Last time I checked Fall was in full swing...

Songs I Really Like...

I recently caught two shows from the Breeders over the course of one weekend: Friday, a very intimate in-store at Other Music, and Sunday at Brooklyn's McCarren Park Pool. Here's a few of the live cuts I enjoyed the most...

A cover of Guided By Voices' "Shocker in Gloomtown"


"One Divine Hammer"


The Amps, "Tipp City"

I SUCK AT: keeping this blog up

But this is what happens at 7:30 A.M.

Well, It's Been a While...

Sadly, I haven't had much time to post to this blog lately as all my effort go toward work; I write, edit, and schedule much of the content to SPIN.com. Check it out.

I'm easing myself back into the pool of personal blogging now, and I'll start with a simple, yet totally rad and exciting post -- Wallpaper.

While I was at SXSW -- the total exhausting jumble fuck that is was -- a pal deliver, along with a few other things ;), a copy of Wallpaper's new CD. Sure, you could say I'm bias because they're my best friends, but I say bullshit. The music's just good.

Here's a clip of Wallpaper performing a few new tracks off their debut record a few months ago at the Comet on Capitol Hill in Seattle:

I watch too many movies...

In light of all the crazy happenings that have gone down over the past few weeks, I find myself constantly thinking my life, or at least parts of it, have become very Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-esque; my dreams have become vivid, colorful, and often overflow into what appears to be the "real" world. Characters and happenings mingle in both my conscious and unconscious world, though the latter is decidedly more colorful, however -- it seems both are equally erratic. While all that's very much romanticized, really, I just want someone to whisper "meet me at montauk" into my ear, and make the two culminate in one. Then maybe, my stress would stop, if only briefly.

It's odd, how a series of dramatic events will effect someone, and it's even odder which events -- many obscure and unrelated -- will ignite certain thoughts and reflections. A very special girl once told me that when she first meets someone, the first question she wants to ask them is what age they think they will be when they die. It's an odd query, one many shy away from, naturally, including myself. I'd hate to stamp my own expiration date, and often, I hope I live forever; immortality -- a blessing and a curse. But as people die, as we all will someday, I can't help but wonder how long the Green Mile really is.

Also, I just want to wake up to this every morning:

Blog Rampage: My Vote for Best Song of the Year

Radiohead's "House of Cards" -- 'In Rainbows'

I'm a sucker for these smooth rolling tunes; "House of Cards" is like a slower cadenced, grooving, and more intimately feeling "Knives Out"; the cold hallows are filled with warmth. And if envisioned in a different text, this song could have been written in 1971, a product of Stax Records.

Today, right now, I really, really like this...

Hi. I really like this music video, it's amazing. Cheers to people that still spend time creating these vids; it's to them I am indebted a million moments of '90s nostalgia, back when music videos, thankfully, were the medium -- creatively vast and totally fucking cool to watch.

Bonus: This tune, "Oh Mandy," by the Spinto Band is also a wonderful listen despite the obvious CYHSY vocal inflections. Fuck it, the hooky verse and catchy chorus of '50s guitar-pop meets R.E.M. instrumentals compliment each other and kick ass. Thanks to a conversation with my roommate Drew over brunch, I can now enjoy this little snippet and catch the sunset out my window over Union Square; it's cold outside. Be well.

Driving in New York City

Contrary to popular belief, I discovered that driving in New York City isn't that amazingly overwhelming, complicated, or scary. Today was my first time behind the wheel; okay, okay, I didn't enter Manhattan, but a coworker and I, plus a Hyundai Sonata, rocked the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Triborough Bridge, and other highways and biways up to Yonkers for a days work -- and I didn't touch the horn once during the whole trip.

I officially feel like a real resident of the Big Apple, however I'm still a little fearful of bringing my beast out here -- the Suburban! Whew, that is a whole new challenge.

Blue-Eyed Soul

I like blue-eyed soul. In fact, I like it a lot. Listen to this -- Phil Spektor's 'Wall of Sound' at its best.