floored.

well, yeah,

ok, so we're slacking.

but there's smog warnings and we aren't to overly exert ourselves.

actually, well, no real excuses.

this is actually kind of a gimme post.

there's one in the draft section I don't have time to finish.

it's been there for a couple weeks now.

more like over a month.

anyhow, shamefully, or perhaps not so...

I'm posting someone else's post.

not hijacking it or ripping it off, but I am highly recommending you head over to this amazing post on a blog I just discovered.

AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA

actually, to be perfectly honest I don't really know anything about this blog, save a great name, and this very solid classic post.

I am really glad that this one's been archived and still available.

go listen to the top track, HERE.

you have the time.

I was floored.

http://awesometapesfromafrica.blogspot.com/2006/05/alhaji-k.html

party and bullshit.

since most folks who are cool are in Texas now, partying and bullshitting, this felt like an apt title for this post.

don't worry, you're not cool. you ain't SXSWing it up right now, and nor are we.

but we'd both like to.

this initially was going to be a post about a really captivating new (to me) Chad VanGaalen track called "the graveyard" which will still get posted somewhere's up in here at sometime.

however, this little gem of a remix by the legendary remixers, RATATAT definitely usured the top billing.

that Chad VanGaalen track is up top there on my current playlist this week along with my favourite LOW track, "dinosaur act".

I'm talking heavy repeats.

anyhow, listen to this postmortem remix, of Biggie Smalls, the aggressive lyrics, are closely matched by the aggressive treatment they receive at the artful hands of RATATAT.

This is a straight up no bullshit kind of track.

dig it.

>>> Biggie Smalls - Party & Bullshit (Ratatat remix)

the undedders

Yes, shame on me. I know. I have neglected my duties here, to the vast multitude, and can therefore be partially laid to blame for the sporadic posting of my comrade in arms. When in a partnership and the other isn't pulling their weight it kinda makes things seem a little less enjoyable, more of a chore. This could be apt in relation to the time of year, both as the middle of many north americans' renting cycle for appartments/dwellings and roommates are common with all their wonderfulness and their drive you mental annoyances and also for the fact that there's this wash of reds and pinks and hues of both all over the place making sure to remind each and every one of you that being single is a shameful, shameful thing.

know this, Jean Paul Sartre probably said it best when he said:

"If you're lonely when you're alone, then you're in bad company."

That being said, and quoted here, one should not take it as necessarily being the pessimistic and further depression inducing saying that it could be taken to be, I would contend that one should read that last statement more in the light of one who, if the case may be, should happen to feel lonely, then to change the company one keeps. improve yourself/your self. This is the perfect time to renew your vows. I know you're single but your vows to yourself. those lies we often tell ourselves and sometimes, shamefully, others and label "resolutions". that by now have most certainly been forgotten or rationalized into being ignored or on temporary hiatus. This is much akin to the canadian ecological position with respect to many of its commitments.

at the very least you have to admire the states for one thing. They kept their word on this one. The Kyoto accord, that is. they said hell no, and did hell nothing.

now, back to the music.

isn't it the sole purpose of looking for new music to be able to say "I knew them back when..." insert platitude. There can be no greater accomplishment for a music aficionado.

Here's a little gem from the Tokyo Police Club tour EP. I don't know if this has been previously available in Blogdom, nor do I particularly care at this point. proper research would have taken the time I was willing to spend on this post, here at 5:23 am.

I hope you enjoy, I'll try and be more regular about this, sorry.

The band is Tokyo Police Club, the track is A Lesson in Crime (unreleased) from their Tour EP.

Tokyo_Police_Club - A Lesson in Crime(unreleased_TourEP)

isuck

So... I had a little bit of a biggish party at mines on the weekend.

If one can't celebrate the arbitrary turning of the twelf calendar page, what can one celebrate - the anniversary of the purported birth of an unfertilized-yet-born-anyway man who is known as the Prince of Peace despite the number of wars fought in his name? I like celebrating the new year. Sure, there are injuries and a couple of ignominious historical events, but it's not like nations go to war over the one and true evening on which one year turns into another...mostly.

