Record Review: Spirit Photography - Time is Racing 7" (Sacred Bones Records)

Spirit Photography put out a 7" on Sacred Bones Records. The A Side is called Time is Racing and the B side is Into the Heart Of. I probably wouldn't be reviewing this 7" if I hadn't seen them live, because they were fucking amazing live. I should write a review of the Spectrum/Crocodiles/Spirit Photography sommee ddayyyyy. You can download it and see the cover art at the amazing Pukeos site. On May 27th, 2009 they are playing the Soda Bar. That should be a good show. This is a good 7". I don't want to spoil the mysteryfun so... cfheck it out...

Religious Girls Tour Dates

Check out the 7" at Pukeos.

06-14 Seattle, Washington - The Holy Mountain *
06-15 Portland, Oregon - The Artistery +
06-16 Portland, California - The Whale =
06-17 Sacramento, California - Buff Castle +
06-18 San Francisco, California - TBA /
06-20 Los Angeles, California - The Smell ^
06-21 San Diego, California - Too Many Creeps @ the Whistle Stop +
06-22 Los Angeles, California - Pehrspace %
06-23 Phoenix, Arizona - TBD
06-24 Albuquerque, New Mexico - Winning Coffee Co. #
06-25 Santa Fe, New Mexico - TBD
06-26 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - TBD
06-27 Denton, Texas - TBD
06-28 Austin, Texas - The Mohawk +
06-29 New Orleans, Louisiana - TBD
06-30 Gainesville, Florida - TBD
07-01 Orlando, Florida - TBD
07-02 Jacksonville, Florida - The Shanty Town Pub +
07-03 Atlanta, Georgia- The Drunken Unicorn +
07-04 Greenville, North Carolina - The Spazzatorium +
07-05 Richmond, Virginia - The Camel +
07-06 Washington, Washington DC - The Velvet lounge @
07-07 Baltimore, Maryland - TBD
07-08 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Danger Danger Gallery +
07-09 Milford, Connecticut - Daniel Street Club ?
07-10 Brooklyn, New York - Death By Audio +
07-11 New York, New York - Monster Island Basement !
07-12 Providence, Rhode Island - TBD
07-13 Boston, Massachusetts - TBD
07-14 Buffalo, New York - Sugar City +
07-15 "Ohio"
07-16 "Detroit / Ann Arbor, Michigan"
07-17 Lansing (old town), Michigan - Perspective 2 ~
07-18 Chicago, Illinois - TBD
07-19 Kansas City, Missouri - TBD
07-20 Denver, Colorado - Rhinoceropolis
07-21 Albuquerque, New Mexico - TBD
07-22 Flagstaff, Arizona - TBD
07-23 Irvine, California - TBD
07-24 Los Angeles, California - TBD
07-25 Santa Cruz, California - TBD
07-26 Oakland, California - TBD `

* with Our Brother The Native, Heatwarmer
+ with Our Brother the Native
= with What’s Up?, Summer Blondes
/ with Our Brother The Native, Mi Ami
^ with Foot Village, Our Brother The Native, Voice On Tape
% with Our Brother The Native, Whitman
# with Our Brother The Native, Yoda’s House
@ with Our Brother the Native, Kohoutek, Locrian, Teething Veils
? with Our Brother the Native, Jerkagram
! with Our Brother The Native, Charlie Looker
~ with Siov Diov
` with Mika Miko

Rapid Youth, Runners, Kevin Greenspon Tour Dates

Summer tour w/ Kevin Greenspon, Runners [mem. of No Paws (no lions) + Rapid Youth.



07-30 Los Angeles, CA - Echo Curio
07-31 Santa Barbara, CA - TBD
08-01 San Luis Obispo, CA - TBD
08-02 Bay Area, CA - TBD
08-03 Davis, CA - TBD
08-04 "Northern CA" - TBD
08-05 Arcata, CA - TBD
08-06 Modesto, CA - TBD
08-07 "Bay Area or Northern CA" - TBD
08-08 Sacramento, CA - "House"
08-09 Central Valley, CA - TBD
08-10 Central Valley, CA - TBD
08-14 Las Vegas, NV - TBD
08-15 Phoenix/Tempe, AZ - TBD
08-16 AZ or deep Inland Empire, CA - TBD
08-17 Los Angeles, CA

Cool Band Alert: No Paws

This is the band of the guy who runs Family Time Music.

