something less than intended

Yeah, I know.

Yes, it's been a long time (over a year).

Yes, I've missed you too.

However, you and I aren't what's important right now. Pattern Is Movement is.

One of the reasons I haven't written in a while is because those two thugs pictured above steal all of my time these days. Why? Because they are the hardest working lumberjacks in showbiz since Monty Python.

And then there's the music...I've been listening to their new album, All Together (released today) for soooo long that it's hard for me to explain it. I can give some descriptors, but they are so all over the place that it won't really matter. I could compare them to other bands, but I really don't think that's going to help you understand it. It's Chris, and it's Andrew. And they make music unlike any other two piece on the planet. They are a force both live and recorded. Go see them. Go listen to them.

Two songs below...

Pattern Is Movement - Right Away

Pattern Is Movement - Bird

BUY IT HERE

Upcoming shows alongside Helio Sequence:

Tuesday, May 20th @ Black Cat, Washington DC

Wednesday, May 21st @ Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia (record release show)

Thursday, May 22nd @ Great Scott, Alston, MA

Friday, May 23rd @ Iron Horse, Northampton, MA

p.s. I'm probably starting a new blog soon...stay tuned.

Tops of 2006...a little late, I know.

This naturally goes into the better-late-than-never category. While just looking for an old text file on my computer, I came across this. And I'm pretty surprised at how much my picks have held up. I'm still pretty much listening to all of these a good amount.

So here goes....
I put things into little categories so it's easier to digest, and these are in no real order.

The return of the 70's:
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Comets on Fire - Avatar (how this hasn't been on any lists disturbs the hell out of me)

Great heavy metal:
Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Boris - Pink
Light This City - Facing the Thousand

Rune Grammofon's sweet 2006:
Huntsville, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, Humcrush and Thomas Strønen's albums

Jim O'Rourke's sweet 2006:
Loose Fur - Born Again in the USA
Beth Orton - Comfort of Strangers

Music that just feels plain ol' American:
Califone - Roots & Crowns
American Princes - Less and Less

Favorite meandering fuzzy guitar song records:
TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Function - The Secret Miracle Fountain
Mono with World's End Girlfriend

Electronic music for being in my car alone:
Junior Boys - So This is Goodbye
Jan Jelinek - Tierbeobachtungen

A completely amazing year for percussion records:
the aformentioned Thomas Strønen record
Glenn Kotche's Mobile
So Percussions' Amid the Noise

A great year for deconstructing other genres and making it your own:
Ekkehard Ehlers - A Life Without Fear
Mats Gustafsson & David Stackenäs - Blues (late 2005)
Rafael Toral - Space

Not new, but new to me:
Captain Beyond - s/t (so unbelievably good) (UPDATE: found it on vinyl recently!)
Franco Battiato - everything
Egg - everything
The Action - Rolled Gold (instantly on my all-time top 10)
Mighty Baby - s/t
Arthur Russell - First Thought Best Thought

Close calls:
Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
Parts and Labor - Stay Afraid

I've got something to say...

I don't know if there's anything better than having a friend get married to the one person in the world that is absolutely perfect for them. I love these kids. Congrats Mike and Maia!
Here's a song for you: The Action - Something to Say

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In other news, I've been traveling for-ev-er...Went to Vegas, LA, stopped in Boulder for a day and then went back out to Miami...I've got a couple more days here and I can't wait to get home. It's been fantastic seeing the old friends, but I just can't believe that I lived here for two whole years. The city is growing faster than one would imagine is possible. I've been gone just under one year and the skyline has DOUBLED. That is no exaggeration. There are dozens of cranes in the sky. The traffic is worse, the people are as rude as ever, and man, is it hot. Whatever...I'm gunna go walk and get a slice from the friendly neighborhood pizza stand.

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BTW: that Mayweather/DeLaHoya 24 show on HBO is bonkers. Mayweather is a bonafide lunatic. There's some fantastic family dynamic stuff going on, the cash counting is hilarious, the show is shot and edited better than The Hills, and the nature-style documentary voiceover is hilarious (see: Fishing With John). Cinco de Mayweather should be a pretty great fight of Rocky IV-like proportions.

KV: Up on Tralfamadore

Kurt Vonnegut: A real big deal to me for a long time (even now). I learned how to deal with death after reading his book Timequake. So, if you haven't read it, go do it. As with most of his work it's pretty nutty, but he talks a lot about the passing of his first wife. It was his ability to mix really poignant subject matter with absolute absurdity that drew me to his work. I've always functioned along those same lines, and it's nice to see it in written form.

Here's a song for Kurt called "Excessive Exposure" something I'm sure he'd feel a victim of today. Well, him and Imus. (Who kinda look alike, no?)

The Lapse - Excessive Exposure

Take care, Kurt.

SXSW is for champions.

So, I showed you some video footage before of Pattern Is Movement, but now I'm going to show you something even better: a dang old Flickr page with all of our awesome activities in Texas.

Performances by: Michael Kentoff (of The Caribbean), The Weird Weeds (from Austin), Nick Butcher, Shedding, Paul Duncan, Burning Star Core, Slaraffenland, The Zincs, Brad Laner, Pattern Is Movement, and Arbouretum. I don't know if I could pick a favorite...but probably the craziest thing I've ever seen live was by Burning Star Core. He absolutely slayed. He started with some amazing effected electric violin improv and then did a solo vocal piece that shook me to my [burning star] core. I'm pretty sure one of the dudes in Slaraffenland got video footage of it on his phone. INCREDIBLE. Go and check out his live show if he comes to a town near you.

As a bonus, here's two live tracks from our showcase at Mohawk recorded by a nice dood that runs the blog on the other end of this link...
The first is The Caribbean - The Beverly Boys (The Caribbean being the band, The Beverly Boys being the song).

The second is Slaraffenland - Show Me The Way
-As usual, Danish dynamite in full effect.

Solter = the Allen Iverson of remixes.

Wanted to holler at the less than 2 people who read this blog and let them know about a FREE (as in beer) album by none other than the man of infinite genius: Scott Solter (pictured above/left at our SXSW showcase playing alongside Pattern Is Movement).

You may remember the last time you heard about Scott Solter was when he did his majestic all-analog remix of Pattern Is Movement's 2nd album, Stowaway...It's fantastic, and you should totally buy it, not just because we put it out, but because Scott is amazing. Here's a couple of tracks if you don't believe: One and Two.

The new FREE album is another full length all analog remix of John Vanderslice's Pixel Revolt. Go and get it, and call it a night.

Photo stolen from here. Thanks.

Btw, hanging out with Scott for the first time at SXSW was fantastic. Seeing him almost spit his beer out with pure excitement the moment that a discussion began about Cluster made me realize that we were going to be good friends for a long, long time.