the ryPod

We have more electronics running in this apartment than anyone I know, save maybe Andrew McAfee. His impressive power bill nurtures hungry reptilian lifeforms, whereas our circuits are dedicated for pure pleasure. What with the shortwave & drum machine & game systems alone, we're running the nominal wattage of a small city in India. You could care less. The point is this: last week I achieved my crowning technological feat to-date, when I wiped my old PC and turned it into an HTTP server, running Apache 2.0. This means just under 40 gigabytes of dedicated webspace in my bedroom. You should bookmark our portal, which for now links only to here and Myspace.

http://carolinestreet.zapto.org:818/

In celebration of this achievement, I give you my favorite music video. Because I can. Directed by Michel Gondry, "Around the World" is an essay on the universality of beat and movement, or in plainer terms, a global call for the common man to "shut up and dance, you skinny bitch."

Daft Punk - Around the World

right-click, save target as | buy from Amazon

From the NEWS: page of Tim Fite's website:

The official commercial release of Tim Fite's album "Gone Ain't Gone" is slated for September 13, 2005. Anyone interested in owning this recording will be able to purchase it at the store.

Three days ago in Wahoba, Michigan a tree fell across Old Lake Road, downing two power lines on it's way and crushing the roof of Gene Lahanski's powder blue panel truck. Old Lake Road was closed tuesday as a result, sending all traffic down Watershed Lane. When we asked Gene how it all happened, he said, "I'd been eyeballin' that spruce for some time now; planning on downin' her myself next week. I guess she got to sensing that, and just plum gave up on standin'. These trees are pretty sensitive."

Marie, you will really dig this. He writes like Dan Bern and sings like Isaac Brock on a codeine trip. John-Mike, Peter, and KatieB...likewise. And hell, you can come too.




Tim Fite - 45 Remedies
Time Fite - Away from the Snakes
Time Fite - No Good Here

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It's been months since I sorted my overflowing blogloads folder. So I dug around today looking for something podworthy, and discovered two tracks that go great together. Doing my research online, I found out that Scarling. is actually Jessicka from Jack off Jill's new band. Who knew? Reason #72 I love doing this blog: it forces me to do my homework on bands that I was previously content to simply enjoy. And sometimes, that's interesting. I remember when Jack off Jill toured with Marilyn Manson. Now they sound like Kevin Shields molested Denali. What are we gonna call this, Nu-gaze?






Jack Off Jill - When I am Queen
Scarling. - Alexander the Burn Victim

(right-click and press "Save Target As" to download)
Click here to buy Jack off Jill from Amazon
Click here to buy Scarling. too.

SPX kicked ass. I came back with a slight hangover, a suspicion confirmed, and a slew of mini-comics that I can't stop re-reading. I'll post some pretty pages if I have time, for alas, it's back to the keys for me.

Continuing last week's theme of music I'd have never heard if not for (X), here's Submerge, a long broken-up band from Richmond, VA. Mandy turned me on to their album East, Meet West a few years ago, and it's as good now as it was then. The drummer and bassist, if I remember correctly, have since moved on to fame with Motion City Soundtrack. If you dig the latter you'll dig Submerge. Also, have some Daft Punk. You already like this song.



Submerge - If the Shoe Fits
Submerge - The Man Who Tricked Fate
Daft Punk - Face to Face

(right-click and press "Save Target As" to download)
click here to buy Daft Punk from Amazon
I have no idea where to get the Submerge stuff. Ask Richmond.

And thanks to Matt at Merchants of Soul for the link.

Can someone tell me how to discover incoming links without using trackbacks? I was surprised earlier to see the ryPod up on Banana Nutrament. So I poked around on Google (yeah i'm a self-promoter and a narcissist, you already knew that) and found out that another one of my favorite bloggers links to me as well! This is my first internet excursion (myspace bullshit aside) so I'm still a little taken aback when I see it actually working. Thanks as well to everyone at Teaching the Indie Kids to Dance Again and Pig in the Snow for the linkage.

First of all, thank you to whomever at Banana Nutrament gave me my first incoming link.
I read, dig and listen to you guys every day.

So Jacob got me thinking about what music I've heard that I came into 100% on my own. And there isn't much. Thus far I've come up with one thing - this Ali Hassan Kuban CD that I picked up randomly at Amoeba because I had extra cash and was in the mood for Nubian wedding danceparty music. Pretty much everything else I listen to has been pointed out to me in some way or another.

I form strong associations (conscious & otherwise) between music and people, which is why this blog meanders like it does. Examples, you say? Marie gave me this Gustav album about six months ago, and I still listen to it all the time. Thanks 're, you're pure gold. Pittman sent me "Random" around the same time. It makes me want to start my own danceclub, so I can hire myself as the DJ and play this song crushingly loud every Wednesday through Saturday night. If you dig these tracks as much as I did, make sure to thank those kids for the recommendation.