No Paws (no lion) (myspace)

Cool Band Alert: Strange Frames

Strange Frames (myspace)

Cool Band Alert: Rapid Youth; Understanding the Murrieta "Scene"

Mulligan Family Fun Center, Murrieta

If you want to understand what's going on up here you need to check out the Mulligan Family Fun Center on Murrieta. Smoke a joint first. Then you will "get it." If you grew up in a California suburb you should also get the joke by imagining your own variation of a "family fun center"

Ok so Rapid Youth is the Rosetta stone of the Temecula bed room recording scene. This is like the new version of what garage bands used to be in the atlantic era. Except it's the recording, not the playing that is the significant achievement here.

The key to unlocking the puzzle is the band Rapid Youth (myspace)

These are the members of Rapid Youth:
BRENT MITZNER
TRAVIS VON SYDOW
TYLER HARAN
BRENT WYMAN (drummer)

Now each member has their own "side project" which is also in keeping with the characteristics of the bed room recording scene: more, rather then less output.

TRAVIS VON SYDOW: Ancient Crux (hype machine ancient crux)
BRENT MITZNER : Trudgers (myspace)
TYLAR HARAN: Twin Lion (myspace)

And then Family Time Music is run by Sam Woodson. And does each member have their own record label as well?

Cool Band Alert: Trudgers

Another Murrieta band. RCRDLBL has the downloads.
Trudgers (myspace) Check it out.

Tijuana Quadrupble Murder Drawing National Attention

Tijuana, BC aerial view
The AP has picked up on the quadruple murder of four american citizens over the past weekend. They were all young people from south bay area san diego. They were found in a van, wrapped in carpet. Blood was dripping out of the van. The murder is hardly raising an eyebrow in Tijuana, although the local cops were kind enough to suggest that the four victims were mixed up in the drug trade. There was a note found, but unlike other notes, the contents of this note have not been made available to the public.

Cool Band Alert: Religious Girls

I was listening to their 7" over at Pukeos. They're from the East Bay Area. They are playing San Diego at June @ Too Many Creeps. I put that date on my myspace calendar. Don't you already have a hunch as to what they sound like? I have no idea how to buy the 7" or if it's even for sale. It wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't. So much good music right now? Right? It's crazy. Can't wait for the shooowwwwwww...

Last Known Photo of Ancient Crux?

ancient crux, originally uploaded by mooncici.

I think this a photo of Ancient Crux.

This all started in mid-february when Von Sydow disseminated "in teen dreams" to music blogs. There were no no blog posts about Ancient Crux before January 28th, 2009. Every single post below is a review of the mp3. That is what you call "positive initial reaction of amateur music enthusiasts to artist product."

I think what these bands have in common is an appreciation for the history of K records style lo fi pop and new york centered noise rock. And home recording, obviously. That' so important- the home recording?That's really what's at the center here. The home recording.

If you didn't check the myspace link last post, please do so now. Thank you. Have a great day!

Index of Posts About Family Time Records in 2009
(No Pain in Pop)1/27/09
(Rose Quartz) 4/28/09
(Family Time Records Blog)
(like a champion) 3/31/09
(Said the Gramaphone) 3/31/09\
(Daily Dares)
(Wow Champagne) 2/28/09 *trend analysis
(Electric Mustache) 2/26/09
(The Outer Net) 2/20/09

Cool Band Alert: Ancient Crux

Ancient Crux (myspace) Murrieta/Family Time Records

Sacred Bones Records

Don't miss the distro section, either. (Sacred Bones Records)

Successful San Diego Adult Contemporary Artists: Jason Mraz

I. Establishing Relationship Between Jason Mraz and San Diego

TB: You came to San Diego almost by accident, while road-tripping through California in the late ’90s. What made you decide to stay? Was it that sense of community you’ve talked about that you miss on the road?

