cool synth-pop

Junior Boys

OK. This album has finally grown on me. It's cool, minimal, tech-dubby, Timbaland-esque beats on some tracks - yet very 80s in execution and spirit. Basically these songs are avant-garde synth pop, which is what makes Junior Boys so successful. Check it out.

Douglas Sirk's "Written on the Wind"

Douglas Sirk Retrospective at AFI!

OH yeah. I've been waiting for this. I get to see all my favorite Douglas Sirk movies on the big screen. Over the top melodrama with wonderfully garish primary color lighting. Here's a pretty cool article from Weekly Wire.

More fun with Photoshop.

busy times

So I just got back from DJing at the Black Cat. Not much of a crowd, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Boy, I'm tired now, and can't wait to get to bed. Geez....I'm a busy man. I've got to sing for Priesthood Ordinations tomorrow morning, then I have a triple (that means I do the 8am, 9:30, and 11am mass) Nice payday. Then I have some "Me" time. Then I'll go catch "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" at the AFI. Damn, I am one lucky man. I live TWO blocks from the AFI theater. I get to watch classics ANYTIME. On the BIG SCREEN. In the coming months, they're gonna have a Douglas Sirk retrospective. Oh man. I'm psyched. I've never seen Sirk's "Magnificent Obsession" , and of all the other Sirk flicks I've seen, I've never seen them on the big screen.

In a couple of weeks I'm going to record some backing vocals for my friend Damon Maida's debut solo album. Quite excited am I. Just wait till we finish that. It's gonna rock. Oh yes. And it'll be a guaranteed good time.

Psycho-Kitty, qu'est que c'est

ok...so it's Friday

Ok, boys and girls.... Pitchfork and Boomkat are my favorite sites for music reviews. So there. And I'm raving quite a bit about Justus Kohncke, an electronica artist on Kompakt records (now THAT's a great German label). Very nice left-field house for House-heads that are tired of the current scene. Equally good to listen to as it is to shake to.

Restores my faith in originality

Last night I watched my DVD of Fellini's "Juliet of the Spirits" and it just gets better with each viewing. A kaleidoscope of dream-like images and surrealism. Classic Fellini (well, at least his later period). It's hard to believe that someone who took such care to direct films with coherent, conventional melodramatic storylines (during his Neorealism period), departed wildly from that when he made "8 1/2". And then came "Juliet of the Spirits" which went right through the roof into fantasy-land. Even if you can't quite figure out some of the symbolism, you can trip on the visuals. Freaky.

Tuesday night I listened to some more German microhouse/tech-house, mostly from 2 of the hottest labels: Kompakt and Force Tracks. This is the sort of stuff I'll play during my set at the Black Cat tomorrow night. Should be fun. Hope there will be dancers out there. Cuz there's nothing more depressing than seeing nobody on the dancefloor.