November Mixtape

If there's one thing I really enjoy, it's making mix CDs for other people. Since I love music and enjoy writing about it so much, I figure I should start posting mp3s I've been enjoying and share them with anyone who happens to stumble across this blog.

Anyway, here's mine for the month of November, which consists of newer music (for the most part) I've been listening to a lot lately.

1) Beach House - "Used to Be"

2) Atlas Sound - "Quarantined" 

3) Dokkemand - "Knapp"

4) Arliss Parker - "Taken to Antrim"

5) Alias - "Well Water Black (ft. Why?)

6) The Egg - "Always There"

7) Alaska In Winter - "Berlin"

8) School of Seven Bells - "Iamundernodisguise"

9) White Rabbits - "The Plot"

10) To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie - "Lovers & Liars"

11) Department of Eagles - "No One Does It Like You"

12) Takka Takka - "Silence"

Enjoy!

A Very Vegan Thanksgiving

I spent Thanksgiving in Redbank, New Jersey where most of my relatives live. It was definitely a change from the more formal Thanksgiving I'm used to back home. 

I had my first Tofurky ever. To be honest, I thought it was pretty good. Of course, I was just excited to have a Thanksgiving that was veggie friendly, as one of my cousins is vegan.

For the first time in my life I actually had a good time in New Jersey. I'm not one of those New Yorkers that has an irrational hatred towards that state, but it's just that every time I've been there, it has been one of the worst experiences of my life. Of course, I was only there for a little over 24 hours this time and most of that was spent indoors.

Then again, when I spend my time watching Arrested Development, talking about Jens Lekman, browsing for records, and getting Indian bunch, I'm enjoying myself no matter where I am.

In January, I will take the longest trip of my life

My dear friend Kat, who I've known since Freshman year at UVM and lived with for most of that time, is in Suwon teaching English. I'm going to visit her towards the end of January and I will return right when classes start up.

I've never been to Asia, so I'm very excited for this. In fact every flight I have taken out of the country has been to Europe, which I've done 4 times. Round 1: Ireland, Round 2: England, Round 3: Denmark and Iceland, Round 4: Czech Republic (which included visits to Austria and Poland), France, and Sweden. I believe the longest flight I've ever been on was from Stockholm to New York and that's not even that long. 

I'm going to need to invest in some sleeping pills that's for sure.

Class registration is definitely easier at the New School than it is at UVM and that is something I am o.k. with.

Anyway, so for next semester, I am taking the following:

WNSR Radio Lab

Music Business In Media

Electronic Media and Live Performance (on-line)

Yes, I am taking an on-line class. Why? Because Although the main reason I am in NYC is for school right now, I need to get a grown up job and make some money. Of course, with the way things are right now, that may not happen for quite some time. 

Also, as you may or may not be able to tell, I'm trying to do a focus around music and sound studies because ultimately I'd like to pursue a career in that field. However, I really do miss taking a film class (after all, I did major in Film & Television Studies) and a part of me feels like that degree is going to waste because I'll probably never do anything with it. My program right now is set up so that you take 3 classes a semester and I'm planning on graduating in May of 2010, so I don't really have the time to take a class just for the hell of it. That kind of makes me sad.

"7 A.M. Dusty road. I'm gonna drive until it burns my bones"

This is a few days late, but I saw M83 and School of Seven Bells at Webster Hall on Friday night. I had been looking forward to that show for quite some time and it did not disappoint.

School of Seven Bells were great, however I felt their set was a bit short. Also, only a small portion of the crowd seemed to be really into them and I suppose that didn't help things. Their album Alpinisms recently came out and I've been listening to it on repeat. While they played most of that album, I was hoping they would play "Iamundernodisguise", but they didn't. I really like that song. Actually, I just really, really like Prefuse 73's version.

M83 blew me away. Starting off with "Run Into Flowers" will surely do that. The songs flowed into each other with minimal breaks in between. Aside from playing most of Saturdays = Youth (one of my favorite albums of the year), they also played from Dead Cities, Red Seas, and Lost Ghosts and Before the Dawn Heals Us. The highlight for me was the encore which consisted of "Couleurs" and it was incredible. Anthony Gonzalez had so much energy and was so grateful to the crowd. It was adorable.

The show was lovely, but the crowd was annoying to say the least. Or, where I happened to be standing it was. For some reason, every time I go to a show, I always end up standing behind some of the most obnoxious people ever.  Also, during "Teen Angst" some girl had her camera pointed at my face for a very long time and a guy by me kept asking me why she was taking so many pictures of me. I don't know why and I don't feel it was necessary and I hope I don't see them on-line anywhere.