JM: Yeah. I left Virginia two months before I found San Diego, because I had this feeling something on the West Coast was calling me. I packed up all my things and drove to California. And I was crying while I was driving, because I was so scared. I didn’t know what I was doing. But I knew I would find it. And when I got to San Diego, I met so many people so quickly. The first were Mike Andrews and his band, Elgin Park. He gave me a place on his couch and let me be a roadie with his band. From there, I went down to Java Joe’s, and in one night I met Gregory Paige and Toca Rivera and a lot of great writers——people who were putting out this great music. I found the community of Java Joe’s; they gave me a home almost instantly.

(SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE)

II. Quantifying Success as an Adult Contemporary Artist

Mraz released his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come in 2002 but it wasn't until the release of his second album, Mr. A-Z that Mraz achieved commercial success. The album peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 200 and sold over one hundred thousand copies in the US. In 2008, Mraz released his third studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 was a commercial success worldwide, peaking in the top ten of many international charts.

Mraz's international breakthrough came with the release of lead single from We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. titled "I'm Yours". The single peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Mraz his first top ten single. The song was a huge commercial success in the US with it receiving a triple-Platinum certification from the RIAA for sales of over three million.

(Wiki)

II. Observations about his Success and its Relationship to San Diego.

Mraz was an immigrant artist. These are a category of artist who migrates to the southern california area from a rural/semi-rural/suburban setting. Immigrant artists are more likely to be active in that they have already moved somewhere to pursue their music. Mraz is managed by promoter/manager(?) Bill Silva- who has roots in the San Diego area.

Mraz followed a path to success pioneered by another artist- Jewel, who demonstrated similar success in adult contemporary music. Both artists demonstrate the strength of the "adult contemporary" friendly "coffee house folk" in the San Diego area and suggest that more multi-platinum artists await the development of a seasoned Music Industry Professional, most likely in the form of a manager as supposed to an a&r representative.

Mraz works in an area where amateur music enthusiast support is less important to not-at-all important, since the commercial potential of a coffee house singer is self evident to music industry professionals, rather the relevant issue is the level of talent. Due to competitiveness within the genre, a high degree of artist activity is required, but chances of success diminish over time, as that means music industry professionals have likely become aware of the artist and "passed."

Billboard Review Crocodiles "Summer of Hate"

They may wear their influences on their sleeves like hipsters display their latest tattoos, but in the case of San Diego duo Crocodiles those influences are pretty unimpeachable. Thrumming Velvet Underground choogles hit a fuzz-and-feedback Jesus and Mary Chain wall of sound; Spacemen 3's droney take on Detroit hard rock and Texas psychedelia gets reprised; the Beach Boys' harmonies are (mis)appropriated for the shoegaze and synth-pop crowds. Parts of this remarkable debut make for decidedly uneasy listening: The drugged-out, claustrophobic glam slam that's "Flash of Light" may be the year's most terrifying moment. And by evincing a healthy disregard for pro forma studio niceties—these guys never met a chord progression they couldn't corrupt or a VU meter they couldn't run into the red—Crocodiles have clearly internalized punk's prime directive: Before one creates, one must first destroy; then reassemble, using the most basic, primal building blocks.—Fred Mills

(Billboard)

Brief Descriptions of Bands Playing San Diego Tonight

I love this category.

Napes & Snakes: Screamy mathy punk. Could be close to their first show? From San Diego, CA.
The Zion Laser Strike: Instrumental surf/pysch. I hear some potential, but the activity level does not look good.
The Reverse Cowboys: Chad's band. Remember Chad? Snotty punk rock.
@ Ken Club tonight

Japanese Sunday: Old timers in the SD scene.
Traindodge: TOURING BAND ALERT!!! Traindodge is from Oklahoma City.... They've got an alt-rock sound. Makes sense they are playing w/ Japanese Sunday.
Marasol: Alt-rock; Singer reminds me of the Jawbreaker singer... Alt rock radio alert...
@ Soda Bar tonight

Cathouse Thumpers: rockabilly.
@ Beauty Bar tonight.

Shouldn't We Support Street Gang Involvement in White Collar Crime?