What I learned this weekend was that just as I ain't no picasso, I am neither a great party DJ. I am pleased to say that I didn't fall prey to that number one killer of party dee-jays, the so so so underground and indie that it's entirely inaccessible and horrible playlist. What I didn't anticipate was that my normally literate, open-minded, savvy and urbane friends really only wanted to hear 'Sexy Back' over and over and over. I seriously could have looped that song continually for 7 hours and have pleased more people than my too-clever-by-half playlist (that was, incidentally, vetted by my younger and much cooler sister, Barbastella).

Because it's the opposite of Sexy Back and because I've got the name 'Picasso' in my head, you get Picastro. The song is 'Sharks'.

>>> Picastro - Sharks

(No, I didn't play this at the fuggin' party, dink.)

Cuz

Uhh, yo.
I know it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but ... naw, I got no excuses.
Check this out. Vampire bats are, naturally, the awesomest of all bats. But I just heard this business on my Quirks & Quarks podcast and couldn't get over it.

A rare South American bat turns out to have a spectacularly long tongue. At up to 150% the length of its body, it is proportionally the longest of any mammal. ...Such a small animal has had to evolve a way to store the tongue. “I had all sorts of theories, such as perhaps the tongue folded up inside, or coiled, or maybe its lower lip was critical somehow,” says [the awesomely named] Mucchala. It turned out that the tongue extends down into the bat’s chest, and its base is between the heart and sternum. When extended, it stretches by up to three times its stored length.

Listen to the show here:
>>> Quirks & Quarks - December 9 - the bit about the long-tongue-having-bat

I knit my own cape

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends! This is the weekend where they eat turkey (which, I hear, the pilgrims probably didn’t do), watch some really good football games and give thanks. If you travel this weekend, you Americans, please travel responsibly.

I have but one offering this morning. I have this hilarious thing I do (which SOME people think is juvenile) which is, when I like a song and its nearing the end in iTunes, I scream REEEMIX! and restart it.

I like this song because its innocent and heartfelt and the emotions are just a little too strong for Miss Grimm to remain cool throughout it. She sings a bit too hard once in a while and I think the recording quality is a bit rough, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. I think I’m in love with this because Miss Grimm reminds me of a girl I used to see. You know these people you know who are so earnest and nerdy that whenever you’re around them you catch yourself trying too hard to act cool?

The song is The Little Weeper by Larkin Grimm from the album, The Last Tree.

>>> Little Weeper - Larkin Grimm

Hot and sunny to cold and rainy

Hey y'all.

Don't tell any of the super-baddies, but I'm all under the weather today. I was in South Africa fighting the worst criminals on the continent and am now all messed up from jet-lag on the return. Y'see, I could just take the supersonic Batplane to other continents (and do often), but when I'm gone for an extended trip like the last one, don't you think that it must mean that Bruce Wayne also has to be there? Right.

Now, how do you suppose Bruce Wayne would come to find himself in South Africa? He can't very well take the Batplane (thus avoiding jetlag), can he? People would notice.

Right. People would notice and probably ask him things like "When's your flight?" and "Can I give you a lift to the airport, Bruce?" (because people like Bruce. He's handsome and people like to do nice things for him because he's rich and may give presents like Mercedeez Benz'z and shit) So when I need to go to South Africa or whatever, Bruce Wayne needs to have a reason to be there for a similar length of time and he needs to fly by conventional modes (Awesomely, it doesn't apply in reverse. If Batman shows up, nobody cares how he got there or wants to give him a lift to the airpot. They just straight assume he's got the batplane stashed behind Victoria Falls or something). So today both Bruce Wayne and I are tired and a bit ill.

I spent the day learning how bitTorrents work, because I'm super technological and finally got my leather gloves on that Neil Young album I mentioned lo these many posts ago.

The track is Like an Inca, by Neil Young from the album, Trans. Bizzaow!

>>>Neil Young - Like an Inca

Dracula is around. He's here, but he's working all hard these days. I mean, he's burning the noon-time oil. For my man, I got some Nappy Roots from the album, Wooden Leather, the song is Sick & Tired. By the by, the Nappies have a new album due out any day now called 'The Humdinger'.

>>>Nappy Roots - Sick & Tired

Get that music.