"Only love interests me, and I am only in contact with things I love"

Despite living in New York City for not even 3 months, I've already visited the MoMA many times, with the most recent being this past Friday. Of course, it does help that I get in for free with my student ID. Every time that I do go though, I always find myself spending a fair amount of time looking at this painting:

"Birthday" by Marc Chagall. I have only taken a handful of Art History classes, so I'm far from being an expert in the field, but I love his use of color, attention to detail, and influence from his early life along with his commentary on society. Again, I'm no Art scholar, but I know what I like and I love this painting.

CMJ Recap

CMJ took place this past week, from the 21st to the 25th. I've only been once before and that time I had a badge. This time however, I didn't have a badge, but there was still much to see and do. Due to my work and class schedule, I wasn't able to take as much advantage of all the free shows as I would have liked. However, the ones that I was able to catch did not disappoint.

On Wednesday there was the Terrorbird (sidenote, I love them) party at the Cake Shop. The lineup was outstanding, but I only made it for Tobacco, Women and Takka Takka. Tobacco, while I love his latest album Fucked Up Friends, put on an interesting show. The visuals didn't quite match the music and he didn't do much in the way of play anything, unless you count pressing the play button on his computer. But, I still enjoyed it nonetheless. After Tobacco, I left for a bit and when I came back, Women were almost halfway through their set. I know some were let down by their performance, but I loved their energy. Up next was Takka Takka, who were one of the highlights of the party for me, as I've been listening to Migrations on repeat. Unfortunately, their set was cut short due to time issues, but they definitely made the most of it.

Takka Takka

During the day on Friday I went to the Pirate! party at Fontanas and the Team Clermont part at Arlene's. I went to those more for the people hosting than for the bands themselves, but I still had a good time. 

Friday night was Land of Talk and Broken Social Scene at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. The show sold out and I managed to get a ticket from one of my coworkers. Thank goodness, because the show was incredible. I haven't heard Land of Talk's first full length Some Are Lakes, but I really liked their EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss and after their performance that night, I'm going to have to check out their new album. 

This was my third time seeing Broken Social Scene (for those of you who don't know me, they are my favorite band and I might be slightly obsessed) and it was quite the experience. The first time I saw them was last November during the Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew tour. So, half the band was absent, but they did play some older songs. I caught the band in most of their entirety this past August at Osheaga. Amy Millan (from Stars) showed up and BSS mixed the set up with their material, along with songs from Kevin Drew's solo album and Brendan Canning's album as well. 

This time however, Elizabeth Powell (from Land of Talk) filled in for the female vocals. I wasn't aware that she had actually joined the band, but I thought she was great. Anyway, so Broken Social Scene was fantastic. They started the show off with "Late Nineties Bedroom Rock for the Missionaries" and went straight into "Shampoo Suicide" which was basically the signal that this show was going to be quite different from previous shows. The band played for over 2 1/2 hours and they played almost all of You Forgot It In People . There were breaks at various points; first for the song "3,000" from bassist Sam Goldberg's side project, then for a scientific musical project from Do Make Say Think which featured studying voice recordings and using their patterns to create songs, and finally for Apostle of Hustle's "National Anthem of Nowhere." 

Also, Kevin Drew was in a strange mood. I know I say this like I know him personally, but from past shows, he seemed less annoyed this time especially with all his talk about playing until the venue's curfew and talking about how great and appreciative the fans were. That was short lived because then of course he got snippy as soon as someone in the audience would shout a request (sidenote: thank God that didn't deter him from playing certain songs. That happened the first time I saw the band; some overly obnoxious people in the audience kept shouting for "Lover's Spit" and he then decided not to play it since people kept asking for it even though it was on the set-list). Drew claimed that this was the last time the band would be playing some songs (such as "Anthems For a Seventeen Year Old Girl") for awhile as the band will be going on a short hiatus after this tour and possibly recording new material. I really hope that new material is on the way, though it will be sad if the band no longer plays songs such as "Anthems" as previously mentioned. However, it would be incredible if the band played 3 hour shows (as hinted) or just perhaps do something completely different and play Feel Good Lost live in its entirety.

All in all, I'd say my CMJ experience went fairly well. My only regret is that I missed out on a lot of bands I wanted to see, but with so much going on, it's actually kind of overwhelming.