Big news in San Diego, CA. is yesterday's bust of 40 people, gang members among them, who are charged with a check fraud scheme. The media is trumpeting the involvement of gang members in this case (as organizers) and the District Attorney is going on about how dangerous thus is but let me just ask one question, "More dangerous then street level crack dealing?" Here's an idea- let's give them all light sentences so they stop dealing crack and focus on defrauding banks and credit card companies. Is this really a big deal? White people do it every single day:

State and federal law enforcement officials made that announcement Wednesday morning with the arrest of 40 individuals in the check-cashing scheme, including six members of the Navy. Twenty more people are being sought. Sixteen are members of a street gang that claim San Diego's Lincoln Park neighborhood as their territory.

The rest of the defendants are somehow affiliated with the Navy, either by working on a base or through a relative. That gave them membership to the Navy Federal Credit Union, which absorbed the losses.

During a news conference, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis explained that gang members would create a fraudulent check and then have a credit union member deposit it into his or her account. The member would then travel to Barona Casino and withdraw the funds before the credit union could determine that the check was a counterfeit.

(SDUT)

Cool Band Alert: Reading Rainbow (Philadelphia, PA)

Cool Poster, not for a San Diego area show, though.

In the last month I have been surprised to learn that myspace still exists, and that cool people are still using it to discovery new music. I used to believe that the significance of myspace was to allow artists to hook-up with either amateur music enthusisasts or the general public (bypassing music industry professionals) but now I realize I was wrong: Myspace allows artists to either increase their rate of artist activity (indirectly increasing their appeal to amateur music enthusiasts) OR it allows them to bypass amateur music enthusiasts directly and hook up with music industry professionals.

Anyway, here is another cool band I'm listening to on Myspace- they are called Reading Rainbow, from Philadelphia. They have a 7" coming out in May and I can't wait to hear it. Check it out.


Reading Rainbow(Myspace)

Aspects of the relationship between amateur music enthusiasts and music industry professionals

Historically, the number of both music industry professionals and amateur music enthusiasts was limited to the audience for a given artist or composition. This group of enthusiasts began to multiply after the invention of the printing press (sheet music) but was largely static until the invention of the phonograph in the 20th century.

After the phonograph was invented there was a dramatic increase in both the absolute number of amateur music enthusiasts and music industry professionals. In fact it could be argued that the music industry itself only began after the invention of the phonograph, since 18th and 19th century music industry "professionals" were more like theater managers then business executives.

The advent of recorded music drastically altered the nature of the relationship between music industry professionals and amateur music enthusiasts. Historically, enthusiasts were as or more important to individual artists theb music professionals. For example: the king or queen who patronized a 17th century composer is an example of an "amateur music enthusiast.". During this period, the relationship between an artist and amateur music enthusiasts was way, way, way more important then their relationship with a mostly non-existent "general public." After the invention of the phonograph, that balance reversed as music industry professionals were able to profit from sales of recordings to the general public. Amateur music enthusiasts could have difficulty even accessing artists not proferred by music industry professionals, let alone the general public.

The growth of the general public in this period was of course, huge and for the first time the importance of the general public surpassed the importance of amateur music enthusiasts. Recorded music in fact allowed music industry professionals to by-pass amateur music enthusiasts, whose presence became limited to outre genres and large metropolitan areas.

At the same time that the nature of the relationship between music industry professionals and amateur music enthusiasts shifted, the absolute number of amateur music enthusiasts sky rocketed as recorded music and mechanisms to play recorded music became affordable and available world wide.

These "new" amateur music enthusiasts entered a world where their relationships with artists were governed/controlled by music industry professionals.

The impact of internet technology is to again re balance the relationship between music industry professionals and amateur music enthusiasts in reference to artists.

Music industry professionals continue to control physical and psychological access to the general public, but they have largely lost control of the relationship between artists and amateur music enthusiasts, creating the potential for indivdual artists to obtain the attention of the general public without surrendering control to non-artist controlled music industry professionals. This shift also allows individual artists to control their relationship with music industry professionals to a much greater degree and thus influence the methods which are used to attract the attention of the general public or "passive listeners."

