about what Yahoo! could do to improve its homepage, including shifting and renaming some of its content areas. I think they're beginning to listen, though. The crowded eyesore of a portal is finally beginning to shape up. It's [...]

My LaCie 250 GB FireWire external hard drive arrived yesterday. Now that I have 25 GB of high-definition wedding videos, not to mention all the music and files scattered across both my Powerbook and Compaq desktop, it was high time I worked out a backup strategy. The LaCie drive , designed by F.A. Porsche, is a brilliant little machine. Measuring not much larger than an actual brick, it was super easy to format and partition. With Mac OS 10.x, I didn't even need the installer CD because Apple's built-in Disk Utility app took care of [...]

Au Pairs "We're So Cool" - The two tracks this week are related to my work, and this first track is great post-punk from 1981. Along the lines of the Mekons and Gang of Four, the Au Pairs delved into hyper-political themes and tight feisty grooves. What's interesting is when you look up this record on Amazon, in the section called "Customers interested in The Au Pairs may also be interested in...", you'll see my company. Buy It . Mice Parade "Focus On A Roller Coaster" - OK, so roller coasters have [...]

Has another year gone by already? Two years ago today I started up this site, and it persists for no good reason. I've been continuously slammed with work lately and there's not a whole lot of easing up happening in the near future. But I'll stick to my guns that this site will continue indefinitely, even if it is in its terrible twos now. So on with the cat photos, weekly mp3s, web standards rantings, and (debuting soon) wedding video clips! You can see me dance like a monkey and get cake [...]

I can't believe it. It took over a month of patient waiting, but our wedding photos are now available online. But enough of my jibber-jabber. Click on the mini masthead below to start browsing!

Devendra Banhart "Autumn's Child (Live)" - Last week was The Fall; this week we're sticking with autumn. This is a nice live rendition from KCRW radio in Santa Monica on May 5, 2004. I think there's a little hiccup in the middle of the track and I apologize for that. He's making the rounds again for his new album Cripple Crow . I've heard bits and pieces and it's quite nice. Radio set, not available to buy. Cannonball Adderley "Autumn Leaves" - This song reminds me of sitting on the back porch [...]

It's been a while since I last posted a photo of Simone, and you do realize that I have a quota to reach. Apparently this time around she wanted nothing to do with it though.