Demon Attack free at killerbuds.net. my favorite song is called 'my summer vacation'.

Killerbuds

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KLLRBDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

M.F. Holland

Favorite Chapter Titles in The Maltese Falcon
1. G in the Air
2. The Russian's Hand
3. Spade & Archer
4. The Undersized Shadow
5. If They Hang You

Life is so short. What can we really hope to accomplish?

This thing, the Internet, has become a pretty interesting... place in the last couple of weeks. First K starts up with this neat idea for a site called FolkCargo. I think that might be real cool if she keeps it up. Who knows? Perhaps it's her thing.
Killer Buds have started a new site that is still sort of in a beta stage, but looks promising. Eventually you'll be able to download ALL of their attempts to stain the cosmos. See, they believe the first take is the best take and everything's worth recording. You can see for yourself. Downloads are free and quick. And will be updated frequently, we hope. Tell any of us what you like and what you hate. Somebody's gotta edit this shit.

NOTE: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream is a great title for a pretty good short story by Harlan Ellison.

Faves

I thought it might be a good time to tell you all (y'all) about my favorite albums of last year.


Artwork/Album - my fave album also features my fave artwork:

Panda Bear blew me away early last year and it still does. I think you may hear lots of albums that sound like this one very soon. The style sounds weirdly appropriate for things right now, and I guess that's what the really good stuff does. The collage work in the sleeve suits the material just fine. The artist's name and website -- Agnes Montgomery.

#2 - Battles
This is strange stuff, but I like it. My coworkers make fun of me when i play it.

#3 - Animal Collective
I thought about placing this at #2, because its probably the album I've listened to most. BUT, it has some really boring parts in the second half. Admit it.

#4 - James Blackshaw
I know it sounds kind of slow and repetitive at first, but that's just your vanity. There's beautiful guitar work on The Cloud of Unknowing, and it always ends up having a big effect on me.

Those are the big ones for me. All in all a really good year for music.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Mirror by Tarkovsky is not a good movie. No matter what anyone tells you!

New Mix

This is a mix made up of songs either newly released or rereleased in '07. In either case, I heard them all for the first time in 2007. Click on the title of this post to d.l.

Lives of Old Men

Three months I've been gone. I guess i'm crawling back to you, bloody and pathetic. Need someone to talk about my stupid life with. Please.

Two movies this week!
No Country for Old Men was freaking ruthless. Nothing about this movie bugged me, which is rare. So good looking, such interesting characters, srsly great acting. It felt much shorter than it was. I skipped the book when it was released because the plot synopsis sounded so boring. I guess I forgot it was Cormac McCarthy. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sheriff's monologues are straight McCarthy. Beats out... um..., this is the only good movie I've seen from this year.

I watched The Lives of Others last night while K was sewing Roman drapes, or something. Entertaining and interesting, but I have one big complaint. It's sentimentality almost destroys its authenticity. the depiction of the Stasi very nearly made me sick, until I realized that the film depicts its characters very two dimensionally, good or bad. This takes away the heft of realism and leaves you wondering what you believe. Like propaganda. I was curious about it, so I watched some of the special features. The director is like thirty, max. He was not among the persecuted artists. Not surprising. I don't think that you have to live through something to depict it successfully, but it may take a little more skill than was displayed in this one.

Man, that sounds really negative. I didn't dislike the movie. It actually ties in well with this crazy awesome book I've been reading, The Rest is Noise by Alex Ross. A history of the 20th century through the biographies and works of its greatest composers, Noise has long sections devoted to real artists that faced the sort of oppression that Lives of Others tries to be about. Shostakovich was semi-forced into the role of composer laureate for the Soviet Union and spent most of his life in fear. Aaron Copland was blacklisted here in the states for appearing to have communist friends (and for being gay). I'm only to about 1955, so I've still got a ways to go. I'll write it up good when I'm finished.

Back. Sad.

Made it back from a week in Tahoe. Man, that is a nice place. Wish I lived there, really. Maybe the Tahoe slums.
Some favorite memories:
1. Daily baptism in some of the holiest water Jesus never walked on. You've got to jump into this cold, cold lake at some point in your life.
2. Kayak Kapsizing!!! Near death experience brings renewal when Dexter the dog comes to the rescue. (Dramatization.)
3. Bluejay visits. Friendly and pretty.
4. Celebration song: Myriad Harbor, New Pornographers. Played frequently by me to celebrate (usually) stupid things.
5. Comfy sleeping every single night. Nights were chilly and the bed was soft. I slept late a few mornings.

I'll post tonight with some pics.

Tired

This guy needs a vacation.

Kanab Floats

We rented a stupid little p.t. cruiser on friday and puttered out to Kanab, Utah. The Glover Family Reunion. Ten hours driving in two days, man. For a bunch of old people. But these old people are me. They're cowboys. They love guns. But, they look at me and they see themselves. They see their late sister and their father and their own youth. It doesn't matter that I'm wearing my "stop bombing poor countries" shirt. They recognize the anger. Seems like the whole bunch sing songs to tell stories, mostly set in this weird, red ghost town. "He ain't no Coca Cola cowboy. He's the real thing." My mom's uncles were real cowboys.
Kanab is pretty. The wind sounds like thunder. My nephew bobs his head to cowboy poetry.
The night before we went looking for a bar. "There are no bars in Utah," say the locals.
My grandparents are buried here. My family tree is made of red rock.