Cool Band: Austin's Woven Bones

Woven Booonnnneessss

This is a cool-ass three piece w/ a garagey vibe. They're from Austin Texas, and they're touring around the south-east in June. Hopefully we'll see them out here sometime in 09.

UPDATE: They are coming to San Diego in June...

Woven Bones (myspace)
Woven Bones (interweb site)

German Language Crocodiles Album Review

Musikalische Krokodile sind seit Schnappi ja ein wenig ins Zwielicht geraten. Dass es trotz Reptilienartigkeit aber auch ganz anders geht, als volldebiles Klingeltongedüdel zu machen, beweisen Crocodiles aus San Diego. Laut ihrer Myspace-Seite existiert dieses Duo erst seit 2008, ist also noch frisch und voller Elan dabei. Musikalisch geht es modern zu, d.h. heutzutage ja auch mit einem starken Retro-Touch. Die 80er blitzen jedenfalls durchaus bei dem Crocodiles-Sound aus dem einen oder anderen Takt hervor – Jesus & Mary Chain, Joy Division, C86 –, so dass sie sich durchaus Vergleiche zu den Crystal Stilts u.a. gefallen lassen müssen/dürfen.

(Coast is Clear- Der Indie Pop Blog)

Let's Describe Some New-ish Bands!

Today is wednesday, otherwise known as the first day in which every single venue in town is brave enough to schedule a show... Let's take a closer look at some of the bills...

HFICLSI: On myspace since last august, sounds like... P.I.L. + math rock.
Magic Daggers: I think I've linked to them- they're from Atlanta? Instrumental math rock.
Vaginals: Pass.
Golden Red: Ooh- this is a folky act that moved here from Wichita, Kansas. I'm actually into this group. Why are they on this bill ha ha? I'm forwarding their info to Tim Pyles for inclusion on an anti-monday league bill sometime. Sesac Josh- take note. I added them on myspace. Sounds like Jim and Jennie and the Pine Tops and folky-country.

@ Radio Room tonight, cover ???


Don't Bore Nina: rock band.
The Metrons: rock band.
Death on Mars: mellow, rock-ish band.

@ Ruby Room tonight, cover???

He What Now?

SAN DIEGO -- A man accused of working with baby sitters who brought him children so he could molest them has been captured in Brazil and returned to the United States to face charges.

The U.S. State Department said that Jared Yaffe was caught Monday by Brazilian federal police and brought back to the United States on Tuesday. He was processed in Atlanta and was expected to arrive in California later Tuesday.

Yaffe is wanted in San Diego on 17 counts of child sexual assault and kidnapping. The 30-year-old faces 100 years to life if convicted of all counts.

Observations About Passive Listeners

Passive listeners, by definition, do not seek out new music. They are a huge percentage of the general public so unfortunately they are the most important audience because of their sheer bulk.

Passive listeners will consume music it if it intersects their physical or pyschological environment. The music must intrude on their day to day existence and generate a strongly positive association.

However, these listeners will react postively to basically whatever is put in front of them due to patterns of behavior established by consumer psychology. The mere provision of music to passive listeners often generates income for artists. For example, people who buy gum and magazines while waiting to check out at the grocery store. Or more broadly the behavior labeled "impulse buying."

The gatekeepers "know" what passive consumers "want." And monopolizing that knowledge allows them to maintain their position and authority over time. These gatekeepers are sometimes but not always "music industry people." They may also be "amateur enthusiasts" but those two roles may well be in conflict.

Artists and enthusiasts basically can't influence the "knowledge" that gatekeepers have about what passive consumers "want" because it is the role of the gatekeeper to know that information, and not be told it by non-professionals.

However, music industry professionals can influence one other in terms of selection of artists/property to the passive listeners. This relationship represents the considerable depth of the music industry in the United States. There are music industry professionals whose sole role is to represent artists: To take an artist from obscurity to being consumed by passive listeners in collaboration with other music industry professionals. You can see how these invisible encounters make a huge difference in which artists are succesful over time.

These encounters have literally nothing to do with the relationship between artists and amateur enthusiasts, and doesn't even attempt to assess what, if any, impact amateur enthusiasts may or may not have on the passive consumers that constitute the bulk of the general public.