Gustav - Da, am Monopol
Lady Sovereign - Random (Menta Original Mix)

(right-click and press "save target as" to download)
click here to buy Gustav from Amazon Germany
bookmark this to buy Lady Sovereign's EP, dropping November 15

N. used to tackle me into the wood chips after school and make me walk her home. One minute I was Dhalsim hurling inflated rubber fireballs at my friends, and the next my nose was tickling a stale footprint, ninety pounds of giggling girl on my back. My buddies asked no explanation for the strange phenomenon that led me away by hand, and I never had one to offer. That flying tackle would launch me out of my playground coliseum entirely, into an arena where punching the hardest didn't make you the best, and make-believe was a whole new kind of game.

Things went on their eleven-year old way. In the mornings I snuck in five more minutes, at lunch we traded X-Men cards, and after school N. and I would find new ways to touch each other without, well, touching each other. In the mornings I would nab my sister's stainless-steel snake ring, which N. wore proudly until P. got off work. Her mother rented an apartment up the hill, so we had four days a week to play until the sun went down. She spent the other three days with her father, whom I never saw, on the east side of town.

She was a pretty, good teacher. I learned from N. that losing at tag could mean far more than winning, when her hand on my elbow held me fast. She would hide where she was sure to be found and lose every one of the wrestling matches she started, resting only when I had her pinned and panting underneath me. I should have suspected something when she decided one day to win. We were in the guest bedroom arguing over which was the more useful superpower: Wolverine's titanium-alloy claws, or Zack Morris' "time-outs." I pointed out that Wolvie's claws were virtually indestructible, to which N. replied that Zack was cute and boxed me in the ear. The debate dissolved quickly into a flurry of left hooks and half-nelsons. Three short minutes later I was on my back and she was on top of me, pinning my legs with her shins and my arms with her knees. She leaned down close and whispered in a voice that reeked of daytime soap:

"Fuck me, Ryan. Fuck me now."

And then she kissed me. With her tongue. That was the day I learned that girls mature faster than boys. I waited until she was done, then squeaked that I should prolly be getting off the bed now, that it was almost dinner-time, and do you hear the phone ringing? N. climbed off and I slid away to the blacktop kickball kingdom I'd always known. My friends had no idea. N. and I fell apart after that; our passing brushes had lost their forbidden charm. Anyway, we most likely wouldn't have done it, if even we could have done it, and with that out of the way there were no more surprises. We went separate ways for middle school the next year, and it was over. The last I heard of N. she was coaching cheerleaders in Minneapolis.





that dog. - minneapolis

(right-click and press "save target as" to download)
click here to buy it from Amazon

The worst part of getting pulled over by the cops is laughing at their stupid jokes. I can smile and nod and "yes sir" for hours, but everytime I let those pigs think they're clever I want to die. "Oh heheh, yessir. I probably could have hit 75 coming around that curve. Ha Ha." But acting has its benefits. I got stopped the other night doing 59 in a 35, without a license or registration, in a car that has been ticketed 37 times and summonsed twice. And I got off with a warning. I love America almost as much as you love my utter lack of shame.

Anyway, music. I never ever liked Bruce Springsteen until I heard "State Trooper" over the closing credits of The Sopranos. Turns out it's from the one Boss album I've heard interesting things about. The one that Rilo Kiley and the Dismemberment Plan sing praises of. I checked it out, and I like it a lot. It's all solo acoustic four-track recordings. Now I know why every aging sadster <cough>shane</cough> who secretly loves arena rock has told me to get this. Take your pansy album back to Japan, Phil. This is Born indie USA.




Bruce Springsteen - State Trooper

Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska

(right-click and press "save target as" to download)
click here to buy it from Amazon

I wasn't planning to post this, but I've seen this song on three other mp3 blogs today, so what the hell. I don't know why they're all posting because I don't pay attention to shit...maybe because Ibrahim Ferrer died recently? Anyway, it's my responsibility as a music snob to say that I had this album eight years ago. So bite me, blogosphere.





Afro-Cuban All-Stars - Amor Verdadero

(right-click and press "save target as" to download)
click here to buy it from Amazon

I'm home, and I've got a million things to do. I'm gonna keep bringin' that music, though I won't have time for words every day. It's Honor's birthday (wish her a good one), so I'm gonna go help her celebrate with drinks and some Cali greens. Oh yeah and I got a free iPod mini; this blog is no longer a pose.

On first listen, this sounds like some faggy european synth-pop. Upon closer inspection, that's exactly what it is. I LOVE it. You might not, but just in case:





Benjamin Diamond - Let's Get High (Alan Braxe Remix)

(right-click and press "save target as" to download)
click here to buy it from !K7

It's 2am, which means I need to start packing for my flight out of BWI in ten hours.
The 'pod will return in a week, one heart duly left.

details.