Link - All My Friends

Just found this article about one of my favorite songs from this year. It's the centerpiece of an otherwise only ok album. The author of the article says it's a hit. Does that mean they play it in New York City clubs? If it is a hit, it kind of surprises me. It's slow and repetitive and actually very melancholy. It deserves to be a hit, though, so I hope he/she is right. Also noted, the singles b-side includes a cover of the song by John Cale. I'm definitely gonna have to check it out.

Ahhhh, Dark Spots

Movie Night 7-25-07
If you're a semi-intelligent adult, you know how retarded Harry Potter is. This movie IF... is a pretty cool, confrontational, anti-harry potter. 1968. Set in an oppressive English boarding school, malcolm mcdowell has no respect for his pedophilic superiors. Slow moving, but with enough stylistic twists and antisocial behavior to keep your interest. Unless you've been ruined by flying football games and booger flavored candy. Dementors. So stupid, man.

Ears
First and foremost, Killer Buds is gonna be back in kick butt form after my mis-hit. Symphony No. 3 may actually be my favorite of the albums chosen so far (up there with Black Saint,) but few shared my interest. Clif has jumped in to fill a void, and chosen an album that sounds really interesting. Check it out. Seriously, if you want to take part in that, let me know. I can put you in the picks schedule, or if that's too much pressure, I can mail you a copy of the album of the week. That is so nice of me.

James Blackshaw is a British guitarist whose album The Cloud of Unknowing has been growing on me like crazy. Somewhat similar to some other guitarists I like, Fahey and Kottke, but a little more full sounding, with a definite bent toward the minimalists, like Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Even K liked this one. Try to find it. It's like a rainstorm in july. Oh, according to his myspace page he likes herzog and jodorowsky.

Movie Night - 7-12-07 - Open City

Sometimes I find myself wondering if I truly believe that Art is important. If I believe that it can change people or be valuable or whatever people seek in it. Open City felt, even Wednesday night at Brian and Gavin's house in Salt Lake in 2007, like a manifesto. I guess it's often seen that way now since it's considered one of the definitive neorealist films. But it's bigger than that. I know that it challenged other filmmakers to take the craft more seriously, but it's also a challenge, even still, to take other people more seriously. I love this movie. It's like it was created not by an individual, but by a community, a nation. This is important. And it deserves a much better DVD presentation.

WeWillDie's not dead. Hurrah!

Killerbuds is up and running, and if you're not taking part in that, you're a jerk. Fight has promised a movie list. Lots of people looking forward to it, so he won't let us down. Also, speaking of movies, you should be my friend on Netflix.

There is no God and we are his prophets.

I knew it would be dark and bloody. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is one sad beast. I was crying last night when I finished it, I admit, just like oprah. Mainly because the father is so good and so ashamed of the world he's left his son. I don't have children yet and I can still feel the weight of that grief. The man wants the boy to feel hopeful and meaningful; but the man is no longer certain that he, himself, feels those things. McCarthy is brave to blaze the road through such bleak terrain, and it is a punishing book, but it's the way he makes you believe in the father's love that makes it so good. The man's mission (he does become sort of a self-styled messiah, as Michael Chabon says in this good essay)may be insane but it's also inspiring. I'm sure oprah will say the same thing when she speaks to McCarthy on her show on June 5th. Ha. I'm gonna watch. How embarrassing.

New News

New group blog up. killerbuds.wordpress.com. check it out. knock you out. you're invited too.
Also, this is a very cool blog by a designer for the Criterion Collection. I know I kinda go on about criterion, but oh well: ericskillman.blogspot.com/

When I was younger, I'd focus most of my attention on lyrics and singers. If I responded to music, it was mainly to the voice fronting the music. The instrumentation was important, sure, but boring instrumentation could often be saved by interesting lyrics or an unusual vocal performance. Then I wrote songs and played in a band, and somehow that experience changed how I listen to music. So, the last few years my attention has shifted strongly to the musical side. I don't pay much attention to the words anymore, instead preferring rhythmic complexity and atmosphere. Basically, I've been listening to more Can than Leonard Cohen. I still love L. Cohen. Seeing Animal Collective Tuesday night got me thinking about this stuff.
Anyway, I'm interested in hearing how others listen to music. How important are lyrics? What do you first listen for? How have the ways you listen to music changed?

Movie Night 5-16-07 - The Holy Mountain

Body functions and body fluids get the lead role in The Holy Mountain and their performance is beautiful.
One of the strange movies you're gonna see, it's got a visual style that makes beauty of disgusting things. We (fight, brian, clif, ty, and myself) all thought it had similarities to both kubrick and bunuel. Actually, pretty obvious similarities, but it didn't feel derivative. Biblical imagery in high-B-movie mode with the body and blood of christ in vivid technicolor.
Man, I really liked this movie. Funny, sincere, entertaining. The Holy Mountain is among the great movie nights so far. Read about Alejandro Jodorowsky, he's an interesting guy. Still alive and working, it appears.

When I Found Myself Afraid, I Fell Upon A Book

river, stream, pretty out
not afraid in present sense but eternal
book is open, on a rock
trap, not tricked, mormons in the bushes
mormons like pyramid schemes, ha
i like em though. my mom's one.