Nobody blogs about licensing negotations, but they are a worthy a subject of interest for artists. Using licensing negotiations as an example you can see how artists have separate interest then amateur music fans. Pitchfork does not report on who got what licensing deal. There is no "business section" on either Stereogum or Brooklyn Vegan (although broad analysis of music industry business trends occurs some on Idolator and is the sole purpose of Coolfer.)

But looking at the pitchfork model, you can see how increased artist activity can generate the necessary "energy" to draw music industry "attention" and exposure to the general public through gatekeeper activity. The gatekeepers now "know" that passive consumers like band x by observing the interaction between artists and amateur music enthusiasts.

You can observe how collaboration between artists and amateur music enthusiasts can alter the "knowledge" of what passive listeners "like." My mother listening to blondie and the talking heads this weekend on a radio station in San Francisco, this weekend.

There is always a dialogue between artists generated purely by the music industry (atlantic model) and those generated by interaction between the artists themselves and amateur enthusiasts (pitchfork model) this dialogue is nothing "new" but rather is a collary of the existence of the music industry itself. I.e thr "heavy users" in fast food industry jargon. Think of jazz artists, for example for a non recent example. Depending on the whims of taste, certain genres may identify more with one model then the other. Hard to imagine pitchforky-teen-pop, less hard to imagine atlanticy freak folk, easy to imagine pitchforky noise rock.

The music industry's desire to maintain its gatekeeper function places it in conflict with an equally desirable goal of increasing interest among amateur music enthusoasts, passive listeners and artists themselves. To the extent interest increases among amateur musical enthusiast, the music industry control over passive listeners is lessened. As industry specific elite professionals, music industry "people" see that activity as a threat.

Social Network Theory & The Music Industry After the Internet

The foundational observation here is that any system is just a composition of individuals linked by interests. By looking at groups of individuals, the system reveals itself. Another foundational observation is humans like to discover "new" things. But those things need to be familar, relvelant and interesting. That's kind of a contradiction, but true none the less.

The community that breaks bands is comprised of three sub groups: the musicians, amateur music enthusiasts, and music industry professionals.

An idealized model of this inter-relationship is presented in diagram one, above. In the idealized, (i.e. non real) model, artists, amateurs and industry professionals work together harmoniously in such a way that "cream" rises to the top. This has never been how the music industry has worked anywhere ever.

The pre-internet, or "Atlantic" model is represented in diagram two, above. The Atlantic model is clearly hierarchical, in line with general modes of capitalist development in the 20th century. At the top we see music industry professionals- exemplified by the "major labels" of the post WWII era. Beneath them are the artists. Collaboration between the music industry professionals and artists is then proffered to the amateur music enthusiasts, typically via mass-market advertising techniques. Success with the amateur music enthusiasts results in the dedication of greater financial resources in an attempt to create interest with the general public, and viability for the artist involved.

The post internet model replaces the intitial interactiom between artist and professional with a dialogue between enthusiasts and the musicians. Only afterwards are music industry professionals involved. This might be called the "pitchfork" model. The "pitchfork" model is demonstrated below:



The pitchfork model suggests a tri-parite schema of development for young musical artists seeking careers within the world of popular music:

1. Self-release or strong live performance creates interests among community of musicians and/or amateur enthusiasts.
2. Strong feedback to stage one products leads to interest among discrete elements of music industry professionals: booking agents, managers, independent record labels.
3. Strong feedback to stage two leads to full engagement by music industry professionals and an attempt to engage the attention of the general public.

All three models assumes a large community of "passive" music consumers who make decisions based on recommendations derived solely from music industry professionals.

Anticpating Backlash: Definitions

Also a zine, apparently. Remember zines?

A "backlash" is a popular negative reaction to something which has gained popularity, prominence, or influence. Although sometimes, a backlash represents a categorical rejection of the idea, aesthetic, product, or fad in question, it is usually a reflection of a collective resentment of that thing's ubiquity in culture and media, rather than a denial of its existence. The term is commonly applied to racial discrimination and religious discrimination against minority groups, as well, such as in response to certain events or circumstances (e.g. the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001).

Backlash- something to avoid.

Who Wants to Come to Romania with me for a Summer Festival?

I actually thought this was a variation on the nigerian spam scams, until I looked closer and saw that yes, they are actually doing a huge music festival in Bucharest, Romania this summer. Looks fun!

Oh- did I mention it was four days long? Yes:

FULL LINE UP FOR THE 2 MAIN STAGES (ROMTELECOM STAGE & CIUC STAGE);
1st of July: The Killers (US), White Lies (UK), Patrice (D), Snails (MD)
2nd of July: Moby (US), Motorhead (UK), Moby, Polarkreis 18 (D), Ayo (D), Grimus (RO), Les Elephants Bizarre (RO)
3rd of July: Orbital (UK), Franz Ferdinand (UK), Klaxons (UK), Gabriella Cilmi (A), Alternosfera (MD), Oceana (D), AB4 (RO)
4th of July: Santana (US), Charlatans (UK), The Ting Tings (UK), Looptroop Rockers (SE) The MOOod (RO), Gravity Co (BG), Persona (RO)
5th of July (Aftershock): Manowar (US) Holyhell (US), Trooper (RO), Thunderstorm (RO), Nexus (RO), Ulytau (KZ)

Why do I get the feeling that if you actually showed up for this festival you would end up living out a sequence from one of the Hostel movies. (second Hostel reference.)

Music Culture is Like Stalactite Formation

A stalactite (Greek stalaktites, (Σταλακτίτης), from the word for "drip" and meaning "that which drips") is a type of speleothem (secondary mineral) that hangs from the ceiling or wall of limestone caves. It is sometimes referred to as dripstone.

This solution travels through the rock until it reaches an edge and if this is on the roof of a cave it will drip down. When the solution comes into contact with air the chemical reaction that created it is reversed and particles of calcium carbonate are deposited.

Every stalactite begins with a single mineral-laden drop of water. When the drop falls, it leaves behind the thinnest ring of calcite. Each subsequent drop that forms and falls deposits another calcite ring. Eventually, these rings form a very narrow (0.5 mm), hollow tube commonly known as a "soda straw" stalactite. Soda straws can grow quite long, but are very fragile. If they become plugged by debris, water begins flowing over the outside, depositing more calcite and creating the more familiar cone-shaped stalactite. The same water drops that fall from the tip of a stalactite deposit more calcite on the floor below, eventually resulting in a rounded or cone-shaped stalagmite. Unlike stalactites, stalagmites never start out as hollow "soda straws." Given enough time, these formations can meet and fuse to create columns.

(Wiki)

The bands are the drips of water, crashing to the floor of the cave, but leaving the calcite beeehhhiiinnndddddd....

He's a Gun Enthusiast, Your Honor...

A little home town crazy:

SAN DIEGO — A man who had four unregistered machine guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his car when he was arrested in Pacific Beach was identified Monday as 36-year-old Jason Hilliard of Lake Elsinore, authorities said.

Officers were trying to pull Hilliard over Wednesday for driving erratically when he crashed into another vehicle, said Special Agent Michael Hoffman of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Officers, who found the machine guns and ammunition among six firearms, also located a ski mask, duct tape and a large overcoat in the vehicle.

Agents determined four of the guns had been illegally converted from semi-automatic firearms into machine guns, Hoffman said.

A subsequent search of Hilliard's home turned up nine more guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, a silencer and two pipe bombs, the special agent said.

The explosives, made from PVC pipes with caps at either end with screws inside, were disarmed by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department Bomb Squad.

"One can only imagine the death, destruction and mayhem that this one individual could have inflicted with those machine guns and pipe bombs," said John A. Torres, an ATF Special Agent in Charge from the Los Angeles office.

Hilliard, who is being held without bail, appeared in San Diego federal court Friday on charges of possessing an unregistered machine gun. He has a detention hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning in which a judge will decide if he should be granted bail and possibly be released from the Metropolitan Correctional Facility downtown, Hoffman said.

The special agent said Hilliard has no known criminal record. Investigators are still trying to determine his motive for collecting the arsenal.

Hey our country was BUILT ON THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS!!!! It's the second amendment, people. And remember: Innocent until PROVEN guilty.

Ratas De Vaticano's Have a 7" Coming Out on Volar Records

If you haven't peeped the Volar Records blog yet, you should- add it to the ole' RSS feed. Right now they have a cool video from one of their to-be-released 7" artists: Monterrey Mexico's "Ratas del Vaticano" (myspace) Man, whatever happened to Lipstick Terror? I had them pegged as card carrying members of the noise/rock underground, but I obviously don't know shit, since Ratas del Vaticano is straight up diy punk. Enjoy!

I Could Literally Listen to Liztomania by Phoenix FOREVER

It's a mash-up. I'm already excited for the show in LA in June... Can't wait!!! Phoenix 4-eva.

Get Ready for SPECTRUM Tonight @ The Casbah

Spectrum is the most high-profile and straightforward of the projects undertaken by Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember after the demise of the trance-rock avatars Spacemen 3. As his work as a member of the Experimental Audio Research coterie allowed Kember the opportunity to explore ambient textures and tonal constructs, Spectrum satisfied the singer/guitarist's more conventional pop leanings, while never losing sight of the hypnotic otherworldliness which became his music's trademark and legacy.

SPECTRUM (Myspace)
SONIC BOOM (web)


In addition to oft-blogged Crocodiles, excellent locals Spirit Photography are opening. I'm pretty sure it's the same Craig who runs Volar Records w/ Melissa.

Tape Deck Mountain is playing the Atari lounge. They have a loopy layered sound but the vox are pretty trad-indie.

Wow- I'm excited to see more bands on this bill (all of them- 4 bands) then I was to see at the entire three day Coachella festival (Sebastien Tellier, SuperMayer.)

Once again, San Diego has it going on. Tickets are $10 at the door.

Tomorrow night don't miss spectrum and crocodiles and tape deck mountain @ anti-monday league at the casbah. It promises to be an awesome show. Tickets are 10 at the door.

Also, have you ever considered how much it suck to be exiled to a leper colony? Oh man, I'm reading "the colony" by john tayman. Its about the leper colony at molokai in hawaii? That's the worlds largest leper colony? Let me tell you: it fucking sucks to be exiled to a leper colony. Especially if you don't have leprosy. Man.

las vegas, nevada

las vegas, nevada, originally uploaded by catdirtrecords.

Book Review: The Social Construction of Reality by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann

Book Review: The Social Construction of Reality
by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann
published 1967

If you're going to make it the culture-industrial complex (i.e. music industry) you really should have some understanding and insight into how people view reality. Whether you're trying to get people to buy your record, come to your show or listen to your radio station- it's all part of the same influencing project, more or less. In a certain sense, the Social Consturction of Reality is probably the only book a non-specialist needs to read about this topic.

This book, in language as clear and straight-forward as you're likely to get, explains how reality is constructed from social intercourse. The analysis here starts from what normal people consider reality: being "wide awake" and experiencing "everyday" life. All of reality proceeds from face-to-face encounters that occur during the normal course of every-day life:

The social reality of everyday life is apprehended in a continuum of typifications, which are progreesively anonymous as they are removed from the "here and now" of the face-to-face situation. P. 33

Based on these encounters, humans create bodies of knowledge and categories of interactions. As a society grows more complex, these face-to-face encounters become abstracted into "expertise" and then passed down to new members of a society (children.):

Primary socialization thus accomplishes what is the most important confidence trick that society plays on the individual- to make appear necessit what is in fact a bundle of contongencies and this make meaningful the accident of his birth. P. 135

In this schema, it doesn't matter whether the society is pre-historic, religious, philosphical or scientific- the transmission process of reality via the use of expert knowledge is the same.

Over time, clusters of ideas/knowledge become institutions- like a religion or a mythology for example. People use ideas to explain "why."

Ultimately, Social Construction of Reality concludes with an observation as elegant as it is profound:

All symbolic universes and all legitimations are human products; their existence has it's base in the lives of concrete individuals, and has no empirical status apart from these lives. P. 128

In other words- reality is what we make it. Or to be more precise: Reality is what generations of humans living and dying over time make it. No more, no less. This is reality.